Gardening with Gary

Gardening Advice from an Expert

Light Requirements

Q. How can you tell if your plant is not receiving enough light?

A. This is a question I get all the time. How come my Spathiphyllum has not flowered? Usually it is a matter of more light for a longer period of time. Plants generally need more light to flower than just grow. If your plant has nice deep dark green lush foliage and an occasional flower or no flowers your plant probably is not getting enough light.

Does your plant have leaves quite a bit smaller than when you first brought the plant home? If it's a flowering plant it may be that the flowers have taken so much energy that the new leaves will come out smaller. But it may be light. Plants are different from people. Plants can manufacture their own food, but they need light to perform this function.

Plants in lower light do not need as much water as plants in high light. They cannot absorb and use the water, so the roots stay too wet and rot off and possibly the stems too. One of the best ways to grow plants is to just concentrate on growing roots. A good strong root system makes for a healthy plant.

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