Light

A good succulent grow-light setup is measured, not guessed. Start at the fixture maker’s recommended hanging height, put the light on a timer for about 14 hours, check the center and edges of the shelf, and judge the next two weeks of new growth. If the plant keeps stretching, improve intensity or coverage. If new bleaching appears, back the light off and acclimate more slowly. There is no safe universal LED distance. Two fixtures mounted 8 inches above a plant can deliver very different amounts of light, and the edges of the same fixture can be much dimmer than its center. The useful question is not simply, “How many inches?” It is: How much useful light reaches this plant, for how long, and how is the plant responding? ...

You moved your pothos closer to the window on a sunny afternoon, or brought a new plant home from the nursery and set it on the sill. A few days later you spot it: a pale, washed-out patch on a leaf. Or a crispy brown edge that definitely wasn’t there before. Your first thought is that you’ve done something wrong, and now you’re trying to figure out what before it spreads. ...

You brought a plant home, found it the perfect spot on the windowsill, and watered it faithfully every few days. And then, slowly, something started going wrong. Maybe the leaves turned yellow. Maybe they drooped. Maybe the plant just quietly stopped looking like itself. If that sounds familiar, you are not doing it wrong. You are just missing a few pieces of the picture, and that is exactly what indoor plant care tips are for. ...