A Guide to Measuring Light for Your Indoor Plants: Best of Growing Joy Replay

2026-03-12

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Welcome back to part two of our Understanding Natural Light series. We’re bringing this conversation back as part of our Best of Growing Joy episodes because it’s one of the most helpful discussions we’ve ever had about indoor plant lighting. This episode is a replay of my conversation with Leslie Halleck, a dear plant friend of mine and a horticulture and lighting expert. If you’re a plant parent trying to understand the light in your home, this conversation is a must-listen because the number one mistake I see plant lovers make is...

Welcome back to part two of our Understanding Natural Light series. We’re bringing this conversation back as part of our Best of Growing Joy episodes because it’s one of the most helpful discussions we’ve ever had about indoor plant lighting.

This episode is a replay of my conversation with Leslie Halleck, a dear plant friend of mine and a horticulture and lighting expert. If you’re a plant parent trying to understand the light in your home, this conversation is a must-listen because the number one mistake I see plant lovers make is misunderstanding their light.

Most people think they have bright light for their plants when they actually don’t. Our eyes are not great at judging how much light indoor plants really receive, which is why so many plants struggle indoors.

So in this episode, we dive into how to measure light for indoor plants. We talk about window directions, the difference between brightness and light volume, and how to use simple tools like a light meter to understand what your plants are actually experiencing. We also break down why plants think about light in energy or calories, not just how bright a room feels to us.

And make sure you grab the free Understanding Natural Light download that goes with this series. It walks you step by step through how to measure light in your home so you can stop guessing and start choosing the right plants for your space.

In this episode, we learn:

What the most important colors of light are for growing plants
How to use a free app to get a better understanding of your indoor lighting environment
What is the difference between LUX, Footcandles and PAR
What micromoles are
What DLI (Daily Light Intergral) is
The results of my homework and how many “aha” moments I had about the ACTUAL light in my apartment
How drastic the difference in light is within only a few feet from your window
What area of your apartment is probably low light that you never knew about
Whether or not you can put plants in a bathroom with no windows
Whether or not you can put plants in an office with no windows
Citrus under lights, pests