Do you have a pale houseplant that looks like it needs a little light vacation this summer? A trip outside for some sunlight seems like a splendid idea! You’ll just take the plant out and plop it in the sun, and voila! It will perk up in no time.
Whoa! Hold on a sec. Not such a good idea. That’s not to say you can’t put your houseplants out for some little extra light. That’s actually a good idea for a number of reasons—light being one of them.
Taking your houseplant to what is literally the beach when the little guy has been indoors all “pasty white” for months—or even years—requires some finesse.
I know from experience. I had a bright idea to put a dracaena out a few years ago. Of course, I know better than to put houseplants in the direct sunlight. I didn’t. But I forgot about the poor fellow as the sun shifted in the sky. By the time I remembered, you guessed it—he’d had a lot of unprotected sunlight. Yikes!
(FreeImages.com/Bora Inceören)
At first this unprotected sunlight doesn’t seem so bad. The plant looks okay. A little thirsty, yes, so you give it a good slurpy drink. But much like the sunburns you got as a kid (or adult) after being out in the sun—it creeps up on you. All of the sudden—ouch! What hurts so much? Oh, no, it’s a sunburn.
While houseplants don’t react by becoming red. They do react. And the more sun damage, the worse they react. What happens is that you’ll get a lot of little or big sunburn marks on the plant leaves. These show up as brown patches that then blacken (yuck) and then dry (how sad). You end up with a Swiss cheese effect on your plant leaves that is not attractive. This is only cool if your plant is a Swiss Cheese (Monstera deliciosa) plant like the one below.
You can cut off the bad leaves when the damage is done manifesting, but if the burns are numerous that would mean cutting off most of the growth and having a butchered effect. Also not attractive.
My plant that I took out in the sun on a well-meaning “beach” day took about four years to recover. It eventually did. There are few burned leaves left, and it’s filled in, but four years is a long time!
So the moral of the story is—of course—be careful on beach day.
(FreeImages.com/Sarah Williams)
Don’t let this scare you from putting your plants out for a little light. It’s actually a good idea to get them outdoors into natural sunlight for a bit, which will stimulate new growth.
Insects outdoors also love to dine on indoor pests, like mealybugs and scale. You won’t even see them scavenging around in the foliage eating up all those pests that plague your indoor garden. In fact, if your summer is mild enough, I’d encourage an extended outdoor stay to get rid of an infestation. The air circulation outdoors is also good for preventing pests and diseases.
When you put your houseplants out for some light, place them in the shade. If you don’t live in an extremely hot area of the country or world—like Arizona—and it’s morning, they can take about an hour of early morning sun in the summer. If you’re going to do this, set an alarm or stay out with the plant, so you don’t forget. If you think you might forget, just place them in bright shade where they’ll be protected, yet get plenty of invigorating indirect light.
Before bringing your houseplant indoors, hose it off to wash off any lingering pests and dust, the latter of which makes it hard for the plant to breathe and clean your indoor air. Then water the plant well, because it’s probably going to be thirsty after cycling more water than it usually does indoors.
That’s it! Enjoy your “beach days” this summer with your houseplants!