How do you know if your plant is getting too much light?

Light is such a major factor in plant growth and vitality but it often goes undiagnosed when your houseplants need more light! Plants process light differently to humans. So even when our homes seem bright in our eyes, the light levels can be completely different to a plant.

It’s possible your houseplants are craving more sunlight if they are showing signs of some of the below symptoms. Read on for the eight signs your houseplants need more light, and how to solve it (without sticking them outdoors!)

It can be difficult knowing how much light your plant truly needs. From direct light to indirect light to low light, different plant species have different requirements. Next, I’m going to talk about how to tell if your plant is getting more light than it needs.

As mentioned, a plant that gets too much intense light will start to show signs of damage. Spotting these early signs is important, as it will enable you to adjust the positioning of your plant to reduce lighting, and remedy the problem before your plant’s health is significantly affected.

Signs your plant may be getting too much light;

• Brown leaf edges or tips


• Brown, dry patches on the leaves


• Leaves turn pale or yellow, particularly those most exposed to the light


• Yellowing may be noticeable in the leaf tips first


• Leaf yellowing may not affect the leaf veins initially


• Wilting, particularly of younger foliage

There are two things to consider here: light duration and light intensity.

Light duration refers to the number of hours of light a plant receives each day while intensity is the quantity of light per unit area, usually measured in Lux or foot candles.

Each of these is a different concept and affects a plant’s growth in different ways. Generally speaking, light intensity is what you need to be careful about. Let’s take a closer look.

For the most part, plants can be exposed to light for an indefinite amount of time and still continue to grow.

However, being exposed to light for too long can affect a plant’s growth cycle and ability to bloom but this differs based on the type of plant. Interestingly, plants actually grow faster at night due to important metabolic processes that happen at night.

Some plants cannot trigger important phases of growth or bloom without appropriate levels of darkness per day. These plants exhibit photoperiodism.

Plants such as Poinsettias, Kalanchoe and Christmas Cacti require long periods of darkness for many weeks to trigger blooming and are known as “short-day plants”. Many herbs and vegetables require short nights to trigger flowering and are known as “long-day plants”.

Overall, plant growth cycles tend to be impacted by the duration of light, but the plants are not harmed.

Light intensity is what causes most of the negative effects associated with a plant getting too much light.

When a plant is exposed to high intensity light, some of this light energy is converted to heat. Your plant must take steps to dissipate this heat energy, which normally involves using some of its available water to cool itself off.

Over time, this can deplete the plant’s water reserves and leave insufficient water for vital processes such as photosynthesis. If the plant’s capacity to dissipate heat is depleted, or if the amount of heat generated exceeds the plant’s ability to dissipate it, the plant will suffer heat damage. This often presents as yellow or brown spots on the foliage, generally yellow leaves, brown crispy leaf edges or tips, or curled, dropping leaves.

Light intensity might also dry out the soil from which the plant draws moisture, leading to accelerated plant dehydration. It can harm a plant in a variety of ways and different plants have a different tolerance level to light intensity. 240W quantum board LED is suitable for a small grow room.

Although too much light can impede plant growth, it’s also a fairly easy problem to fix. There are a couple of common methods for remediating a too-bright greenhouse.

Distance matters when it comes to lighting. Plant burn often comes about when plants are growing too close to the main source of light and heat. Depending on your greenhouse configuration, it may be relatively easy to raise light fixtures or otherwise distance them from plants.

When there’s no easy way to move lights away from the plants, a grower can bend taller plants to angle them away from the direct impact of over-lighting. The effect is the same as if the lights themselves were repositioned. It’s all about adding distance.

Growers also can adjust the strength of lighting. Experts recommend 100 watts of light for a 2 foot by 2 foot grow area, up to 1,000 watts for an 8 foot by 8 foot area. Most growers will experiment as they seek the lighting levels that promote the best and fastest growth without compromising plant health.

Cannabis loves light and a well-illuminated greenhouse will produce strong, tall, healthy plants with robust buds. It’s possible to overshoot the mark, though, and provide so much light that plants end up struggling rather than thriving.

By combining close firsthand observation with remote monitoring tools, growers can keep light burn in check and make rapid adjustments any time plants seem to be getting more light than is good for them. By being proactive and persistent, most growers can easily manage greenhouse lighting for high yields over time.

Don’t be afraid to experiment. Some growers find success by running multiple plots at different wattages, adjusting the distance between lights and plants over time and in different growing stages. By changing up the parameters in a methodical way, it’s possible to land on a formula that delivers the best outcomes for a given greenhouse. Also humidifiers for grow tent can be a great choice.

Plants harvest energy from the sun with the help of chlorophyll and carotenoid, two photon-capturing molecules. But if the plants are exposed to too much sun, these molecules absorb more energy than they can handle and generate reactive species of oxygen that can destroy the plant. Researchers have known for more than 20 years that plants have a way to protect themselves against this damage, but the actual mechanism has remained a mystery. All growers know that full spectrum LED grow light is best for plants growth.

It turns out plants use a unique safety valve, according to research published this week in Science. Utilizing instruments that were able to record chemical reactions lasting one millionth of a billionth of a second, a team of researchers from the University of California at Berkeley and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, California, followed the path of absorbed solar energy in spinach leaves and Arabadopsis. The researchers found that excessive sunlight triggers the formation of zeaxanthin, a member of the carotenoid family. The molecule transfers an electron to chlorophyll, rendering it incapable of generating reactive oxygen. The positively charged zeaxanthin then combines with the negatively charged chlorophyll in a reaction that disperses away excess energy as heat.