Yesterday I sent the first tip in this series — pruning, and why your plants keep going leggy. If you missed it, have a dig through your inbox before you read this one.

Today: light.

Here’s something that surprised me when I first started measuring the light in my own home. The spot I’d been happily calling “bright indirect” was almost dark to a plant.

Our eyes are brilliant at adjusting. A room that looks beautifully sunlit to us can be running at a fraction of what most tropical plants actually need. And because plants don’t usually drop dead from low light — they just sit there, looking fine, not really growing — most of us never notice that they’ve been quietly starving for energy for months.

There’s a quick way to test this. A free lux meter app on your phone. They’re not perfectly accurate, but they’re a thousand times better than guessing. Walk around your home holding it up next to each of your plants. You’ll likely have a moment where you go, oh.

I cover the proper ranges your plants actually want, what to do about variegated plants (which need significantly more light than the all-green ones), and how to supplement when your home just doesn’t have enough — all inside Houseplant Mastery. The Light module is the second one in the program and it’s the one most students tell me changed everything.

If you want to try one thing today — open a lux meter app and check the spot where your fussiest plant sits. That number alone will tell you a lot.

A quick note while I’ve got you. Houseplant Mastery is currently 50% off, doors close Sunday night, and there’s a 7-day money-back guarantee. If you get inside and it’s not for you, just tell me and I’ll refund you. No awkwardness.

Rich