Anthurium Light Requirements & Needs – How Much Light Do Anthurium Needs?

Anthurium is one of the most commonly seen flowering plants in indoor gardens.

If you care for them properly, you can expect exotic flowers throughout the year. But, for proper blooming, one parameter is very important.

And, it’s nothing other than light.

But, oftentimes houseplant owners tend to miscalculate the light requirements and then blame the plant for not blooming.

If that sounds like you, don’t worry. 

I will be covering everything you need to know regarding anthurium light requirements in this article.

The topics include but are not limited to,

• Anthurium Light Requirements
• Is Anthurium Getting Too Much Light?
• How To Reduce Light For Anthurium?
• Is Anthurium Getting Very Little Light?
• How To Increase Light For Anthurium?
• Check How Much Light Your Anthurium Gets
• Lot’s more.

Without any fluffs, let’s get started.

Anthurium Light Requirements

Based on the anthurium’s natural habitat, they are rated to thrive in moderately bright environments. Too much light will make the plant dehydrated and cause sunburn, while too little light will make it very lean and leggy. To have a nice blooming every year, a perfectly balanced light is important.

For any plant to thrive, the plant owners need to provide the plant with an atmosphere as close as possible to its natural habitat.

In nature, anthuriums grow under a huge canopy of trees and they always get filtered indirect sunlight for 10 to 12 hours a day depending on the season.

So, to replicate this environment, you have to place them near a window sill or balcony where it gets the same hours of sunlight.

Even though anthuriums can tolerate a couple of hours of direct sunlight a day, it is recommended to provide filtered light. 

Is Anthurium Getting Too Much Light?

If you are familiar with how biological processes works in plants, you probably know that light is one of the three necessities for a plant to live.

But everything in moderation is the key to good health. Even for humans, this advice is true.

When your anthurium gets a lot more light than what it needs, the plant will show that it’s under stress through different signs like browning, curling and wilting of leaves, dry soil, no growth etc. 

Let’s have a brief description of each of the symptoms so that you can understand why this symptom happens in the first place.

1. Discoloration in leaves

When a plant is under stress, the leaves will start changing their colors. And when the anthurium plant gets too much light, the leaves will turn yellow and then brown.

This color change happens due to the sunburn caused by the scorching heat of direct sunlight.

When your anthurium receives too much light, the surface of the leaf will get heated. As a result, the plant cells start to die and the leaf color will change to yellow and eventually brown.

Once the majority of the leaf turns yellow and brown, then the plant won’t use its energy reserve on the particular leaf and it will dry.

2. Leaves curling and wilting

When an anthurium plant receives too much light, the leaves curl away from the source to protect the plant from further cell damage. As a result, you’ll notice curled, drooping, and fading leaves.

This phenomenon also happens at the same time as discoloration happens. In some plants, only one of these two will happen, while in others both discoloration and curling will happen.

Leaves curling and wilting are common signs for a variety of plant problems like overwatering, underwatering, overfertilization, etc.

Wilting happens during the hottest time of the day. So, if your anthurium is wilting during the midday you can be pretty sure that your plant is getting way too much lighter than its requirements.

3. No growth

As I already said, receiving too much light will make your anthurium’s plant cells die. As a result, the photosynthesis process slows down and the overall growth rate of the plant will decrease.

Again, this is not a piece of conclusive evidence since slow growth or stunted growth is a symptom of almost all plant problems.

4. Dry soil

If you are noticing your anthurium plant’s soil gets dry very quickly after watering, then there is a high chance that the plant is getting too much light.

It is a known fact that too much sunlight will vaporise the moisture content and make the soil super dry quickly.

But keep in mind that even other plant care problems like underwatering can also cause dry soil.

How To Reduce Light For Anthurium?

Now you are familiar with all the symptoms an anthurium plant will show if it’s getting too much light. And, if you are wondering how to reduce the light intensity here are a couple of ways.

The most stringent forward and easiest way to reduce the intensity of the light on your anthurium plant is to move the plant away from the window or balcony.

Even after moving if you feel like the sun is burning your plant, then you can try to use a diffuser to filter the sunlight. There are a lot of cheap light diffusers available which will do the trick.

If you don’t want to invest in a light diffuser, then purchase a semi-transparent curtain for your window.

Is Anthurium Getting Too Little Light?

Because of anthurium’s shade-loving nature in their habitat, many houseplant owners think that these plants will grow fine in low light areas as well. 

They are true. Anthuriums do grow in low light environments.

But, the growth will not be as bushy and fuller compared to a plant that is grown in a properly lit environment.

If you doubt that your anthurium is getting too little light, check for these symptoms. Never make any change to your setup without properly analyzing the situation.

1. Very Slow or Stunted Growth

There is nothing hard to understand here. Light is one of the three necessities for a plant to grow along with water and air.

Plants use sunlight to produce energy for all internal functions. The energy distribution is based on the priority of the functions.

When an anthurium plant gets very little sunlight, it can generate only a small amount of energy. And, the priority of the plant will always be to survive. So, the majority of the generated energy will be spent on surviving, and the growth rate starts to decrease.

At some point, there will be no energy left over to be spent for growth and the anthurium plant will completely stop new growth.

2. Lean and leggy

This is just an extension of the slow growth problem that we discussed earlier.

When your anthurium plant does not get enough light, with the limited energy it will try to move towards the light source.

As a result, the stems will become very lean and the number of leaves per stem decreases drastically. It will look very ugly and feels like your plant is leggy.

All those leggy leaves will be smaller than the already existing normal leaves.

3. Not blooming

This is the most obvious symptom that everyone is familiar with. Blooming is considered to be a highly stressful and energy-dependent process for an anthurium plant.

When the plant does not get enough light, at first the number of flowers (flower density) will start to decrease. As time goes by, the blooming will completely stop.

Not like pothos or monstera, anthurium plants are generally grown for their beautiful blooms and not the foliage. So, if your anthurium stops blooming then you have to fix the plant on priority.

4. Wet Soil

This is a symptom that depends on climatic changes. 

When your anthurium is exposed to sunlight, it will drive the photosynthesis process and the plant will use water. On the other hand, if it’s not getting enough light, photosynthesis will slow down and water usage will be reduced.

Also, under low light conditions usually, water won’t drain and dry fast. This may also lead to more water inside the pot.

But having wet soil is not conclusive evidence for very little light since many other care problems like overwatering, poor drainage facility, etc can also make wet soil.

How To Increase Light For Anthurium?

Now you know all the symptoms your anthurium shows if it gets very little to no light. And, if you see any of the obvious symptoms like stunted growth or not blooming, then you have to improve the lighting.

The easiest and cheapest way to increase the intensity of light is to move the plant towards the window. The South or west-facing window is a perfect spot for anthuriums during the growing and flowering season.

On the other hand, ff you are keeping your anthurium in a room where the natural sunlight is very limited, then the only practical solution to increase light is to add a full spectrum grow light.

Experts recommend LED grow lights since they are energy-efficient and long-lasting.

Check How Much Light Anthurium Is Getting

Till now we’ve been guessing whether your anthurium is getting too much or too little light based on the symptoms.

But many beginner plant owners are often bad at reading symptoms. Sometimes even I get confused.

So, in such situations, the best way is to do some tests and make a proper assessment.

In this case, to know whether your anthurium is getting too much or too little light, we can test the intensity of light at the spot where you are keeping your plant currently.

There are a couple of ways you can do that, but the most accurate method is to use a dedicated light meter.

Light meters or LUX meters are the equipment used by different professionals to measure the intensity of light at a particular spot. The professionals range from scientists to cinematographers.

Nowadays a lot of cheap digital light meters are available. And using them is also very straightforward.

Just point the light sensor area towards the light source from the spot where you want to test. The sensor will read the intensity and displays the value in the display provided. Most of the modern light meters can display readings in multiple formats. 

The most commonly used units are lux or foot candles.

For anthurium plants, the recommended light intensity is 800 to 1600 lux (74 – 150 fc).

Since you’re trying to figure out how much light your plant gets, try to get the metre as close to the leaves as possible, with the sensor pointed towards the light source, so that you can get an accurate reading.

If you don’t want to spend a few dollars on a dedicated light meter, then you can use a smartphone app that has this feature. Most of the latest smartphones have a light sensor, so all you have to do is download a light meter app from the app store or play store and point the sensor towards the light source.

Anthurium Light Requirements – Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

In this section, I will try to answer some of the commonly asked questions regarding anthurium light requirements.

Wrapping Up

Anthuriums are a treat to the eyes with their exotic flowers. But, if you want your plant to bloom all year round, then nailing down its light requirements is crucial.

Currently, if your plant is not blooming properly, then give your plant indirect bright light for around 10 hours a day and enjoy the compliments from your plant in the form of flowers.

Sources

To back up the information we provide in our articles, the Plantials team only uses high-quality sources published in peer-reviewed university or scientific research journals.

1. Photosynthetic Responses Of Anthurium × ‘red’ Under Different Light Conditions, Mid-Florida Research Education Center.
2. Responses Of Two Anthurium Cultivars To High Daily Integrals Of Diffuse Light, Science Direct.
3. Performance Of Anthurium Cultivars In Andamans, Indian Journal Of Horticulture.