Many indoor plants can benefit from being moved outside, but before you put them outside, you'd better get them ready for the change. Putting house plants out in direct sunlight on the first few warm days of spring could ruin all the work you did this winter keeping them alive.
Light provides the energy that plants use to manufacture food. So it should come as no surprise to learn that providing more light can improve the health and vigor of some house plants.
House plants with higher light requirement usually receive the most benefit from a move outdoors, while the benefits of moving plants with medium or low light requirements may not be worth the trouble. In fact, plants with lower light requirements may be injured by the higher outdoor light intensities, even after they are properly acclimated.
The light intensity in the interior of a well-lighted home is often less than 100 foot candles; in comparison, outdoor light intensity on a clear sunny day may exceed 10,000 foot candles. A comparison of the difference in the light intensities of these two environments explains why it critical to prepare house plants for a move outdoors.
Plants that have been indoors all winter need about three weeks to adapt to the increased sunlight before they can be placed in direct sun outside. The first step in getting plants ready for the move outdoors is putting them in the brightest windows in your home. This adjustment takes about a week for most plants.
Once plants are accustomed to the added light and you are sure that temperatures aren't going to drop below 45 degrees at night, it's time to move them to a shaded porch or garage. As is the case for the first step, this adjustment will take approximately one week.
During the final week of this acclimatization process, plants are moved under a heavily shaded area out in the yard. The shade provided by a tree or deck is suitable for this final step. Once plants have completed this acclimation, they can be moved to sunnier locations with little danger of sunscald.
Be sure to note that plants which have been moved outdoors generally use more water and will usually require more frequent watering. Also, when the time comes to move plants back inside, make sure that they are not hosting any insects that might take up residence in your home.
Frank Henning is the Clarke County extension agent for agriculture and natural resources, Georgia Cooperative Extension Service.