In tight urban spaces one of the biggest problems is getting enough light and growing in appropriate conditions. I was concerned about the short time we have direct light for in the apartment and whether the cooking in the apartment was upsetting the plants in the living room so I tried a small experiment.

I took 3 chili seedlings that would have otherwise been binned and put them at three places in the apartment window, in two different rooms.

Position 1
Advantages: Longest light in the afternoon.
Disadvantages: In same room as kitchen so big fluctuation in temperature, maybe humidity.

Position 2
Advantages: Consistent temperature
Disadvantages: Limited light, balanced between afternoon and morning.

Position 3
Advantages: Longest light in the morning, consistent temperature.
Disadvantages: Very little light in the afternoon.

As you can see in position 1, the plant grew quite a lot but there is very obvious discolouration on the leaves. In position 2 we see slightly better growth and no noticeable discolouration. In fact the leaves are a dark green. In position 3 it’s clear that the plants has been struggling to reach for light as it cranes over (’photo-tropism‘ if my Junior Cert. biology doesn’t escape me!). The plant leaves are also thinner and smaller. This is also the only position where flowers haven’t started to form.

This confirms what I thought: (i) that getting the light in the afternoon is very important, perhaps more-so than morning light and (ii) the plants are somewhat disturbed in the living room / kitchen. The plants were put in very small pots for the experiment so it is possible that the discolouration was due to lack of nutrients. However, I have seen this dicolouration  before in our plants in that position so I am inclined to think there is something else at play. I’d be interested if anyone else had any thoughts on this.

The upshot is that we are going to try keep as much as possible in position 2 above – a mixture of constant temperature, and as much afternoon light as possible. 

The next challenge is to figure out what to do with the greenfly on a couple of the plants on the balcony. Does anyone have any tips? At the moment, we are washing them off with soapy water but this seems to only temporarily resolve the problem. Are ladybirds the answer?!