The Massive Monstera Book Club for 2026 has officially kicked off! I'm so excited to have you join us and can't wait to grow with you this year. First, in case you missed it here is a link to the literal 3.5-hour live stream where we hung out, talked plants, and what this next year entails.
Livestream Replay
Here's a quick text-based recap!
“Low Light” is Surviving, Not Thriving
One of the biggest misconceptions is that monstera are low light plants.
They’re not.
They are low-light "tolerant" plants.
That means that while yes, they can survive in lower light conditions. They won't thrive there. These plants grow in the tropics in full sun with no issue. They can handle your finest windowlight with ease. In many places, even that isn't enough for them.
If you're monstera doesn't receive enough light it will:
- Produce smaller leaves
- Lose fenestrations
- Stretch awkwardly toward windows
- Slow down growth dramatically
- Be more prone to root rot as the pot doesn't dry out quickly enough.
This is especially common in homes where the plant is sitting a few feet away from a window and receiving only indirect ambient room light.
During the livestream, we spent a lot of time talking about PPFD.
PPFD stands for Photosynthetic Photon Flux Density. In simple terms, it measures how much usable light your plant is actually receiving for photosynthesis.
This matters because not all light is equal. A room can feel bright to you while still delivering very little usable light to your plant. Without getting too deep into the weeds here, your plants "see" light differently than you do. "Brightness" does not equal lots of energy.
During the livestream I used a PPFD meter to check how much energy my windowlight plants were receiving. Even leaves that were pressed up against the glass were only receiving around 50 to 65 PPFD. That is enough for a monstera to survive, but not enough to push the kind of rapid growth we want.
Let's compare those numbers to our grow lights
- The T1S grow light positioned 1 foot from the plant measured around 250 PPFD
- The Sansi 36W bulb at roughly 1 foot away measured around 450 PPFD
- A Barrina TR40 varied depending on the beam angle but could produce a focused beam well into the 800 ppfd range.
Not only are these grow lights are vastly outperforming our window light, they can run for 16 hours per day.
So..... How Close Should Grow Lights Be?
There is no universal answer because every light is different but for most standard grow lights, a good starting point is around 1.5 to 2 feet away from the foliage.
For stronger concentrated lights, especially lights like the Barrina TR40, starting farther away is safer. For that light, try around 2.5-3 feet at first while you monitor how your plant responds.
The goal is not to blast your plant with maximum intensity on day one.
The goal is gradual acclimation.
How To Acclimate a Monstera to Higher Light
The first step of our journey is acclimating our plants to higher light levels. While most or our plants were likely recently hanging out in florida, some may have been indoors on shelves for a few months. We need to take our time reintroducing higher light levels to our plants so that they don't burn.
Even if the plant eventually wants stronger light, the leaves still need time to adapt.
Start Conservative
Begin with the light farther away than you think you need.
For many setups:
- Start around 2 feet away
- Run the light for about 12-14 hours per day for 3 days
Then watch the plant closely for signs of stress. These signs could include
- Bleaching
- Burn spots
- Crispy edges
If you see stress, either:
- Pull the light farther away
- Or shorten the duration your lights are on.
If your plant isn't ready for high light yet now, that doesn't mean it won't be with more time. We simply need to ease the plant into it slower. The goal doesn't change. We want the light as close as possible if we want to maximize our growth rate.
Increase Slowly
Once your plant has acclimated to the initial position you set you can start to increase the energy you are giving your plant. Over the next 1 to 3 weeks, slowly move the light closer day by day until the light fully covers the leaves of the plant. Keep pushing the light forward until going any further would cause some leaves to be left in the dark.
Once you have the light close, without signs of stress, you can start increasing the run time of the lights up to 16 hours per day
This is the most important part of the process.
Massive monstera start with high light, all the fertilizer in the world can't make up for lighting. It's the foundation that we will build this challenge on so don't skip this step. It is vital to you, and your plant's success.
From here on out every new leaf you get should be bigger than the one before it, and have more fenestrations.
Catch you next week where we will talk about soil, versus hydroponics and recommended fertilizers.