My aunt in Tucson made me question my whole houseplant setup

She came over last Tuesday and asked why my monstera was leaning toward the window like it was desperate. Then she pointed at my grow light and said that cheap LED setup I got off Amazon is way too weak for the square footage, like 3 feet across. She grows 200 orchids in her garage with nothing but south facing glass and a fan, and now I'm wondering if I should just move everything around instead of buying more gadgets. Has anyone else ditched their lights and just worked with natural window spots?

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harper2541mo ago

Oh boy, here we go with the plant perfectionists again. I mean cool for your aunt and her 200 orchids, but some of us just want a monstera that doesn't die, not a whole greenhouse operation. Honestly, I tried the "just use natural light" thing once and ended up with a plant that looked like it was auditioning for a horror movie, all leggy and sad. Maybe your cheap light is weak, but it's probably doing more than you think, and switching everything around is just gonna stress you out more. If the plant's alive and not actively trying to escape the pot, I'd say you're doing fine.

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