{"id":623840,"date":"2026-09-22T11:48:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-22T11:48:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/623840\/"},"modified":"2026-09-22T11:48:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-22T11:48:12","slug":"houseplant-hacks-can-mirrors-and-foil-boost-low-sunlight-houseplants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/623840\/","title":{"rendered":"Houseplant Hacks: can mirrors and foil boost low sunlight? | Houseplants"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The problem<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Most houseplants are hungry for sunlight, which is in short supply during a UK winter. Plants on a shelf or coffee table often get insufficient light, so they stretch, lean and thin out. Not\u00a0everyone can move their plant to a south-facing sill, so the hunt is always on to make the most of what little light there is.<\/p>\n<p>The hack<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Place tinfoil, a mirror or a sheet of white card behind your plants to bounce natural light. The theory is that light is redirected on to the plant, giving it a more even, generous dose.<\/p>\n<p>The method<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Position a reflective surface behind or beside your plant. A mirror gives the most powerful reflection; kitchen foil works if you keep it as flat and smooth as possible. Rotate the plant pot occasionally for even growth.<\/p>\n<p>The test<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">I set a mirror behind a leggy <a href=\"https:\/\/go.skimresources.com\/?id=114047X1572903&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.rhs.org.uk%2Fplants%2F131510%2Feuphorbia-trigona%2Fdetails&amp;sref=https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/lifeandstyle\/2026\/sep\/22\/houseplant-hacks-can-mirrors-foil-boost-sunlight\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" rel=\"sponsored noreferrer noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">Euphorbia trigona<\/a> that had been leaning hard towards the window. The reflected light noticeably softened the lean. Foil worked too, though it didn\u2019t look great.<\/p>\n<p>The verdict<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">A mirror is the most effective and by far the most attractive option, but make sure it doesn\u2019t get direct sunlight or it could be a fire risk. I\u00a0wouldn\u2019t use foil, as it looks like a\u00a0messy science project scattered through the house.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The problem Most houseplants are hungry for sunlight, which is in short supply during a UK winter. Plants&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":623841,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[85,46,141],"class_list":["post-623840","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-science","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/623840","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=623840"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/623840\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/623841"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=623840"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=623840"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=623840"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}