On a west sill a jade plant scores 60 out of 100, worth a try, under an estimated 7,800 lux, with the room at 21 °C and 45% humidity. Pull the pot a metre back and it holds at 58. Ten centimetres further, at 1.1 m, it falls to 41, and the rest of the room reads about the same.
Read on 14 October 2026, the top results mostly rank west alongside south or just behind it. Lively Root and Blooming Expert call a south or west window ideal, and Hardy House Plants calls west the next best bet. The doubts are about the afternoon. Simplify Gardening says west isn’t ideal because it faces the harsh afternoon sun, and suggests east. JOMO Studio would move a younger plant about a metre back from a large south or west window. Where a page gives a number, it counts hours of light, usually four to six. None gives a light level.
The scoring moves both doubts. The light on a west sill reads a little dim for a jade, right at the glass. And a metre back is the last place in the room that still passes.
Worth a try
It can work here with a little care.
A little dim, but workable
Comfortable temperature
A little humid, but workable
Airflow isn't quite ideal
Worth a try is as far as this window takes a jade. The sill the top results call ideal scores a point above an east sill and three below a south one, and no window in a house lifts this plant into a good fit. The north-window page sets all four sills side by side.
Is a west window too much sun for a jade plant?
First, the figures other people publish for a jade, each in the unit its source uses:
| Who publishes it | What it says a jade plant needs | What the figure is |
|---|---|---|
| extension.arizona.edu | 150–1000 foot-candles | listed under the heading "High Light (150–1000 fc)" |
| houseplantjournal.com | 200 FC (40 µmol) foot-candles | minimum indirect light level |
| houseplantjournal.com | 400 FC (80 µmol) foot-candles | good indirect light level |
| houseplantsnook.com | 400–800 foot-candles | chart fc level |
For light, no. On the sill the estimate is 7,800 lux, and the card reads it as a little dim, but workable. The brightest spot a west room offers still sits under this plant’s band. A south sill comes up short for a jade as well, and the jade light page explains why no indoor spot reaches the top of its range.
Heat needs a properly hot sill before it counts. Scored at 30 °C the sill is still worth a try; at 33 °C it turns into not the best fit right now. A monstera at the same glass changes verdict at 30 °C, so the succulent has the wider margin, though not by much.
Scorch is a real risk after a sudden move, and no score can see it, because a plant’s history isn’t an input. A jade coming off a dim shelf should reach the glass in stages.
How far back from a west window can a jade plant sit?
About a metre, with nothing to spare. Here is the same plant moved back from the glass, with extra steps around the edge:
| Distance from the glass | Estimated light | What the light is doing | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.3 m, against the glass | 7,800 lux | A little dim, but workable | Worth a try, 60/100 |
| 0.7 m back | 6,892 lux | A little dim, but workable | Worth a try, 59/100 |
| 1 m back | 6,000 lux | A little dim, but workable | Worth a try, 58/100 |
| 1.1 m back | 5,729 lux | Too dim here | Not the best fit right now, 41/100 |
| 2 m back | 3,780 lux | Too dim here | Not the best fit right now, 40/100 |
| 3 m back | 2,381 lux | Too dim here | Not the best fit right now, 39/100 |
The edge falls between 1 m and 1.1 m. At 6,000 lux the light is still workable and the score 58; at 5,729 lux it’s too dim and the score 41. Up to the edge the score barely moves, 60 down to 58 across 70 cm of floor. Past it, two and three metres read 40 and 39. Treat the 1 m row as the outer limit, since it sits right on the line. A hoya runs out of light at the same metre.
That is the strip the afternoon advice has to fit inside. JOMO Studio’s metre lands on the 1 m row, the last one that passes. Swapping to east, as Simplify Gardening suggests, leaves the plant less floor: an east window’s strip for a jade ends at about 60 cm. At 0.7 m, already past that, this table still reads 59.
Is a west window enough for a jade plant in winter?
From November to January, no. From February to October it passes, two months longer than an east sill. Here is the sill from the card on the 21st of six months, at latitude 40 degrees:
| The month | Estimated light | What the light is doing | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 5,070 lux | Too dim here | Not the best fit right now, 41/100 |
| February | 6,377 lux | A little dim, but workable | Worth a try, 58/100 |
| June | 9,360 lux | A little dim, but workable | Worth a try, 61/100 |
| October | 6,303 lux | A little dim, but workable | Worth a try, 58/100 |
| November | 5,023 lux | Too dim here | Not the best fit right now, 41/100 |
| December | 4,551 lux | Too dim here | Not the best fit right now, 40/100 |
February and October both read 58 here. On an east sill both months are already too dim. January and November drop to 41 and December to 40, when the estimate is 4,551 lux, just under half of June’s 9,360.
Scored day by day at latitude 40, the west sill passes from about mid-February to the end of October, and an east sill from about 10 March to the start of October. That’s seven weeks more each year, and between 35 and 52 degrees the lead stays at five to eight weeks. The day this page went up falls inside that gap: a west sill still passed at all four latitudes we ran, an east sill at none.
Depth goes before the sill does. At latitude 40 a pot 1.2 m back passes only from April to August, so a jade that spent the summer a step behind the sill wants to be on it by September. From November to January the one sill still passing is a south one, the same answer the east-window page gives.
How do you measure the light where your jade sits?
With a light meter, going by the number. The app has one:
Every lux figure on this page is an estimate from the window’s direction, the distance and a clear day, not a meter reading, and your room will differ. The line carries over: 6,000 lux passes for a jade and 5,729 doesn’t. Measure where the pot would stand, on a few bright days. A single reading in the full afternoon beam is a peak, so don’t let it decide the spot. The meter’s label covers both sides of the line, which is why the number matters more.
What if something shades the west window?
Then the edge moves toward the glass. A pot at 1 m is on the line already, so almost any shade tips it. The sill has more room: its 7,800 lux would have to lose nearly a quarter before it crossed. An eave or the building across the road may take that much off a west afternoon, and neither is an input here.
The west window guide lists what else suits the afternoon beam, and the free spot checker scores your own sill with live weather where you live.
Published October 14, 2026
