How can I measure light intensity?

[lolie]

Pretty much everything comes with instructions saying it likes "full sun", "part shade" or something similar, but "full sun" means very different things at different times of the year and even at different locations within my yard.

I've ordered a cheap moisture/light meter off e-bay, but before I order a more expensive digital version I was wondering whether they can really give me the information I need.

Will it be able to tell me whether the light on my kitchen window sill is enough to count as "sunny" or will it only count direct sunlight as "light".

Obviously plenty of vegetables grow in regions with less intense sunlight than Australia, so is "direct sun" even that important or will a longer daily period of exposure to less intense sunlight work just as well for many plants?

[Bigmallly]

That's a difficult question to be asking on a UK based forum lolie.......................here we try to get the most exposure from the sun on most plants although there are certain ones that will grow in shade or partial shade so many plants are south facing, in your case, the sun will most likely be more intense so maybe you use shading materials to protect the plants from the sun...........I hope someone can answer your question but it's out of my scope.

[Alison]

I think you're over thinking it as light intensities will vary from day to day. Just start growing things and you'll soon see how they thrive and that will tell you much more than any technology.

From your reference to Australia do I take it that you are based there? Mind you, that's a big country so advice will vary there too I guess.

[bearded bloke]

Alison, OP is based in Sydney


Best bet really is to look at what local commercial growers are doing

[lolie]

That's a difficult question to be asking on a UK based forum lolie.......................here we try to get the most exposure from the sun on most plants although there are certain ones that will grow in shade or partial shade so many plants are south facing, in your case, the sun will most likely be more intense so maybe you use shading materials to protect the plants from the sun...........I hope someone can answer your question but it's out of my scope.

Oh definitely. My challenge for much of the year is getting enough light without getting too much heat.

What I've realised over the last few days, though, is that there are similarities about our challenges regardless of location - which leads into what bearded bloke said about commercial growers. Very often what commercial growers are doing is total climate control.

While I intend purchasing some poly tunnels and shade tunnels, I want my gardening to remain fairly simple and low tech.

I probably am over thinking it. I move containers around at the moment to try to limit the damage from unfavourable weather but I'm planning on constructing some raised beds for SMG over the next few weeks and I'm acutely aware that choosing the wrong location could be devastating if I don't consider in advance how I'm going to deal with adverse conditions.

Up until now, my planning has never really gone beyond "I'll grow some X" and throwing seeds in a pot based on the recommendations on the packet. This year I want to plan for long, continuous harvests and not leave everything to luck.

In only a few days, I've had so many "I didn't know you could do that" moments here - the wealth of knowledge here is exceptional.

[Bigmallly]

It looks like you are already on the way to succeeding, Poly for heat loving crops, shading for cooler loving crops........the only thing I can suggest is growing crops suitable to your climate just like I can't grow most tropical fruits due to different climates.

[veggiechicken]

I'm a simple soul. Light intensity to me just means getting to know your patch of land, observing how the sun moves around it during the year. Where the sun rises at different times of the year, what casts a shadow (trees, neighbouring buildings).
I know the sunniest spots and windowsills, where the sun rises and sets in midsummer and midwinter. The reverse also - where the shady places are, the ones that receive little direct sun, which bits will stay frosty ..........and so on.
If you've lived in the same place for a while, you absorb these things without realising it. No need for meters, just instinct.

[lolie]

It looks like you are already on the way to succeeding, Poly for heat loving crops, shading for cooler loving crops........the only thing I can suggest is growing crops suitable to your climate just like I can't grow most tropical fruits due to different climates.

I think I'll make extensive use of potting on to get through the "4 seasons in one day" which happens a lot during autumn and spring. Yearly averages aren't a lot of use as they use data from the last 30 years and over the last decade we rarely seem to have gotten "average" conditions.

I might have to think about what I can easily artificially replicate. Many people put flower bulbs and bonsais in their fridge here for a while to give them the prolonged cold they need. Maybe that's an option for vegies which need cold early in their life.

[Alison]

Alison, OP is based in Sydney

Would be very helpful to have that in their header bar as although as the OP rightly says, challenges can be very similar in some ways, the climate is very different to most of us here and it would prevent us pointing in the wring directly due to opposite seasons and very different climate

[bearded bloke]

lolie, do you have Aldi in Aus ? if so & you make your raised beds a metre square you could use this for heat loving plants ... https://www.aldi.co.uk/raised-bed-po...68881025022105 ... & this for those that like it a little cooler ... https://www.aldi.co.uk/raised-bed-fl...68881025021904 ... if you have a problem with birds pecking at crops that don't need heat/light protection ... https://www.aldi.co.uk/raised-bed-ne...68881019176800

Even if these are not immediately available you might be able to replicate something similar


As an aside for UK members the items above are in store this Thursday coming

[bearded bloke]

Would be very helpful to have that in their header bar as although as the OP rightly says, challenges can be very similar in some ways, the climate is very different to most of us here and it would prevent us pointing in the wring directly due to opposite seasons and very different climate

Yep, agreed Alison, I've asked Admin to add it to the profile

[lolie]

Yep, agreed Alison, I've asked Admin to add it to the profile

Thank you.

[jackarmy]

I have always been led to believe that "full sun" simply meant that the plant is situated so that it is able to receive at least 6 hours of sunlight a day ( weather pemitting of course

[Bigmallly]

I have always been led to believe that "full sun" simply meant that the plant is situated so that it is able to receive at least 6 hours of sunlight a day ( weather pemitting of course

I think 6 hrs of UK sun & 6hrs of Aussie sun are different ball games.

[jackarmy]

Indeed they are Bm, strenthwise , but 6 hours is still six hours i think