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What is direct sunshine.

thez_yo

instigator
I had a question about how I grow my plants behind a window, and what I mean by 'direct sunshine'. Well - here it is:

DSC_0006.jpg


Where those bright stripes are - that is what you're looking for. IMHO I'd go for at least 4 hours of that on your Nepenthes if you're growing behind a window. You get that sort of exposure with an East or West facing window - with South it just beams straight down and doesn't actually go into a 'normal' flat window. I find my plants do the best in West. Yeah, I don't think I'm giving my plants enough light judging based on this photo.

Here there's a red arrow pointing toward the intensity of light you want to have (it's striped because of the blinds), and the hypothetical position of the sun in the sky as traced from where that sunshine-line is on the other blinds (drawn in blue).

brightsunshine-1.jpg


Also, a good way to tell if it's bright enough - see this dark blob? That's my finger 2-3 inches away from the leaf between the sunshine and the leaf - you should get sharp shadows if you've got enough light.

DSC_0016-1.jpg


here's that finger shadow outlined in peach

finger.jpg


here's my finger in the shot too

DSC_0017-2.jpg
 
I would call that "dappled" or filtered sunlight. Move the blinds out of the way and I might consider that direct sun even though it is filtered by the glass and/or screens on the window.
 
Nice guide, also your inner physicist is showing :p
 
Full sun would be out in an open field with no trees around where it would get 100% of the sunlight possible. Part shade is when it gets some sunlight and some shade throughout the day, that's how I grow my neps. Filtered sunlight is what you have shown in the pictures. If that was outside, it would be considered shade.

Your neps look good. :)

EDIT: Okay so apparently this is a guide and you didn't actually have a question... So what I wrote is to add to what you said. :0o:
 
I would call that "dappled" or filtered sunlight. Move the blinds out of the way and I might consider that direct sun even though it is filtered by the glass and/or screens on the window.

Yep, I completely agree. I guess I worded everything wrong :lol:. you want those bright stripes to not be stripes, but to be everywhere without any shady spots.

Nice guide, also your inner physicist is showing :p

Hahaha, oh really? Oops :blush:
 
she said direct not full. but direct sun isnt really a level of daily exposure. Plants in shady areas often recieve direct sunlight, just not for long portions of the photperiod.
 
I quantify the amount of light with my camera. If I can use an aperture of f4 with a shutter speed of 500, at least.
 
Nice thing about being this far North, is that South facing windows still get direct sun.

I an East facing window in mah room, and plants don't do well there. Even D. adelae gets etiolated. Because in the winter, the sun is too low on the horizon for it to get past my neighbour's house...
 
I always liked the phrase, "Bright Shade".
 
  • #10
Nice thing about being this far North, is that South facing windows still get direct sun.

I an East facing window in mah room, and plants don't do well there. Even D. adelae gets etiolated. Because in the winter, the sun is too low on the horizon for it to get past my neighbour's house...

Same, my south facing windows had to have black out curtains (especially my bedrooms) because it was just too bright to sleep past 6 AM, haha.
 
  • #11
Thez, only you would use Peach to highlight something. :D

Nice job on this thread. ;)
 
  • #12
And yes, I suppose it would also qualify as direct sunlight as opposed to indirect sunlight - e.g. reflecting off a building, snow, water etc. Just not full direct sunlight.
 
  • #13
Excellent... yeah. I figured just my top post wouldn't cover everything.. just what I've going on. Thanks kt :grin:

I'm still moving plants around since having moved to this new place to figure out where to best situate them. I can't really figure out how a plant is doing for a couple of months so maybe I'll have it figured out by next spring what works and what doesn't to have them at least make me one pitcher a piece. I want to pull those blinds out of the way, but also I don't want the next building over staring through my windows :lol:
 
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