How do I measure the amount of sun I get?

Well, I ordered a light meter, knowing I won't remember to follow through on measuring light on my own.

On 9/17/11 12:32 AM, a1flors wrote:
How do I measure the amount of sun I get?

Well, I ordered a light meter, knowing I won't remember to follow
through on measuring light on my own.

I don't think you need to measure the intensity of sunlight. You should
merely observe the pattern and timing of light versus shade as the day
progresses.

Plants are generally classified as requiring sun, part sun, part shade,
and shade. These are broad classifications.

sun: The plant is in full sun at least 6 hours per day with any shade
at the beginning and end of daylight.

part sun: The plant is generally in the sun but gets a hour or two of
intermittant shade in the middle of the day. This might even be 3 hours
of broken shade.

part shade: The plant is generally in shade but gets 1-2 hours of
intermittant sun in the middle of the day or only at the beginning and
end of daylight.

shade: The sun does not shine at all on the plant. (In this case, the
plant likely still needs strong indirect light.)

In some cases, the classification only provides for sun, part sun, and
shade. In this case part sun means the plant receives intermittant
sunlight during approximately half the daylight hours.

--
David E. Ross
Climate: California Mediterranean, see
http://www.rossde.com/garden/climate.html
Gardening diary at http://www.rossde.com/garden/diary

a1flors writes:

How do I measure the amount of sun I get?

Well, I ordered a light meter, knowing I won't remember to follow
through on measuring light on my own.

Light meter???

For gardening purposes, full sun is where you get the sun all day.

Partial is the sun blocked a few hours by buildings, trees.

Full shade is less than 3 hours.

It's not photography.

Please note, Garden Banter is a gateway into Usenet, where most
of your replies will come from.

--
Dan Espen