Choosing the best spot in your yard for light

Hey guys

So im about to start sowing seeds etc for my new season. SO excited man, cant even stop thinking about it.

Would love to hear some advice or shared experience from you veterans on selecting the best spot in your garden to plant or put your pots. I have literally counted the hours of how much direct sun is in certain areas of my garden and i have a veggie patch at the bottom which i think is the best fit considering the already fertile and well draining soil as well as the fact that it is quite sheltered from the wind when that will pick up in the next few months.

Im pretty OCD about things lol so i have found this area to be the best in my situation, got lots of trees and walls around me. I have counted that i get direct sunlight in that area from about 9 30 am to 4 30pm. Granted spring has only just arrived, I would imagine the days are going to get longer and the sun is going to be higher in the sky? So this area should get more direct sun.

Just really want to maximise my grow, the thought of popcorn buds and etiolated stems makes me crazy lol.

I have read online that cannabis needs a minimum of 6 hours of direct sunlight but i have come across some experienced growers that say they have achieved great yields on 4 of 5? Is there any truth to this?

Well what you have to remember is that the sun in the fall is lower then the sun in the summer. That has screwed me a time or two lol

I usually stick a long pole in the places I want to grow. I check them first thing in the a.m. then mid day then evening.

If the light isnt hitting the pole then I move it and check again.

Always worked for me

Hmm but then thats a good thing isnt it lol. Because in the fall plants are flowering? Im in the southern hemisphere so we are just beginning spring now.

I might also add something that i realised might also be a good thing about the potential spot i have chosen is that there are no lights around so the dark period is dark and light is light. This is good right? No interference with its dark periods

Second only to light is good air circulation, lots of air movement is crucial.

Hugo Phurst said:

Second only to light is good air circulation, lots of air movement is crucial.

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Yeah man lots of wind protection and wind circulation. There have been veggies we have grown there, lettuce, spinach, potatos etc but we talkin about DIE GANJA now so wondering if the great selassi is gonna approve lol

I second what ganja gurl said lol, my plants went from 11 hours direct light to 4-5 hours now and fading due to the sun moving south the past month.

Shit, well then i guess the only other reasonable thing to do, would be to plant one in the ground, and then have the rest in pots that i can move if the shit hits the fan? This is all a learning process but i dont want to have to learn while having a reduced yield lol. The only other place that could possibly work better is in my driveway where people can see in from the road, and its a wind tunnel. Gotta make do i guess

In the southern hemisphere you would want to place it so that it's open to the north sky. The sunlight you see now will be the same as the end of March. Morning sun is thought to be preferable to evening sun because it allows your plant to dry out from the overnight dew.

Backyard dirt said:

In the southern hemisphere you would want to place it so that it's open to the north sky. The sunlight you see now will be the same as the end of March. Morning sun is thought to be preferable to evening sun because it allows your plant to dry out from the overnight dew.

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Awesome ill do my best, damn it sucks having everything else perfect except for the sunlight hours. Tempted to grow on the roof of my garage but that is too windy, cant grow in the front of the house because the light from the street lamps will interfere with their dark periods. Calculated 6 to 7 hours max sun on the place where i want to plant sigh, gona have to just try it and see i guess

LOL, I had to give a dozen trees a chop to follow the sun. Don't worry though, they will be next year's heat in the wood boiler.

Wind is not a bad thing, 4 poles and a good net job in the middle and a outer layer net will be more than enough for almost any wind. It will help keep powdery mildew away, strengthen your branches as it sways, and dry it faster after a rain (more wind throughout the plant).

Ganga Gurl420 has it right, more sun the better for your girl.

Yeah might just have to put it on the roof then LOL. Fuck the neighbours. It has been made legal to grow in your private capacity here in SA recently but there are still stigmas and weird shit going on. Gonna have to build a shelter with shade netting on the roof then xD. Anything for the yield man

SuperNutz said:

LOL, I had to give a dozen trees a chop to follow the sun. Don't worry though, they will be next year's heat in the wood boiler.

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Iv got this damn avocado tree thats huge and blocking light, i would cut the whole damn thing down if i could but my mom wants the damn avos and the stupid thing didnt flower for years the last time we cut it

Joncoh101 said:

Yeah might just have to put it on the roof then LOL. Fuck the neighbours. It has been made legal to grow in your private capacity here in SA recently but there are still stigmas and weird shit going on. Gonna have to build a shelter with shade netting on the roof then xD. Anything for the yield man

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You might think about finding a spot where you can just do a raised bed, if you bump the plant a few feet in the right spot you might not have to go to the roof? I am not sure how that would work on your roof tbh, the roots wouldn't be able to anchor your plant to it

Hot air balloon maybe?

Yeah its a flat roof and would put the plants in these fabric pots filled with the soil mix, and then drill a frame down with shade netting that has holes cut in it so the wind doesnt blow it off the roof. I dunno lol just an idea. At this point im gona plant in the ground once the plants grow big enough in pots in the area that gets 6 to 7 hours and see what happens. Granted this is still early spring, the heat and longer daylight still has to come. Then i can plant the rest in moveable pots and situate them in different areas and maybe move them around during the day

Indirect light still grows plants
From spring to fall the amount of direct light varies on everyones outdoor grow
The number of hours of direct sunlight always changes
Moving plants generally equates to damaging plants

Yeah either way i am going to learn a big lesson from this grow. Going to plant in the ground in the veggie patch when the girls get nice and big, and lets see what happens. Ill plant some other ones in different spots just to see how they turn out. Who knows maybe ill be pleasantly surprised

Maybe 5 hours direct light.

This was back in August. There are trees east and slightly north of her, so they block the morning sun until it gets high enough, usually around 10 or 11, then there's the house to the west, which starts blocking the afternoon sun around 3 or 4, depending on what part of the growing season it is. When I planted her I made sure she was far enough from the fence that it didn't block the noon light, even though it's to the south. She lost a branch to a thunderstorm, and got knocked over, but she's still going.

CanadianJim said:

Maybe 5 hours direct light.
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This was back in August. There are trees east and slightly north of her, so they block the morning sun until it gets high enough, usually around 10 or 11, then there's the house to the west, which starts blocking the afternoon sun around 3 or 4, depending on what part of the growing season it is. When I planted her I made sure she was far enough from the fence that it didn't block the noon light, even though it's to the south. She lost a branch to a thunderstorm, and got knocked over, but she's still going.

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Woah man thats inspiring, how was or is the bud formation like? If theres any other peeps with plants that grew nicely from less than standard amounts of light please post them, very informative!