Different plants need different amount of sunlight. Are there different qualities of sunlight for plant growth?
For example, does a plant that gets sunlight from noon-3 get better quality light than the same plant that gets sunlight from 4-7?
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The suns’s intensity differs throughout the day because its distance and the thickness of the atmosphere differs relative to where you’re standing. At around noon, when the sun is directly above you, it’s closest to you and the light has the thinnest amount of atmosphere to get through to get to you. As the day goes on the sun is actually physically getting farther away, and because the light is traveling at an angle to where you’re standing, it has to pass through more atmosphere to get to you. That’s why it’s most important to have sun protection between 12-4.
When it comes to photosynthesis, plants have a trade off they have to deal with. The more sunlight light that comes in, the more oxygen that leaves the plant and that oxygen takes some water with it as it leaves. Different plants have different strategies to deal with that. For instance, some have a waxy “skin” called a cuticle that helps prevent water from leaving. Some have a better root system to bring in more water. They’re basically adapted to the specific habitat they’re native to. So if the plant is adapted to a lot of sunlight, it needs to get that intense sunlight between noon to and 4 PM to thrive. If it’s not adapted to a lot of sunlight, it will start to dry out unless it’s shaded during that time of day.
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