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1. How Much Sunlight Does A Cannabis Plant Need?

We all understand that when plants are exposed to sunlight, they thrive. But how much light does a cannabis plant need to develop and blossom adequately? The primary reason we cultivate cannabis is to enjoy the benefits of our labor when it produces the most stunning buds. And one of the most crucial sources it needs is sunlight. Being knowledgeable about it can only benefit you and your crops. In this article, we’ll take a closer look at cannabis’ intense love for the sun, and we’ll show you how much cannabis sunlight your plants require to create a bountiful yield.

Importance of sunlight to cannabis plants

Light is required for cannabis plants to attain their full potential. When growing cannabis outdoors, the light source is sunlight, and the plants can absorb a lot of it. Because cannabis plants adore the sun, sunny locations are ideal for outdoor cultivation. The following are some of the reasons why sunlight is essential:

  • Through photosynthesis, cannabis sunlight aids plants in the production of stems and leaves. These stems and leaves subsequently play an essential function in receiving more sunlight, which is used to help the cannabis plant grow.
  • An adequate light cycle for cannabis frequently gives bigger yields and more buds. Although soil and water have a role in cannabis crop production, they do not have the same impact as sunlight on your plant’s growth. More light equals higher crops.
  • The growth cycle of cannabis plants is determined by sunlight. You can plant autoflowering cannabis numerous times a year with enough sunlight all year, such as in the sunny Southwest or Southeast.

If you cultivate pot outdoors, sunlight will be your primary light source. The correct light cycle for cannabis outdoors helps retain the advantage of producing higher yields.

How much light does a cannabis plant need outdoors?

Cannabis plants thrive best when exposed to 10–12 hours of direct sunlight per day. Cannabis plants, as you have probably seen with your own eyes, grow quite quickly and require a lot of solar energy to fuel their growth. Outdoors, however, healthy cannabis plants may be grown with a total of six hours of continuous sunlight. Remember that cannabis plants will grow slowly and thus produce smaller and lower-quality crops than plants that receive adequate sunlight.

Is it possible for cannabis to grow without direct sunlight?

Direct sunshine is by far the most effective technique to meet your cannabis plants’ lighting requirements. Is it possible for cannabis to grow in the absence of direct sunlight? Understanding the distinction between natural and reflected sunlight is critical. Growers are sometimes unable to cultivate their crops in open areas. In this instance, you can use a reflector to direct sunlight to your sun-grown cannabis. When grown in the partial shade outdoors, the crop still seeks sunlight and can have long incorrect branches. The bud’s growth is hampered, the output is reduced, and the resin is depleted.

Light cycle for cannabis plants

When growing, you must determine how much cannabis sunlight your plant will require, but you must also recognize that the sun is a source of both light and heat. It should be warm enough for your plant but not too hot. Temperatures ranging from 60-80°c are optimal.

Cannabis outside grow
Cannabis grown outside soaking up the sun’s rays

These temperatures can be challenging to bear in direct sunlight. In that case, you will need to concentrate on keeping your plant cool while also providing enough light. Provide water to cool the soil and roots and shade to cool the remainder of the plant. The amount of cannabis sunlight required by your plants depends on photoperiod or autoflowering. Here is an overview;

Photoperiod strains

Photoperiod strains are feminized seeds that are light cycle responsive. How much sunlight does this cannabis require? Photoperiod seeds have two life stages that can assist in answering this question:

  1. Vegetative.
  2. Flowering.

Crops require approximately 18 hours of daily sunlight during the vegetative phase. Only the roots and branches of the cannabis are forming at this stage. Sunlight absorption requirements for sun-grown cannabis to move to the blooming stage are reduced to 12 hours per day. It is critical to understand that you should keep the cannabis plants in complete darkness for the remaining 12 hours of the day. As long as the crops receive 15 hours or more of sunlight per day, they will remain in the vegetative phase. These plants require “short days” with plenty of sunlight and “long nights” with complete darkness.

Autoflowering strains

Autoflowering cannabis seeds require a considerable amount of sunlight but with a shorter period. Most are ready to be harvested in 10 weeks or less, and flowering begins in the fourth to the fifth week following germination. The quantity of darkness makes a difference. Autoflowers, unlike photoperiod cannabis, do not require an uninterrupted dark period to bloom. There can be no such idea as too much sunlight for autoflowers! They may experience 24 hours of light, which occasionally occurs in far-north places such as Alaska, and produce larger, bushier buds with higher yields as a result. However, it is recommended that autoflowers have at least 4 hours of darkness each night.

Are 13 hours of direct sunlight too much for cannabis?

No, not if you’re talking about autoflowering strains. However, it is only acceptable during the vegetative stage if it is a photoperiod strain. You should provide more cannabis sunlight and less darkness during the vegetative stage to accelerate growth. However, a 12/12 cycle is optimum during the flowering stage. When cannabis is exposed directly to sunlight during dark hours, its growth hormones are confused and may relapse to the vegetative state.

The difference between sunlight in the equator and hemispheres

There is a significant variation in the sunshine between the hemispheres and the equator. Because of the Earth’s orbit, its poles tilt toward the sun at different periods of the year; the Northern Hemisphere is nearest to the sun on the June solstice, and the Southern Hemisphere is nearest to the sun on the December solstice. The nearer a pole is to the sun, the more intense sunlight it gets, and the days are longer in the corresponding hemisphere. On the other hand, the equator remains constant in its distance from the sun. As a result, it receives 12 hours of sunlight every day of the year.

Picture of Janice Bernstein

Janice Bernstein

Janice has been on the cannabis scene for many years now, though she tends to keep to herself and might fly under the radar for many, even those well-versed in cannabis growing. Her writings on different methods of watering cannabis helped bring the use of reverse osmosis water to the forefront of cannabis gardening.𝕏

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