How many hours of sunlight?

[TexasTomat0]

I transferred seedlings into my raised beds at the end of Feb/beginning of March, and they started off great. Lots of growth, healthy looking plants. Fast forward a few months and the trees lining my fence have leafed out. Long story short, I my hurry to get started I didn't think about shade. Now they're getting 3-4 hours of morning to noon sunlight and about an 1-2 hours of afternoon sun as the sun is setting.

From your experience, is this enough sun to grow healthy and productive plants? Everything seems to have slowed down, but I don't know if that is me being impatient or if it is from lack of sunlight.

[AlittleSalt]

The shade will slow growth is what I have noticed in our gardens. Although, if you are able to oversummer your tomato plants - the shade during the hottest part of the day will be a good thing.

[TexasTomat0]

That was what I was telling myself could be the silver lining. As you know, it get HOT here. Hopefully the shade will help carry the plants over until it starts to cool back down again in... December.. maybe? It was something like 85 degrees on X-mas this year. I'm about to start my 2nd round of seeds that will go in fabric pots - hoping to try some fun multicolored varieties soon.

[oakley]

Originally Posted by TexasTomat0

That was what I was telling myself could be the silver lining. As you know, it get HOT here. Hopefully the shade will help carry the plants over until it starts to cool back down again in... December.. maybe? It was something like 85 degrees on X-mas this year. I'm about to start my 2nd round of seeds that will go in fabric pots - hoping to try some fun multicolored varieties soon.

My thoughts as well. It will be good to know by circumstance. Embrace the experiment.
Starting another round of seed is also great...pots can be moved and adjusted to the
weather/sun exposure.
I'm far north but grow salads all summer with shade frames during our hot July/August.
(most give up and say it can't be done)

[SteveP]

My garden is also shaded from 2 large trees on the other side of the fence, but that doesn't happen until around 2:30-3:00pm. So my garden gets roughly 8 hours and it seems to be plenty. The plants seem to enjoy the shade in the afternoon. Once summer get here and the sun is high in the sky, will that give your garden more sunshine?

[TexasTomat0]

No, it's actually making it worse. My garden faces south so as the sun rises the tree shades more and more of the area. The light slides in under the canopy in the morning, gets blocked mid day, and there is another gap where it gets through in the afternoon.

[SteveP]

I guess give it a try this year and see how it works out. It might work fine.

[UFXEFU]

Tomatoes require 6 to 8 hours of sun for production, however they will do much better in full sun when the temps do not exceed mid 80s. If temps are in the 90 to 100 range then some shade may be beneficial.

My tomatoes are in full sun, no shade at all. I have found that when temps get in the 90 to 100 range that if I water very heavy they still set some fruit and produce, but at a reduced rate.

[AlittleSalt]

There's no shortage of 90-100+ days here in Texas. We had 90+ degree days in April this year.

[Gardeneer]

I have gardened with about 4.5 hours of direct sun in cool PNW. ( ~ 12 noon to 4:30pm).
It was tough . In Atlanta, GA I did with ~ 7 hours . It was perfect there.
Now in NC, my garden gets more than 10 hours of direct sun. So far it is great but I imagine it will be a killer in July/August. So I think in the heat of the south (like Texas )5 hours should be fine.
Keep in mind that direct sun is not the only source of light that plant use for their photosynthesis.
Indirect light ( shade) is not equal to total darkness.

PS: Full Sun means 6+ hours of direct sun.

[BigVanVader]

My garden is shaded starting around 2:30 now but by mid summer it will be more like 5 o'clock. My little cold frame gets sun pretty much all day and I will need to get shade cloth this year since last year my plants really started struggling by mid July. My first season here I grew JBT in mostly shade and it produced well for a few months. So I guess I find the shade is helpful in hot/humid areas.

[franknmiss]

I have almost exactly the same situation here in Mississippi. South facing garden with an 8 foot neighbor fence, large tree on his side of fence and overhanging trees to the North. It's the best I've got on my city lot.
I actually get more sun this time of year and less later as the sun gets higher in the sky. I think 5-6 hours max (maybe). This is my 5th year in this spot and surprisingly it does OK - plants growing good now in the cooler spring temps and they survive better and actually put on some fruit later in the brutal July and August heat. I'll bet yours will too.
I would give it a shot.
Frank

[jtjmartin]

TT:

Over the last 3 years I've been clearing out the woods and creating more garden space. Tomatoes grew the first year with about 4 hours of direct sunlight and then some dappled light. Production was low - but they did produce. Now, my best space gets 7 to 8 hours of direct sun. I expect much better production.

I'm trying white plastic mulch in the "darker" areas to increase light this year - others have used reflective mulch. With your hotter Texas heat - white mulch would probably be even better!

I also noticed that some tomatoes produced much better in lower light. Cherry tomatoes were great.

I'm also growing some dwarfs in decorative pots. I can sneak these into areas that get more sun but aren't suited to a traditional garden.

I agree with Gardeneer that all light is not equal: direct sun in PNW is not the same as direct sun in Texas. Go for it!

[zipcode]

Should be ok. Morning sun is a good thing, it quickly kills any morning dew, so helps with foliar diseases.
It also depends how 'dark' that shade is. Reflected light from anything matters. A lot more than it seems. I get away with very good production with 4-5 hours of direct afternoon light, but the building in front of me, whiteish, reflects a decent amount of that morning sun towards me.
Also space your plants accordingly, maybe prune, etc.

[TexasTomat0]

Thanks for all of the input everyone, the plants seem to be doing fairly well. Decent amount of fruit on them, and healthy looking. I've got one raised bed trained to 1 stem and am doing the lean and lower method, and the other beds (that do receive more sun) I've let go with minimal training and pruning (just stringing them up with clips). It will be nice to see which method works best for my my limited space. I'm also going to be putting out a few more plants in fabric pots that I can move around depending on their needs.