Winter Sun and the Greenhouse
Where I live the cold months of December and January are limited when it comes to sun. Others might live a little more to the south and would receive around twenty five percent more sunlight than I do. No matter how much sunlight you actually get in the winter there are a few changes you can make to optimize light for your plants.

Posted Thursday, April 13, 2006

It is not hard to determine how much sunlight you get during a day during a certain month; all you have to do is look out your window. If you are getting less than ten hours of sun light a day, you need to watch your greenhouse carefully: despite the constant sunshine, you could actually be getting less than five hours of real light inside the greenhouse. When the days shorten, the sunshine shortens, and the growing season in your greenhouse slows.

Some of the alternatives you have are to use grow lights. Using grow lights sparingly for portions of the day and by using reflective pieces of material with your grow lights will spread the lights through out the greenhouse. If you find that the sun is not strong during December and January you could easily make this your ‘between’ season. You could start getting ready to plant your seeds during the early and mid parts of January and then as the days start to get longer you can plant your seeds and make use of the solar sun for growing in your greenhouse once again.