Full sun vs full sun

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The one on the left receives direct sun from about 12 PM to sundown. The one on the right gets full sun from around 7 AM till the sun vanishes from the horizon. As far as insolation is concerned, both plants benefit from direct sunlight, and yet the results are vastly different. Because as you can see, not all "full sun" are equal.


A week ago, I saw a post on Facebook about an Echeveria 'Black Prince' that appears etiolating, with conspicuously brightish green leaf bases. According to the owner, her plant receives "full sun", but having seen hundreds, if not thousands, of succulents, I know what "full sun" does to plants. And her plants certainly do not fall into the category. When I inquired about the length of time, she said it's 8 hours. My plants (when pertinent, because this logically excludes the ones that prefer more shade) receive roughly 11 hours of full sun every day. It would have been more if not for the mountain range that stretches from our eastern corridor (not that I'm complaining), but you get the idea. Three hours may not seem much, but that's a 21-hour difference per week, or roughly 84 hours per month. So in the long run, there's just a mountain of a difference between plants grown in "full sun" for a limited amount of time versus one that gets it throughout the day. And I believe that this should be addressed because I frequently see photos of plants that supposedly are under "full sun" but the appearance says otherwise, or the plants are standing next to a wall. Full sun is defined by full exposure from sun up to sundown. Full access while the sun is out. If the plants are benefitting from the sun only for a limited amount of time, then these are not getting 'full sun' but 'direct sun' and the time duration should be specified. One may argue that my plants aren't really getting 'full sun' because of the above-mentioned mountain range that blocks the sun in the early morning hours, but in the full ferocity of the tropical sun, it really does not matter. In the examples shown here, the one getting full insolation is darker and more compact. In shorter daylight hours, the leaves begin to stretch in an effort to reach for the light. Additionally, the foliage is less firm and there is an overall lack of vigor, though novices usually won't appreciate the difference until the plants have reached the point of downright fugliness. The leaf bases of 'Black Prince' are normally green, but plants that aren't getting enough have the green a paltry hue whereas specimens in harder conditions have a deeper green that is heavily overlayed with anthocyanin (dark) pigmentation.

Another matter that needs clarifying is the term "full sun" itself. If your plants are under some form of shading, no matter how wispy, then it isn't full sun anymore, but 'filtered sun'. So get your definitions right, kids!

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