Does a little light at night effect fruiting of fruits and vegetables?

Discussion in 'Fruit and Vegetable Gardening' started by lee68, Mar 10, 2009.

  1. lee68

    lee68 Member

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    Location:
    Indiana USA
    Hello. This question is mainly geared towards blueberries and some vegetables. I would like to know if a bit of light at night will effect fruiting of fruits or vegetables such as blueberries, strawberries, tomato, melons, etc..

    I live in a small city and my garden plot will be located near an alley that see's a few vehicles every night. Will be vehicles headlights mess up fruiting in fruits or vegetables?

    I want to plant some blueberry, tomato, strawberry, melons etc.. My plan is to make a small raised bed for the strawberries, and I can cover this at night with a tarp if needed. I wouldn't be able to cover the blueberries at night due to their 5ft-8ft size. I'm really wanting to plant blueberries for the nice fall/winter colors and of course to eat the delicious fruit.

    I also want to plant some blueberries in a row to take the place of an old rotten wooden fence. However the neighbors back porch light is only about 15-20 feet away from where I want to plant. Sometimes they have the light on late at night for a few hours around midnight or after. I mainly want to plant in that spot for landscaping, blueberry plants have nice fall/winter colors and flair that I'm looking for. But if a bit of stray light will hinder or offset fruiting then I'll probably just replace the fence with another fence.

    Thanks for reading
     
  2. JanR

    JanR Active Member

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    Lakeland, Manitoba
    I don't think the light will cause a problem. I live out in the country and have a dusk to dawn security light that is on all night. It is quite bright and doesn't seem to stop anything growing.
     
  3. growest

    growest Active Member 10 Years

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    Location:
    Surrey,BC,Canada
    Our crops pretty well all are summer fruiting/flowering anyway, so a light interrupting the dark night period would only reinforce the short nights anyway (it is actually the length of dark that plants respond to, not length of light). As well, I haven't heard of any common food plants that are extremely sensitive to light such as you're describing.

    On the other hand, poinsettias will fail to set flower buds if even a very brief light flash occurs during the required long night initiation period...this is why growers use special blackout curtains for this crop.
     

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