If you’re trying to decide where to plant your poblano peppers in your yard, don’t fret! We have some answers for you.
Poblano peppers need at least 6 hours of direct sunlight, but they do best with 8-10 hours each day. The correct amount of sunlight is important because it is the driving energy force behind photosynthesis. Excessive amounts of sun can lead to damaged PSII protein complexes and sunscald; not enough sun can lead to stunted growth and lower yields.
Read on to learn why it’s important for poblanos to get the right amount of sunlight!
How much sunlight does a poblano pepper plant need?
So how much sunlight do poblanos need, and why?
Poblano pepper plants do best with 8-10 hours of direct sun each day. They absolutely need at least 6 hours, and any less is detrimental. Sunlight is the driving energy force behind photosynthesis. Poblano pepper plants are large, bushy, and have high yields- hence needing a lot of energy!
Photosynthesis is the act of using energy from the sun to synthesize a plant’s own food source.
Plants need three things to photosynthesize:
- Carbon dioxide
- Water
- Sunlight
Sunlight is the driving force behind photosynthesis. In order to take water and CO2 molecules and turn them into sugar, plants use energy from the sun to reorganize all the atoms into glucose and oxygen.
This is why sunlight is essential for plants! Different plants need a different amount of sun to undergo their required amount of photosynthesis.
Poblano peppers require full sun with direct light for at least 6 hours a day. That being said, poblanos thrive best with 8-10 hours of direct sun each day.
Why do poblano pepper plants need so much light? It’s actually quite simple.
Remember how each plant needs to undergo a certain amount of photosynthesis to survive and flourish? Well, poblano peppers produce a lot of fruit – up to 40 poblanos per plant. They can also grow to be quite large.
In order to do this, they need quite a bit of energy. And to make so much energy, they need a lot of sun!
Effects of too much sunlight on a poblano pepper plant
We often think about the effects of too little sunlight on plants, but what about too much sun?
Effects of too much sunlight on a poblano pepper plant include:
- Damaging PSII protein complexes
- Sunscald
PSII protein complexes are vital to photosynthesis and need to be repaired in order for photosynthesis to continue. Meanwhile, sunscald is a tan burn that peppers develop when they’re overexposed to the sun.
Damaging PSII protein complexes
Time to dive pretty deep into some plant science!
One effect of too much sunlight on a poblano pepper plant includes damaged PSII protein complexes. Simply put, PSII protein complexes turn light photons into electrons that allow your pepper plants to undergo photosynthesis. When the PSII protein complexes get hurt, your plant will have trouble photosynthesizing.
Let’s get a little sciencey here! Don’t worry, we’ll break it down.
First off, the technicals: excessive sunlight “destroys the ability of PSII to function,” and they need to be repaired in order to get back to photosynthesizing.
Now, what the heck is a PSII?
PSII stands for photosystem II. It’s the first protein complex (a set of proteins) in light-dependent reactions (photosynthesis) of plants.
Within PSII, enzymes collect photons of light and, through a series of complex reactions, turn them into electrons.
These electrons can then go about helping photosynthesis take place.
Sunscald
Ugh, sunscald!
One effect of too much sunlight on a poblano pepper plant includes sunscald. Sunscald happens when there isn’t enough foliage to protect the poblano peppers from excessive sun. Sunscald is a tan burn that results from the fruit being overexposed to sunlight.
The second main drawback of too much sunlight is the development of sunscald. Sunscald is a tan burn that appears on poblano peppers when they get too much sun.
Most poblano pepper plants have enough leaves to protect their fruit from sunscald. But sometimes they aren’t protected enough, often caused by:
- Excessive pruning
- Bacterial leaf spot causing plants to drop their leaves
You can eat around sunscald, but it’s still not ideal and would ruin a crop if you want to sell.
Effects of too little sunlight on a poblano pepper plant
Now let’s go in the opposite direction- what about not enough sun?
Effects of too little sunlight on a poblano pepper plant include:
- Stunted growth
- Lower yields
Both are the result of the plants not having enough energy from the sun to undergo an adequate amount of photosynthesis.
Stunted growth
The last thing you want is stunted growth.
One effect of too little sunlight on a poblano pepper plant includes stunted growth. When poblano pepper plants don’t get enough sun, they aren’t able to photosynthesize as much as they need to. This means they won’t have enough energy to put into growth, and everything will be stunted including height, speed, size, and fruits.
When poblano peppers don’t get enough sun, all aspects of their growth can be stunted – height, speed, size, and number.
Without enough sun, poblano plants don’t have adequate energy to grow properly.
Lower yields
The whole point of growing poblano peppers is to get high yields!
Another effect of too little sunlight on a poblano pepper plant is lower yields. Under the right conditions, poblano pepper plants can produce up to 40 peppers each season. However, without enough sunlight, poblanos can’t photosynthesize as much as they need to. This results in less fruit production.
Lower yields go along with stunted growth.
When poblano peppers don’t get enough hours of sunlight, they don’t have the energy to undergo as much photosynthesis as they need to in order to produce the highest yields possible.
