I just saw this info in an email and thought you might find it useful --


How to Sun Starve:

Put it in the shade. Move your pots inside or under a tree or to the north side of a building. It is important that they have light but not full sun. This makes the plant stretch and grow bigger leaves. Plants have survival instincts and know how to survive when the taller plants take most of the sun. When the shade comes, they start to get long stemmed and they reach for the sun. Their leaves grow in size to catch even the tiny shreds of sunlight that filter through the canopy above.Observing a patch of weeds can teach us all sorts of things. Could we plant a basil patch and when the plants reach a foot high then plant a sunflower or two between the herbs and the sun? The answer is of course, yes we can. Deliberately sun starving a plant is not commonly talked about but I'll bet there are culinary herb connoisseurs out there that swear by it. Sun starved plants may start to lighten in color and the leaves can turn white and die in complete darkness.This is why placing a 5 gallon bucket over plants might not be a very good idea but experiment away. So throw your plants into all kinds of situations like nature does. Did you know that a cayenne plant that lives in perfect conditions will not get as hot as the peppers from a cayenne that fought 105 degree weather, drought, bugs and harsh winds tearing it leaves to ribbons. There might only be a few tiny peppers but the quality is outstanding. This is why wild crafted herbs are more potent. They may not look as pretty but their workability far surpasses that of store bought stuff.

this backfires in a lot of ways .. leggy plants (plants with too little light) expend too much energy in growing stalk and leaves and less energy to fruits and roots .. not saying it doesn't have its place but it would warrant more experiment in your area with what you are growing

I had tomato plants one year I thought were getting TOO much sun so I move them back in the shade somewhat and I ended up with a bunch of great looking tomato bushes with a whack of green fruits that never ripened

but the concept does have merit for sure

...Jodi, the banana eating buddhist