Can Fertilizing More Often Make Up for Shorter Periods of Sunlight Each Day

At my new apartment I have dappled sunlight and it only lasts about 6 or so hours a day.  If I use my organic fertilizer more often than the package says, would it help the plants to grow more leaves and, thus, have more ability to photosynthesize to maximize the sunlight we do have?  What are some other techniques I can use to maximize what we have?  I won't deny I thought about whether I should find a way to mount a grow light out there and run it at night to increase lit time.  I'm not ready to do that yet though, so I want to try other things first.

I don't think that would work. Plants can only "eat" so much fertilizer and then the rest just gets washed out when you water or burns the plants.

To make the best of the situation, grow plants that like shade. You'd be surprised how many shade loving plants there are out there. And if you are in a very hot climate, there are actually a lot of plants that like a break from the sunlight when it gets really hot.

Do you get any sunlight at all? I'm sure we can help you come up with a list of plants that will like your location.

I am of the same opinion as Jenny.

Fertilizing will not make up for lack of sunlight and might contribute to leggy plants.

Creating a micro-climate is what most folks do to increase sunlight.

Do you have a big mirror you can put behind the plants to do the micro climate?

If you dont have a mirror then maybe artificial lights aka plant lights or even aluminum foil would work for you.

Okay, thanks so much guys, that makes sense that too much fert can be dangerous for my plants, even the organic stuff.  I am feeling drawn to Ann's idea about a mirror, I could prop it up against the chairs and it would essentially double the intensity of the sunlight in the morning when there is indeed dappled sunlight.  I'm going to find a way to make this happen.

Fertiliser is a bit like supplies on a building site.

Sunlight is a bit like the team of workers.

Dumping tons and tons of bricks and bags of cement and nails and and wood and screws and plasterboard and insulation and rooftiles and stuff doesn't help the workers work any faster, though obviously without any they can't work at all.

And if there's only one worker, it's gonna take longer to build anything.

Rather than trying to increase the intensity of the light (which may have the effect of quite literally burning your plants), consider how to angle the mirror so that it extends the length of time your plants have light. Even half an hour could have a big impact.

Plants that are adapted to partial sun or to shade, though, is definitely less work to make them happy and you’ll get better results. A surprising number of plants fall into these categories.