Orangeline Farms has teamed up with smart horticultural lighting company LumiGrow to determine the optimal light levels for year round greenhouse strawberry production.
Leamington based greenhouse grower Orangeline Farms is known for being a pioneer for specialty crops. After having successfully introduced crops like European runner beans and specialty peppers into niche markets, the company became one of the first commercial growers of greenhouse strawberries in Ontario. As a result of increasing market demand, Orangeline is now exploring new strategies into year-round strawberry production utilizing supplemental lighting.
Orangeline Farms' Duffy Kniaziew (file photo)
Growing strawberries under light is not as easy as it looks. "In the past, growers struggled to light strawberries with HPS lamps, because the lamps provided too much radiant heat", explained Dr. Melanie Yelton, VP of Research at LumiGrow. "Strawberries grow best in a moderate environment without high temperature extremes."
Yelton said that energy efficient LED technology can solve this conundrum. "LEDs allow for a high light intensity without the significant heat associated with HPS lamps. Light can be easily added to the plants without significantly affecting other environmental parameters."
The Lumigrow LEDs above Orangeline Farms' berry crop
In November last year, LumiGrow and Orangeline started their first trials to discover opportunities for LEDs in greenhouse strawberry production. Yelton explained that it was not just a case of finding 'the right spectrum and light recipe'. "Too often the success of horticultural LEDs is tied to a light recipe, but LED technology covers much more than just light recipes. There are many other parameters that need to be taken into account when using light quality as a growth variable."
Yelton referred to other factors that can determine successful plant growth, yield and ROI. "We emphasize utilizing LED technology at its fullest potential, taking into account variables like season changes, crop stages, varieties, and much more." According to Yelton, when limiting yourself to using just one spectrum, you are not using the technology at its full potential. "There are so many more strategies that you can use to control your crops’ growth with light. You need to look at the whole equation."
To give an example of how granular the influence of LED technology can be, Yelton spoke about the choice of crop variety. "Every strawberry variety that we tested had a different and unique response to the same spectrum. Over the past winter we tested 6-7 varieties of strawberries to determine optimal light levels by strain, using yield as the primary performance metric. Testing strain selection and how each strain responds to LED light is a necessary component to maximizing profits."
LumiGrow took a partnership approach to Orangeline’s operation by analyzing all variables affecting production under LEDs. “When we work directly with growers, our in-house plant research group can provide additional value in cases where a grower wants to use LEDs for increased control over plant characteristics.” says Yelton. “For example, if a customer wants to create more compact plants, or affect flowering or growth rates.”
As a result of intensive cooperation between the grower and the lighting solutions developer, Orangeline Farms is now able to meet the increasing demand for winter strawberries. LumiGrow's smart horticultural lighting strategy enabled the grower to reduce the weather variable and increase production against the lowest cost possible. LumiGrow additionally performed research to determine optimal lighting levels for strawberries in the region, which enabled Orangeline to be the first grower with a stabilized production of greenhouse strawberries.
Orangeline Farms first installed the LumiGrow 650e luminaires last winter to give the plants extra light in the darker winter period. "We found that strawberries are a Medium Light crop, where profitability becomes maximized when delivering mid-levels of supplemental light to the crop," explained Yelton. "The LumiGrow 650e LEDs allowed for better control of yield in both timing and quantity for strawberry production. Production under LumiGrow LEDs showed dramatic improvements in both time to fruit and overall yield".
According to LumiGrow, supplemental LED lighting in a greenhouse environment for strawberry production is a profitable investment. The company said that this is a result of their partnership approach with the grower. "Understanding the customer's goals has been a key factor to achieve this. It is not just a case of finding the right spectrum for a plant, but looking at the whole picture. It is the combination of a dedicated focus and partnership with the customer, using our smart horticultural LED lighting controlled through our smartPAR™ software, to achieve the greatest gains from a crop and financial perspective", Yelton concluded.
Growers looking to implement top-tier lighting strategies can further dial-in their lighting to precise schedules and meet specific goals by using LumiGrow's smartPAR™ cloud-based software. This multipurpose platform allows growers to control their lighting remotely and precisely manage lighting environments, ultimately utilizing LED technology at its fullest.
Want to learn more? Join Lumigrow at Cultivate '17 in Columbus, Ohio
Their lighting specialists and plant scientists will be at Cultivate '17, from July 15 - 18, 2017. Come by booth #2326 to discuss how smart horticultural lighting can be used to optimize your cultivation. Their new research and technology focuses on boosting your ROI by driving plant characteristics most influential for your bottom-line.
Also, LumiGrow will be presenting at Cultivate Live on Monday, July 17th. You can hear LumiGrow discuss the latest smart lighting strategies and unveil some of their most recent research to impact your crop cultivation strategy.