Gipmans uses LED and HPS. The purple bars are LED; the others HPS.
Ahead
Charles: "Gipmans Planten was founded in 1970. After such a long time you have certain ideas. You have to continue to finetune them. Good sense gets you a long way and in conversation with customers we look for the most suitable opportunities." Charles emphasises that Gipmans wants to be prepared for the future. "Maybe all nurseries will have LEDs in ten years and HPS will be gone completely. You don't want to join the back of the queue, but participate and think. At the moment we are alone. In the area of LED we will soon have a lot of information with which we can stay ahead of others."
"We have chosen a combination of HORTILED Top and HPS," says Charles. The armatures were supplied by Hortilux. André Flinterman was involved in the project. André: "We have been coming to Gipmans for a number of years. The HPS lamps were regularly producing too much heat and the greenhouses had to be aired. The plants are more comfortable in a slightly cooler climate and so LED was a solution."
Superduo
André: "The combination of HORTILED Top and HPS (HSE NXT2 600 Watt) meet the needs of the plants perfectly. They profit from the heat given off by the HPS armatures. The LED armatures don't give off heat and make sure that the temperature stays at the right level. They also allow a saving of 40% on electricity use and this fits perfectly into Gipmans' ISO26000 sustainability policy." If the plants end up in a greenhouse without light or with just HPS after propagation, this isn't a problem. André: "The plant doesn't know the difference. You can add up the PAR light of all light sources. I always say: a micromole is a micromole. With LED it is possible to steer certain plant characteristics."
Charles thinks it was a good decision to invest in LED. Charles: "The growth speed of the plants remains unchanged, but we hope to see a difference in the way in which the plant grows. The plants should end up in the generative phase more quickly due to the lighting. We will see whether it is a big difference over the coming years. We think it will be."
For more information:
For more information:
Hortilux Schréder B.V.
Vlotlaan 412
2681 TV Monster
T: +31(0)174 286628
W: [email protected]
www.hortilux.com