The Russian greenhouse growers op Teplichnyy equipped their greenhouses for growing lettuce with Philips GreenPower LED toplighting. As a result, the quality and appearance of the crop significantly improved: making leaves crisper, more compact, and with a better taste, while reducing electricity consumption by 20%.
The use of LED lighting makes it possible to fulfill one of the state farm’s main tasks, which is to ensure the lettuce can grow despite the lack of sunlight - the Sakhalin region’s snowy winters prevent sun rays from reaching the plants. Additionally, the LEDs produce much less heat than standard HPS lights, enhancing the quality of the plants as most of the electricity is spent generating light rather than generating heat. Signify developed a dedicated light recipe for the lettuce culture, in which the blue spectrum prevails. It has a short wavelength and a huge amount of energy, contributing to the growth of the root system and leaves.
For Signify, the Teplichnyy state project in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk is its easternmost project in Russia.
In November 2020, Philips GreenPower LED toplighting with an intensity of 210 µmol/m2/s was installed on the entire area allocated for growing lettuce. These grow lights were supplemented with Russian HPS luminaires SVETOGOR RX-7-H-600W-S / PILA, equipped with EPRA and Signify’s lamps. The lamps and LED modules were placed in staggered order.
Better lettuce harvest
Results of the test period show that the state farm produces a better harvest of lettuce, with leaves that are more smooth, dense, and bright. The size became more compact, and the percentage of plants with tip-burn decreased. This reduces the number of defects, extends the shelf life, and facilitates the commercial value of the product. At the same time, it reduces the electricity consumption by 20%, while also decreasing the amount of water consumed during irrigation.
The state farm has set itself another ambitious goal – to shorten the growth cycle. On average, one growth cycle takes 35 to 39 days, but modern LED lighting systems can reduce this to 32 days, resulting in more crop cycles in the same time frame and higher yields for the grower.
"Our main task is to provide consumers with fresh and high-quality vegetables. We strive to introduce the most pioneering technologies in the field of agriculture in our greenhouses. Philips LEDs provided excellent results,” said Victor Butkov, Director of the Teplichnyy state farm. “We are satisfied with the color of the plants, their higher quality, as well as a stable production cycle. The new lighting also reduced the consumption of resources, such as electricity and water. We will try to further improve our processes in order to supply the people around us with the nutrients they need."
No crop protection
The Teplichnyy state farm is the main supplier of vegetables in Sakhalin. Its facilities produce cucumbers, lettuce, tomatoes, potatoes, cabbage, and carrots. The total area of greenhouses is 10.5 hectares, of which 0.33 hectares are allocated for lettuce. The entire territory is equipped with assimilation lighting based on HPS lamps. The state farm produces about 6,500 packages of lettuce and other greens every day. At the same time, it grows crops without using chemical crop protection.
Horti LED partner Svetogor installed the lights. Their specialists coordinated all the processes; from introducing new equipment, starting with lighting calculations to the final inspection. “This is not the first project in Russia in which we successfully installed Philips LED grow lights,” said Kirill Zevakhin, Svetogor’s CEO. “The lighting equipment’s reliability and quality, as well as the professional support from Signify’ plant specialists, who continually provided agronomic support and training of the farm’s agronomists in new techniques, allow us to look forward to future collaborations with Signify.”
"We are very pleased that our Philips grow lights can help improve the quality of crops and increase the yields of growers, throughout the year. Thanks to Svetogor, we managed to choose and install the best lighting option specifically for lettuce,” says Sergey Khokhrin, Business Development Manager at Signify, Horticulture LED segment in Russia. “The results of the project show that the LED lighting, in addition to improving the structure and appearance of the plant, can also save electricity and water costs. In the future, the farm plans to introduce LED lighting to their tomato and cucumber crops, and we will be happy to support with our lighting."
For more information:Signify