Adam Green was pursuing a career in filmmaking when he realized his real passion was raising the finest microgreens for the world’s top chefs. Now, the 25-year-old directs AGreen Farms, an indoor hydroponic farm in Philadelphia that specializes in selling garnishes to restaurants and hospitality establishments. Of course, it’s not easy to make a mint while growing mint in the city, and that’s why Green is investing in LED horticulture lighting from Current, powered by GE, to produce herbs and edible flowers that make culinary pros go wild.
Current’s A Race to the Top – Geographical Trends in Vertical Farming session brings industry leaders and experts together to address dynamic market developments
The new greenhouse grow light is the most energy efficient on the market
Universal installation options allow the light to be installed in dozens of different ways, drastically reducing installation time
Stan Gordon discovered the ultimate houseplant in 1986 when a friend gifted him a single orchid commemorating the birth of his daughter. Fast-forward 33 years, and Gordon finds himself surrounded by over 70,000 orchid plants in a 10,000-square-foot greenhouse in Louisville, Colorado. Business is always “blooming” at Fantasy Orchids with an ever-changing assortment of colorful, fragrant flowers, thanks in part to new LED lighting from Current, powered by GE, that makes growing season a year-round proposition.
Many LED light manufacturers claim their lamps can be used for horticultural production. But do they provide the right wavelengths of light to meet plants’ needs?
Big Tex Urban Farms and Hort Americas have partnered together to install, test and demonstrate a variety of hydroponic production systems while at the same time providing Dallas community organizations with locally-grown produce.
Stockbridge Technology Centre’s Vertical Farming Development Facility to enable growers to test and model their individual urban farm setup prior to investment
Aims to propel the success of the vertical farming industry, projected to be worth $13.9 billion USD in 20241 and generate more “farmable land” to address future global food production pressures
Current by GE’s Arize LED horticulture solution will help researchers test growth of crops such as leafy greens and herbs in different conditions
When choosing horticultural lighting, growers need to consider lighting efficiency and how the lighting will be used.
There is a big difference between lighting efficiency for horticulture and lighting efficiency for consumer use. The difference is in who is receiving the light.
Urban grower Karla Garcia is proud to announce the creation of her new company, Microgreens FLN based in Sonora, Mexico. Karla is a recent graduate with honors and a master’s degree in plant science from the University of Arizona. She is proud of her company’s commitment specializing in microgreens production using an indoor vertical farming strategy. Microgreens are an emerging class of specialty leafy greens and herbs. The crops are harvested when the cotyledons are fully developed and in some cases when the young plants have one true leaf.
CROPS: Local by Atta produces a variety of lettuces, basil, kale, Swiss chard, bok choy, cilantro and microgreens. Products are sold at farmers markets, health food stores, grocery stores, restaurants and through a weekly basket program. The basket program is expected to increase sales as the company looks to expand with pick up at local businesses, municipal buildings and its new production facility.
CROPS: Creekside Nursery is primarily a woody ornamental grower that produces trees, shrubs, succulents, Knock Out roses, ornamental grasses, perennials and annual color. The company sells to landscapers, independent garden centers and rewholesalers in Texas and Oklahoma.
TECHNOLOGY: GE Arize Greenhouse Pro LED Flowering Lamp
Creekside Nursery used GE Arize Greenhouse Pro LED Flowering Lamps to flower long day plants, including begonias, mandevilla and hibiscus, for sale in February and March. Photo courtesy of Creekside Nursery
Background
Creekside Nursery has been in business since 1992.
“We grow 200-gallon trees all the way down to pots of annual bedding plants. I’m the manager for the annual color, perennials and tropicals,” said Troy Cox. “Woody ornamentals make up the majority of what we grow.”
Creekside Nursery has a total of about 500 acres of outdoor and indoor production. There are about 40 acres of protected production that includes some unheated winter protection for woody ornamentals. Cox manages about 25 acres of environmentally-controlled greenhouse space.
Challenge
Creekside Nursery had customers that wanted long day plants ready for sale in February and March.
“Our salespeople came to us and said there were customers who wanted product ready in mid-February and early March,” Cox said. “These were plants that it just wasn’t possible to have ready at that time of year under normal growing conditions because they were long day plants. These included begonias, mandevilla and hibiscus. For mandevilla and hibiscus trying to have them in flower at this time you have to have a little help.
“We had a contract grow for an independent garden center that had an ad going into the newspaper in which they wanted to sell begonias on March 11. There were six different begonia varieties, including some new introductions. The plants were being grown in different size containers including 6-inch pots and hanging baskets.
Solution
In order to have the begonias ready for the March 11 ad, Creekside Nursery purchased 30 GE Arize Greenhouse Pro LED Flowering Lamps from Hort Americas. The lamps were installed in a 30- by 96-foot greenhouse.
“I started the begonias at their regular time as recommended by Ball Seed,” Cox said. “The lamps were set to come on between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m. every night just like with mum lighting. The begonias flowered earlier and were in bloom and ready to sell by the March 11 ad date.
“I put the hibiscus and mandevilla in the same greenhouse just to trial them under the lights. All of the plants flowered faster than what they would have without the lights. We sold all of the plants that were lit with the GE lamps and the greenhouse is empty.”
GE Arize Greenhouse Pro LED Flowering Lamp
Benefits
Cox said using the GE LED flowering lamps he was able to have all three crops flower faster than if he hadn’t installed the lights.
“The begonias flowered first, followed by the hibiscus and the mandevilla last,” he said. “We were able to get the hibiscus blooming around April 1 with the lights on for about six weeks.”
Based on the success he had with the GE LED flowering lamps, Cox said Creekside Nursery is planning to purchase additional lamps to use on more crops.
“We expect that we will be doing the begonias again next year since it was such a success this year,” he said. “We are also going to try to flower the mandevillas so they’re ready for sale in March and April. Mandevilla is a major crop for us so we will be using the lights on them.
“We probably won’t use the lights on hibiscus. Customers have it in their minds that hibiscus don’t bloom until the summer. However, there are other crops that we want to try the lights on. For the perennials, we will use the lights on echinacea, rudbeckia and leucanthemum. We do small numbers of those crops, but we know the lights will work on them.”
Whether you are growing leafy greens and herbs or starting up fruiting crops like tomatoes or peppers,GE Horticultural LED Lighting from Hort Americas can help insure you get maximum yields! GE provides utilitylighting and more. The new Horticulture LED Batten (light strip)is designed to facilitate indoor farming by providing a suitable spectrum of light which allows plants to grow indoors efficiently and under ideal conditions. With the optimized light spectrum (red, blue and white) the grower is able to control and tune the light recipe to their choice based on the crops grown.
“There will be a revolution,” says Cary Mitchell, horticulture professor at Purdue University. “I think that in a decade’s time, LED will become the de facto lighting source for controlled environment agriculture.”
Mitchell’s team has found that LEDs can surpass 50 percent efficiency — converting about half of their energy into plant-usable light — versus just 30 percent for HPS lamps. That translates into significant energy savings, with the cost of powering HPS lamps 400 percent more to produce the same amount of fruit. “The fact that these emitters are so cool — literally cool — and you can put them so close, there’s a tremendous energy savings potential,” says Mitchell.
Available in 4’ and 8’ (Daisy Chain) Light Bars
IP66 rated and UL wet rated for easy watering and cleaning
Operating Environment: 32°F to +104°F
50,000 hour rated life/5 year limited warranty
Available in Reproductive, Vegetative and Balanced Configurations at both Medium and High Output
Hort Americas is an innovative leader in North America’s controlled environment agriculture industry (CEA) and strives to continually innovate in agriculture via premium technical support, professional salesmanship, unmatched customer service and outstanding products to our customers in the United States, Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean.
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