Lessons Two Cannabis Growers Learned From Upgrading Their Greenhouse Lighting
April 6, 2022 
Photo: Signify
High efficiency supplemental lighting is a must-have in order to compete and win in the cannabis market. Here’s how two growers – one in the Netherlands and one in California – worked with leading lighting suppliers to make sure they were using the right systems.
In the Netherlands, Signify and propagator Perfect Plants are expanding their collaboration on grow lights. Driving the partnership is Perfect Plant’s ambition to become a global leader in starting materials for medicinal cannabis cultivation. The company is competing for a Dutch license for legal cultivation of cannabis and recently invested in facilities for research and production.
Perfect Plants, originally from the Netherlands, has a rich history in the in vitro propagation (tissue culture) of ornamental plants. Even before its acquisition by Canadian investors in 2019, the company’s focus had shifted to the propagation, breeding, and maintenance of food and pharma crops.
“We work on dozens of crops and add value at the beginning of the chain,” says Jan Jaap Stelwagen, Production Manager at Perfect Plants. “Ornamental plant cultivation remains important to us, but we currently see great opportunities in food and pharma crops. That’s what we’re investing in. We can and want to initiate a positive change based on the knowledge of varieties, state-of-the-art propagation through tissue culture and optimization of cultivation recipes. Grow lights play a prominent role in this.”
Perfect Plants recently acquired two new climate cells that were specially built for the cultivation of medicinal cannabis. The fully conditioned rooms have one cultivation layer and are equipped with dimmable Philips GreenPower LED toplighting compact grow lights and the Philips GrowWise Control System.
Signify’s plant specialist Sabrina Carvalho focuses on cannabis cultivation and supports clients in numerous countries.
“The fun and challenging part of this project is that Perfect Plants is active on many fronts, even within one crop. It propagates plants through tissue culture, it turns plantlets from tissue culture into high-quality starting material for producers, and it grows full-sized plants on a small scale,” she says. “Each developmental stage of the plant places special demands on the climate and light conditions.”
Perfect Plants now has a light system that can be used effectively and efficiently in every growth phase. The strength of the collaboration lies in the fact that we share our knowledge and experience and continue to learn from each other.
“This is also how we do things in other places,” says Carvalho. “It is one of the reasons why Signify is at the forefront in knowledge and added value.”
Learn more in this post from Signify.
MegaDrive LED Installation
Nipomo AG, a licensed 70,000 square-foot cannabis greenhouse in San Luis Obispo County, CA, has adopted a new MegaDrive LED system from California LightWorks, a provider of horticultural lighting solutions. Nipomo Ag converted from producing roses to cannabis several years ago. The company realized that in order to overcome the competitive market forces, especially in the winter months, it needed to install high-tech supplemental lighting. After exploring many options, Nipomo AG chose California Lightworks’ unique MegaDrive system, based on its high efficiency, ease of installation, and lowest total installed cost.
“The challenges presented by climate, regulatory policy, and the economics of cannabis cultivation drive the demand for cutting-edge technology and best practices,” said Brett Vapnek, of Nipomo AG. “We knew we had to get the best lighting technology installed so that we could increase our yields and revenue, while cutting costs and reducing our climate impact.”
Nipomo AG installed the California Lightworks’ MegaDrive LED Lighting system in its San Luis Obispo facility that has four bays for flowering, and two bays veg and mothers. The MegaDrive is a patented cost-effective LED lighting system for greenhouse operations that is simple to install yet highly effective in increasing both crop quality and yield.
One of the unique challenges of the Nipomo Ag installation was it would have had to run new power lines to both ends of the greenhouse. The cost of bringing heavy power to the far side of the greenhouse alone was estimated to well over $100,000.
Fortunately, the MegaDrive’s unique central power supply did not require any power line runs anywhere over the canopy. Instead, the MegaDrive systems were installed across one wall of the greenhouse closest to the power transformer and connected directly to three phase 480V.
“MegaDrive can simulate sunrise and sunset, and the lighting intensity can be dialed up and down as necessary automatically via a photo sensor,” says California Lightworks CEO George Mekhtarian. “With the MegaDrive central power supply design, all the power electronics are removed from the fixtures and the lights become very robust and ideal for high humidity environments.”
California has issued a large number of cannabis cultivation licenses, increasing competitive pressure. Cannabis prices have come down significantly in the past two years. Greenhouse production costs are generally lower than indoor grows, but the quality also tends to be lower. In addition, yields in a greenhouse during the winter season are less than half of the yield in the summer. This makes it a challenge for greenhouse operations in California to stay profitable year-round. High efficiency supplemental lighting is a must-have in order to compete and win.
The MegaDrive spectrum and dimming controls can be integrated with third party greenhouse environmental control systems or done independently using unique touch screen and wireless solutions. Every aspect of the yield can thus be dialed in. In addition, the system’s slim linear light design and central power supply reduce shadowing.
Learn more in this post from California Lightworks.
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