How the Cannabis Market Is Progressing in its Use of LEDs
October 21, 2021 
Photo courtesy of Fluence by OSRAM
Fluence by OSRAM (Fluence) recently released its sixth annual “State of the Cannabis Lighting Market” report in partnership with Cannabis Business Times.
The results from this year’s report create another invaluable layer of research supporting the efficacy of LED lighting as a solution for full-cycle cannabis cultivation. The report utilizes data collected from cultivators throughout North America following an in-depth survey by Readex Research, a nationally acclaimed, third-party research organization.
“In recent years, not only have we observed the meteoric rise in LED adoption, but cannabis cultivators in particular are realizing the benefits of LED lighting strategies at each stage of plant production,” says Fluence CEO David Cohen. “At Fluence, we are led by science in our exploration of the interaction between light and life to yield a healthier, more sustainable world.”
The report provides a holistic view on the connection between different lighting solutions and plant growth across all stages — propagation, vegetation, and flowering — analyzing which solutions note upward trends of adoption by cannabis cultivators and why. Key findings include:
- LED lighting is the top-preferred lighting method among cultivators throughout North America, leading across all categories: propagation, vegetation, and flowering.
- LED usage for cannabis cultivation has increased more than 45% for all stages of growth since the initial report in 2016.
- Recent surges in LED adoption are partially attributed to the increasing implementation of vertical racks, which saw slight increases across vegetation and flowering.
- 63% of growers who are not currently using LEDs during flowering are considering implementing the solutions in the next 12 months
- Survey results reported 60% of participants indicated that lighting fixture dimming capabilities are as important or very important to their cultivation operations.
- 15% of cultivators said managing energy costs is the greatest challenge when considering LED lighting.
“Under LEDs, we were seeing buds that were tighter and terpene tests that were higher than what we’d see with traditional HPS lights,” says Matt LaBrier, Chief Operations Officer at Proper Cannabis. “As power becomes more of a regulator in the indoor farming space and farmers educate themselves, everyone is going to go to LED in vertical farming.”
The report includes a comprehensive overview into lighting trends in cannabis cultivation, including conversations with cannabis cultivators and thought leaders throughout North America from organizations such as Texas Original Compassionate Cultivation (TOCC), Fog City Farms, Resource Innovation Institute (RII), Columbia Care, and more.
View the full report here.
Greenhouse Grower recently caught up with Fluence CEO David Cohen to learn more about the report’s findings, and what they could mean for the industry.
Greenhouse Grower (GG): What are some of the key grower takeaways from the survey?
David Cohen: The biggest thing is that it’s clear that LED adoption is on the rise. We’re excited that the work we’ve done to educate people on the benefits of LEDs is making its way out there. There are very accomplished growers in the industry, but much of their initial experience was in small facilities. Growing at scale is difficult, and it’s easy to work with what you know, so we’ve seen that with the use of HPS systems. Growing with LEDs is different; you need different watering and nutrient regimes. While some big companies were initially on board with LEDs, the vast majority were not. This report shows that is changing dramatically and faster than we thought. We are seeing much more use, with even long-time users of HPS systems telling us they are ready to make the shift. The concept of LEDs is in their heads even if they’re not using it yet. They want to learn more.
We are also seeing that while there’s long been a misnomer that LEDs were only good for specific stages of plant growth, our customers are now using it at all stages. You may have to vary the intensity, but LEDs work from start to finish.
GG: How have you been able to translate research results to a bigger scale?
Cohen: Just because we can run an experiment doesn’t mean anyone can do it. There’s a skill set that is needed. Some are doing it very well. It depends on how much you’re trying to control things. We want to put the science behind it and show how it helps with quality.
GG: How can rebate programs help incentivize growers to make the switch to LEDs?
Cohen: We had a lot of growers asking us about this a few years ago, so we invested in people who went to utility companies to create these rebate programs. Utilities like companies like us to come in and work with them. These programs really help take sting out of the initial investment and drop the return on investment time frame down significantly. It’s also the right things to do; you use less energy and there’s less bulb replacement. It’s money right in the grower’s pocket and they don’t have to do a thing.
GG: What’s the next phase of lighting research for your team at Fluence?
Cohen: We are focused on cultivar-specific performance and light recipes. We want to marry the desired output with a specific cultivar. We’ve been working with tomatoes specifically on this, and cannabis is similar because it has so many different cultivars. We know different cultivars perform better under different spectrums. We want to put together a research library that can highlight this. We’re finding that we can group some cultivars together if they are similar.
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