Innovator Spotlight
As they strive to be a leader in environmental quality through the Sustainability Certification Program, Battlefield Farms looks to achieve sustainable standards by testing and implementing new technologies, such as horticultural lighting, to increase crop production efficiency. While Battlefield utilizes an environmental control system on their 45-acre greenhouse, environments are subject to extreme conditions they cannot control. This is where Research and Development Director, Travis Higginbotham introduced Fluence LED grow lights to Battlefield Farms by moving their early stage plants from the greenhouse into a controlled indoor vertical farm. Travis and his team ran trials to determine the impact of Fluence RAZRx on their efficiency and overall operation.
Each year, Battlefield farms prepares for the high demand of pansy orders in early fall. To meet this demand Head Grower, Marco Verdel propagates pansy seedlings in the commercial greenhouse during the summer months, when greenhouse temperatures are consistently above 90°F/32°C. The high temperatures in the greenhouse result in a 16-18% shrink of pansy plugs (see Photo 1) with inconsistent plant quality and poor root development. This causes a dramatic decrease in transplant success and an increase in labor demand to manage inconsistent plugs. Due to these high losses, Marco and Travis decided to run trials to evaluate new cultivation practices of plugs and liners in a controlled environment under Fluence RAZRx LED grow lights.
One way to improve plant quality is to apply plant growth regulators (PGRs); however, to maintain the environmental standards they strives for, Battlefield was looking for alternative cultivation techniques to decrease the use of PGRs and associated labor. As pansies grow well under high light and low temperatures, another way to reduce plug loss and improve quality and consistency is to grow under controlled environmental conditions. This is where Battlefield turned to Fluence, and LED horticultural lighting technology.
To determine the feasibility of growing pansies in a controlled environment with LEDs, Battlefield ran a trial of five pansy cultivars with the following treatments:
More Compact Under Fluence
“We are certainly seeing improvements in transplant success and compact growth without the use of a PGR and significant increases in root development through fresh weight comparisons under the Fluence LED systems,” said Higginbotham.
Battlefield Farms continues to work with Fluence to overcome the traditional decrease in quality, yield and transplant success of pansy plugs by exploring the power of Fluence LED grow lights and moving cultivation from greenhouse environments to controlled environment vertical farms. The two companies are currently running additional experiments to compare various light treatments and cultivation techniques, combining both indoor and greenhouse growing.
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