Jolly Farmer is a progressive young plant propagator using the most up-to-date greenhouse equipment and technology. Naturally, they would be one of the first growers in North America to embrace LED technology on a large scale—James Darrow, General Manager, began researching and studying LEDs in 2012.
Jolly Farmer propagates more than 3,000 varieties, which means that Darrow needed to select an efficient lighting solution that would benefit multiple crops. In evaluating LED options, Darrow said, “there was no simple answer to determine the best spectrum for our needs.”
In 2016, after years of research, Darrow decided to install a single bay trial of Philips LED toplighting. As a result of the success of this trial, Jolly decided to expand their installation in 2018 by adding 1,300 Philips LED toplighting modules.
After replacing HPS with Philips LED toplighting, Darrow noted specific improvements including more compact plant growth, less plant stretch, and reduced energy consumption.
These improvements have been compounded with the larger installation. In fact, in a comparison of bay-to-bay energy consumption, Jolly Farmer’s electrician calculated the LEDs consumed 52% less electricity compared to HPS.
For more information:
Philips
www.philips.com/horti