Russian cut roses grower Yug-Agro starts trial with water-cooled LEDs

Yug-Agro's greenhouses span about 16 hectares and are located in the Krasnodar region in southern Russia. For more than 15 years, the company has been growing about 40 different varieties of Dutch cut roses here. Every year, 35 million roses are sent to different cities in Russia. Roses are still one of the most popular cut flowers there, and the demand for roses in more colors, shapes, and sizes continues to grow.

Yug-Agro currently has HPS lighting in the greenhouse. Based on recent developments (in rising energy prices, among other things) and progressive ideas, Yug-Agro is considering using LED lighting, so they have started a trial with water-cooled fixtures made by Oreon.

Oreon has made a customized spectrum for Yug-Agro, developed specifically for growing cut roses. An important factor in the composition of the spectrum is the amount of sunlight present in the region, as sunlight remains the least expensive type of lighting. The trial is expected to show that plant quality will improve (even) more, as other rose growers in Russia and Ukraine have found. Yug-Agro wants to use LED to positively affect flower production, and thus favor more generative growth. In addition, the trial is set up in such a way that the growth rate will improve significantly in a reasonably short period of time.

With water-cooled LEDs, Yug-Agro is aiming to grow a premium product, with more hours of light exposure and shorter cultivation cycles. Sustainability is one of the bedrocks for Russian rose growers in 2022, and they intend to achieve significant energy savings with water-cooled LEDs.

The trial set-up will be installed in mid-January and the first results are expected in March of 2022