LEDs continue dominant run

PHOTO © Nikolay E | Adobe stock

With demand for new plants skyrocketing to the moon since the pandemic took hold, more growers are realizing that supplemental lighting in the greenhouse can ensure a steady supply of quality, consistently grown greenhouse stock.

Among the growers we surveyed that are currently using supplemental lighting, the most popular option continues to be LED fixtures, with growers indicating they are using LEDs on 83% of the crops they grow under cover. This is up slightly from last year’s survey, when growers said they were deploying LEDs over 77% of their greenhouse crops.

Additionally, high pressure sodium (HPS) fixtures are trending down a bit year over year, as growers last year said they were lighting about half of their crops with the fixtures. Today that number stands at 45%.

It also appears that some growers might be waiting on the technology to continue to evolve and drop in price, with 40% of growers saying they will be looking to upgrade fixtures in the next three years. That figure is up from 34% who indicated the same in last year’s survey. It looks like those growers will overwhelmingly be looking at new LED fixtures in the next three years, as 90% indicated those were the type of lights they’d be most likely to look at once they upgrade.

Read on for more insights into the continued evolution of supplemental lighting in North American greenhouses. — Matthew J. Grassi