UbiGro VP of Sales and Marketing Eric Moody on how to pick the most efficient greenhouse plastic

Photo courtesy of UbiGro

Greenhouse Management: What is the biggest consideration for greenhouse growers in choosing a plastic cover for their greenhouse?

Eric Moody: They will want to know the transparency of the product. How much light are they going to lose when they cover their crop? Then they start looking at the additives and things that covers can do. Are they looking for light diffusion? Are they looking for longer-lasting, four-year and six-year plastics? Then they can start looking into other additives like anti-condensate and infrared.

GM: How can a plastic covering increase yield or efficiency in a greenhouse?

EM: Different types of plastics can do more. There’s a lot of high-diffusion plastics out there, for instance. Light diffusion basically works by getting photons deeper into the plant canopy and helps increase production. Our plastic has great light diffusion and comes through our technology of quantum dots that we infuse into the polymers.

GM: What is the benefit of quantum dot technology for diffusion?

EM: Quantum dots not only help light diffusion; they also capture very short wavelength UV light and blue light, which causes them to activate and glow into the red spectrum. They’re literally taking that short wavelength photon and making it a longer wavelength. It increases the amount of red light that’s hitting the crop. And when you do that, that spurs photosynthesis and makes it faster.

So, for an ornamental grower, they’re seeing more flower heads, they’re producing their crop faster and they’re getting on the shelves a week to 10 days earlier than their competitors.

GM: What is the difference between diffusing and filtering light, and why does it matter?

EM: Filtering light leads to less light on your crop. We’re not filtering out light. The amount of light you have on your crop is going to be the same as typical plastics. We diffuse light very well, and we’re making light more efficient. We’re actually changing photons. It’s really high-tech. It’s going to install and work just like your other greenhouse plastic does.

GM: Can plastic greenhouse covers be considered sustainable?

EM: Plastic is not going away in the growing world for many years. But we can create a plastic that can last as long as some of the most long-lasting, maybe even longer than some of the long-lasting plastics out there. So, you’re doing more crop cycles, producing more plants. If we can increase the amount of plants produced under plastic by 20%, which is what most crops have seen under our plastics, that’s sustainability. We’re producing more, and we’re lasting longer. Growers are using less plastic for what they produce.