Leafy Greens LED grow lights

Maximize leafy greens production
with Sollum Technologies’ LED grow light

Leafy green vegetables are a staple of a healthy diet because of their nutritional content, namely vitamins, minerals and fiber. Indoor cultivation has risen in recent years with more and more varieties of produce available to consumers. With frequent unpredictable weather occurring more often as the Earth’s temperature rises, growers can turn to indoor planting to ensure predictable harvests to maintain a healthy business.  

If lettuce is a well-known staple of indoor planting, the possibilities for crops are endless with spinach, kale, arugula, microgreens and herbs such as the popular basil. Thanks to greenhouse growers, locally-produced leafy green vegetables can be delivered fresh to consumers all year-round. 

Higher yield with LED grow lights for leafy greens

The flexibility of dynamic LED grow lights is definitely a plus in increasing crop yield. The short cycle of leafy greens such as lettuce means that growers need to apply the right light treatment from the get-go. When successful, growers can increase the number of crops annually, which translates into additional revenue.  

For example, red-leafed varieties benefit from a different lighting strategy than green-leafed varieties, with a growth-centered recipe during the production stage (e.g., Days 7-21) driving photosynthesis and biomass growth. This recipe may be followed by a high-blue treatment 3 to 5 days before harvesting to enhance the red color (and nutritional value, as a bonus). If growers were to apply a high-blue light recipe for the duration of the crop cycle, the crop would grow more slowly and remain too compact. Tailoring the light spectrum allows growers to get the best crop in terms of quality and yield.  

In addition, growing in a greenhouse means we need to consider the natural light conditions as well, which vary throughout the year as does the temperature and humidity. In these fluctuating conditions, the benefits of an adaptive lighting system truly shine.  

Grower’s experience considerable daily fluctuations in natural light levels during the shoulder months of the year (October-November and March-April). These fluctuations occur day to day but also within a day. In this context, a traditional non-dynamic LED lighting system provides growers with limited tools to respond to real-time light levels, which then exposes crops to inconsistent lighting which can cause plant stress and that affect yield (and quality).  

Dynamic LED grow lights such as Sollum’s enable an infinite number of micro adjustments in spectrum, intensity (ePPFD) and photoperiod from a PC or a smartphone in real time. Simply put, our solution allows growers to be ready for anything. Sollum’s SUN as a Service® (SUNaaS®) cloud platform enables real-time compensation which dims the output of the light fixtures incrementally according to the ambient light conditions ― growers do not need to intervene. This ensures that crops receive uniform light levels, contributing to predictable growth patterns and higher yield. With unstable weather patterns cause by climate change, predictable harvests in greenhouses become a very attractive option. 

Higher quality leafy greens with dynamic LED grow lights

While uniform light levels are ideal for crop consistency and reducing plant stress, spectral tuning with dynamic lighting allows growers to control plant morphology to meet consumer preferences for quality. By adjusting the light spectrum (also known as color or light quality), growers can achieve the desired leaf size and thickness and leaf color. This is true for any leafy green produce. 

For example, with baby leaf lettuce, growers need to grow a snackable product, highlighting the importance of crispness, leaf thickness, and a strong stem for consumers to snack on the product as easily between their fingers or fork. 

Another example is boosting the output of far-red light to reach the right leaf length. And all of these spectral modifications can be done within seconds, meaning it is just as easy to flip the far-red on for leaf extension as it is to shut it off to keep the leaves crisp during the final days of production.  

A major challenge for lettuce production is the management of tipburn, to which lighting contributes by altering plant activity and altering the balance between light and temperature. With HPS lighting, tipburn can be induced when the lights shut off due to a rapid drop in temperature. With fixed LED lighting, tipburn can be caused when they are turned on due to increased plant activity but a slower temperature increase.  

With dynamic lighting, applying sunrise and sunset sequences allow the grower to gradually impact plant activity at the beginning and end of the day, avoiding tipburn. However, lighting is only one piece of the puzzle and temperature management must also be aligned.   

With Sollum, growers monitoring the progress of crops can adjust the lighting to achieve maximum quality rather than live with the outcomes of a non-dynamic lighting system. And this is made easy thanks to Sollum’s Smart Support team and library of recipes providing guidance at every stage of crop growth, and for every variety, 24/7. 

What our customers say

What our customers say

Magalie Rajotte

Les Serres de la Vallière

"At the beginning, you always need support, and with Sollum I've got it. Someone is always there to help, and that's why they will be part of the second phase of my project.”

What our customers say

What our customers say

Nancy Clermont

Les Serres Sagami-Savoura

"We're delighted to be working with a local team to develop new technologies. The Sollum team is dynamic, professional and close to its clients.”

What our customers say

What our customers say

Gabrielle Laroche

Rose Drummond

"With our Sollum dynamic lighting, we create zones to adapt the spectrum, intensity and photoperiod to grow 15+ varieties of gerberas, roses, alstroemerias, tomatoes and cucumbers.”

What our customers say

What our customers say

Bob Jones Jr.

CEO, The Chef’s Garden

"The Sollum lighting solution has worked out very well for us here at The Chef's Garden. We are seeing much better growth in the low light months of winter as compared to the HPS and other LEDs in the market.
We are very pleased with the results in growth, colour and are even seeing statistically significant results in our on farm lab relating to mineral density and antioxidant levels in leafy greens grown under the Sollum fixtures."

What our customers say

What our customers say

Gene Ingratta

President of Allegro Acres inc.

"In agriculture, we face new adversities every day. To tackle them head on, we wanted to make sure we had the most flexible LED fixture on the market. Choosing Sollum for our greenhouse peppers was an easy decision, knowing that it would give us the best ability to adapt to any growing conditions we might encounter."

More crop varieties
with dynamic LED grow lights

Consumer preferences change over time and growers may want to take advantage of market opportunities 
to add or remove crops from their production. With dynamic LED lighting, specific light treatments can be applied to multiple zones in a single greenhouse. Producers interested in cultivating many varieties of lettuce or herbs, for example, will be able to apply the best light treatment, benefit from real-time compensation and modify light treatments based 
on crop growth ― in each zone.  

A great example of dynamic lighting’s benefit to leafy green production is the prevalence of mixed greens 
on the market. This means greenhouses are producing multiple crop types within the same space, each with their own optimal lighting conditions and speed 
of growth. To produce a varied product preferred 
by consumers, growers can use dynamic lighting to tailor lighting conditions, improve scheduling and deliver 
the optimal spectrum, light intensity and daily light integral of each lettuce variety to provide 
the consistency required in a mix. 

How important is dynamic LED grow light spectrum
in leafy greens growth?

A dynamic lighting system will support growers with more than providing sufficient sunlight. With fluctuating greenhouse conditions, temperature management can be challenging as ambient light conditions and temperatures quickly change. Dynamic lighting allows the grower to respond to these changes and ensure that the light provided matches the crop needs, greenhouse temperature, and irrigation strategy. The grower can provide high light levels when ambient temperatures are high, then reduce light levels and modify the spectrum when temperatures drop. 

They trust us

Idealist CapitalIdealist Capital
FondActionFondAction
Investissement QuébecInvestissement Québec
Agriculture and Agri-Food CanadaAgriculture and Agri-Food Canada
ITAQITAQ
MaRSMaRS

Exploring the technology behind dynamic LED grow lights

GreenhouseTomatoesLeafy vegetablesCannabisStrawberriesMicrogreensAnd many more