Plants, Production and ProductsA Horticultural Lighting Guide

Artificial light has been an integral part of horticulture for over 30 years and growers are accustomed to High Pressure Sodium (HPS), fluorescent tubes, metal halide and incandescent lights. Industrial LED solutions for horticulture have only recently become available, but now the whole artificial light market for horticulture is on the verge of a massive change, when LEDs replace the old tech-nologies.

Valoya’s wide spectrum LED technology provides growers a light that saves energy, increases produc-tion and improves the quality of plants e.g. more flowers and better taste. Valoya lights even enable pollinating bees to operate without sunlight.

Valoya’s patent pending wide spectrum LED fix-tures are used by customers all over the world to grow flowers, cucumbers, lettuce, herbs, tree seed-lings and even algae.

We are still in the early years of LEDs in horticul-ture, but the extensive research of Valoya, combined with our customers’ innovative work with our lights have already proven the benefits of LEDs.

Introduction

The rich spectrum of Valoya LEDs, allow plants to utilize the energy and information from the light more effi-ciently than light from conventional light fixtures. Numerous trials and customer experiences show that the effective light usage results in bet-ter flowering, more intensive colors, better aroma, and more plants per area. For customers, improvement in qualitaty or increase in productivity is often more valuable than only energy savings. In most cases, customers can achieve both energy savings and qual-ity improvements.

3

In this document we present a deeper view into how our lights can create value to pro-fessionals in horticulture.

In this document we present LEDs and LED fixture technology. We look at light usage in different parts of the plant production process and how light can be used in different horticultural applications. After this we highlight some of Valoya’s customers applications and benefits from using Valoya LEDs. In the end we present our product portfolio and our company.

More information and the latest version of this document can be found at www.valoya.com.

Table of contents1. PLAnTs AnD LIGHT 4

2. VALoyA WIDE sPEcTrA For PLAnTs 6

3. TEcHnoLoGy 8

4. ProPAGATIon 10 4.1 Tissue culture 10 4.2 young plants 11 4.2.1. Leaf 12 (Lettuce, herbs) 4.2.2. Flowers 13 4.2.3. Fruit 14 5. APPLIcATIons 15 5.1. Greenhouse production 15 5.2. Laboratory and growth chambers 16 5.3. Growth rooms 17 5.4. Multilayer 18 5.5. Architectural 196. cAsEs 20 6.1. cucumber interlighting 20 6.2. W.s. Bentley’s 21 6.3. Flower production during winter time 22 6.4. strawberries 237. ProDucTs 24

8. ABouT VALoyA 25

9. HoW To Buy VALoyA LIGHTs 26

content

4

Plants and Light

Light1 is a source of energy and informa-tion for plants. It’s needed as energy in photosynthesis and it provides plants crit-ical information about its environment, which the plant needs in order to ger-minate, grow to a certain size or shape, induce protective substances, flower and when to change from vegatative growth.

Plants react to quality, intensity, duration and the direction of light.In addition to the light visible to humans (400 nm–700 nm) plants “see” or use other radiation too. The 400 nm–700 nm wavelength range is called “Photo-synthetically Active radiation” or PAr. Much of the light that plants need is in this range, but for optimal growth result, uV light (280 - 400 nm) and/or far-red light (700-800 nm) might be important. For exam-ple far-red is critical for the flowering of many plants.

All light is not equal to plants, ie. some areas are more important than others. Known photorecep-tors are most efficient in the blue and red area of the spectrum. Green plants reflect a significant part of light in the green area of the light spectrum, while absorbing a higher percentage of blue and red light.

The graph below shows the light spectrum of the sun on a cloudless day.

Much research has been conducted regarding the optimal light spectrum of plants. A good descrip-tion of this is the relative Quantum Efficiency curve for plants. It considers the photosynthetic rate of the plant (by measuring co2 uptake), the energy of light at different wavelengths and the plants absorption of light ie. what stays in the leaf and is not reflected away or transmitted through it. However, producing a plant which is sellable is not only about photosyn-thesis. Also other aspects like shape, flowering, color of leaves, color of flowers, taste, smell, root develop-ment, etc. are important to have a high quality plant.

Valoya wide spectra LED lights offer excellent working light for humans, allowing visual quality controll with-out additional light sources. 1. Light is here defined as electromagnetic radiation which

the human eye can see, in the 400–700nm wavelength area + ultra violet light (shorter wavelength than 400 nm) and far-red and infra red light (longer wavelength than 700 nm).

300 400 500 600 700 800 nm

300 400 500 600 700 800 nm

The figure illustrates the visible light for humans (white line) com-pared to light utilized by plants (green line)

The figure illustrates sunlight on a bright day. The red line shows mW/nm and the blue line shows µmol/nm

5

Bee friendly luminairesBees are unable to navigate in a pure HPs light envi-ronment, so bee hives are not opened until sun light is available. This shortens the working time for the bees significantly during winter. under the Valoya AP67 lights, bees start to operate immediately when the lights are switched on, even during night and no sun light conditions. Valoya AP67 thus improves the pollination of the flowers. In addition to this, Valoya LEDs are significantly cooler than HPs fixture and hence do not kill the bees, when they come close to the light fixtures.

To produce a high quality plant, it is not enough to use just red and blue light typ-ically found in conventional horticultural LEDs. The same applies for High Pressure Sodium lights, which are dominantly yel-low.

A good balanced ratio between red and blue light, needs to be complemented with far-red and green in right proportions for the right applications.

For example far-red, 700–800 nm is critical for flowering of many plants. Less is known about the green, 500–600 nm area, but recent research is fi-nally able to conclude that this is also important for plant development.

Besides being potentially harmful, plants also show photomorphogenic responses to uV-B (280-315 nm) radiation. Both uV-B and uV-A (315-400 nm) radia-tion are important in inducing production of phe-nolics, anthocyanins (coloration) and antioxidants in plants.

Thus the full spectrum from about 350–750 nm at a suitable light intensity is interesting in plant cultiva-tion. The key is then to create a light which is opti-mally suitable for its task, by balancing the different areas so that the plant gets the right energy and sig-nals to achieve the growers’ goals.

Bee friendly light – Valoya has in a recent tomato trial demonstrated that the Valoya AP67 spectrum is also very beneficial to pollinating bees.

The relative quantum efficiency curve (RQE, white line in graph) is one of the best approximations of an “optimal photosynthesis” spec-

trum. The graph also shows the spectrum of an HPS lamp (yellow line) and the spectrum of a typical narrow bandwidth red and blue spec-

trum LED light (red line). Nor the HPS or the narrow red-blue led do a good job in matching the RQE.

300 400 500 600 700 800

nm

6

Valoya Wide spectra for Plants

What is the right light? For most growers this is light that will enable features like: • Energy savings• Faster growth• Better quality i.e. more intensive

coloration, better shelf-life of vegetables, better visual appearance

• Flower induction• Growing without sun light• Better rooting• Achieving desired shape

(compactness, longer, larger leaves, etc).

• Good working light for humans

The uniqueness of Valoya LEDs is the con-tinuous spectrum of light. To get the de-sired impact from light, some areas of the light spectrum are suppressed and some are emphasized compared to sun light and the absorption curve of plants. The “right” spectrum for plants is strong-ly dependent on what the grower wants to achieve.

Valoya’s light spectrums are based on extensive re-search and testing, done in co-operation with leading research institutes, progressive and skilled customers and in-house.

Valoya is continuously broadening its research to new plant species, different growing methods and new applications.

Valoya Growth Light spectraValoya offers four main spectrum types in the r- and B-series products.

Common features of the spectra All spectrums are continuous and range at least from 400nm to 700nm.

1) Valoya AP67 – General Growth SpectrumFor vegetative and generative growth. Performs very well with a large variety of plants, ranging from cucumber and tomato to lemon trees and even snow algae. It provides strong vegetative growth and early flowering of plants. With some leafy green plants elongation is achieved, while with some flowers the growth result is a compact plant. The AP67 spectrum has also been shown to promote quick and good rooting. The AP67 is strong on far-red (about 18 % of the total radia-tion) and has no uV radiation.Suggested use: suitable for most vegetables e.g. cucumber, flowers and tree seedlings. Also posi-tive results with algae. Appearance to humans: Pinkish light, quality control possible, good working environment.

7

2) Valoya AP673 – Growth Spectrum for Leafy Green VegetablesAP673 is suitable for growing leafy green vege-tables, herbs, micro-greens and other plants har-vested before flowering. The AP673 spectrum produces high quality plants with balanced size, high fresh weight, good dry weight and strong color, aroma and taste. AP673 is modest on far-red and has no uV.Suggested use: A general spectrum for leafy greens, herbs, micro-greens and cress, etc.. Appearance to humans: Peach-tone, quality control possible, good working environment.

3) NS2 – Compactness. Full Spectrum WhiteThe ns2 spectrum is a high intensity spectrum which accentuate plant compactness. The light output is balanced across the full visible spec-trum and the green light area is not suppressed. The ns2 is closest to the sun spectrum of Valoya’s spectrums. The ns2 does not contain any far-red and has a few percentage of the light spectrum below 400 nm in the uV radiation area. Suggested use: The ns2 spectrum is used to control elongation and to stress the plants to gen-erate protective substances, which enhance taste or coloring of plants. Good for Growth rooms where light conditions should resemble outdoor.Appearance to humans: White.

4) AP67S ARCH – Architectural ApplicationsThe AP67s architectural spectrum is developed for usage in spaces where humans co-exist with plants. The spectrum includes additional green ra-diation in order to make the light white to the hu-man eye. The spectrum is close to the absorption spectrum of many leafy green plants contribut-ing to good growth and increased flowering. The spectrum includes no uV light. Suggested use: Plant walls, botanical gardens, rooms with humans and plants in the same space.Appearance to humans: Warm white. note: This is not a common ‘warm white’ spec-trum used in commercially available LED lights. It is a spectrum strongly related to the original AP67, thus very efficient in plant growth, yet human eye friendly.

other spectraValoya has also other spectrums for special purpos-es, such as the Valoya G2 spectrum for speeding up vernalization and the Valoya Gold for tree seedling growth in multilayer environments. Valoya does not publish the light spectra of lumi-naires but the information is available for interested customers on request.

Valoya AP67, AP67 ARCH and AP67S ARCH over an orchid. AP67 appears pinkish to humans, AP67 ARCH looks cool white, while AP67S looks warm white.

8

Technology

Valoya’s background is in semi-conductor and LED technology and in extensive plant research and development.

As LEDs do not radiate heat towards the plants, the plants do not have to spend as much energy in transpiration due to heat as under HPS lights or FL-tubes. At the same time, with the right spectrum, they have a higher level of photosynthesis, so they may need a fertilizer mix which is different from HPS cultivation. So far all results and tests that Valoya has done, are done with “HPS grow-ing rules” and the results have been excellent, even if the water economy of the LEDs is different.

The key technological innovation of Valoya was to create and use a wide light spectrum for optimal plant growth. This was achieved by developing a new type of LED, which provides a very good con-tinuous light mix containing red, blue, green, orange, yellow and also far-red. This LED is developed and manufactured by Valoya, and for Valoya only.

In addition to the right light spectrum the form fac-tor of the fixture is important. The fixture should be adapted to the area illuminated and the height or distance to the plant. Valoya has three product fam-ilies with luminaires with various intensities for low, medium and high installations. The Valoya fixtures are roboust and designed to ensure a long lifespan in tough horticultural applications. The high power LED luminaires are passively cooled with high humid-ity protection while maintaining a small size. The fix-tures offer a minimal shadow footprint with minimal maintenance needs.

LED technology in general offers several benefits to horticulture. LED luminaires do not radiate heat in the direction of light as the generated heat is trans-ferred away from the LED diode to ensure high out-put and long use life. This means that luminaires can be brought very close to plants, thus enabling e.g. dense multilayer installations.

Pictures 1–3: Valoya LEDs, Valoya aluminum fixture casing with the passive heat sink, thermal simulation on Valoya B-series casing.

9

LEDs need cooling to perform well. Insuffi-cient cooling leads to lowered light output levels from the start and ultimately prema-ture deterioration of LED diodes.

LEDs from several manufacturers are actively cooled with fans or with water and some lack cooling com-pletely (LED fixtures without fans or aluminum heat sinks should be treated with caution).

Active cooling is not suitable for horticultural pur-poses, due to high maintenance. Fans have proven to be unsecure in a greenhouse environment as mois-ture and dirt gets into the electrical parts (fans) of the product causing hazards. Insufficient cooling or malfunction of active cooling components may re-sult in melting of plastic parts. This could lead to dis-charge of harmful gases with devastating results on the crops.

Valoya has paid great attention to durability of its products. Thus Valoya has applied passive cooling in its products by using an aluminum heatsink which provides both the enclosure and the cooling for the LEDs. This ensures a low energy consumption with-out compromising the life-span of the LED diodes.

Effective passive cooling is mainte-nance free and cost effective com-pared to active systems with break-able parts and energy loss.

10

Propagation: Tissue culture

The role of artificial light is accentuated in plant propagation as natural light can sel-dom be used in laboratories and growth chambers. common key features of light in propagation are good growth, energy efficiency and controllabili-ty of heat. special features depend on the growers needs. E.g. vernalization, or keeping plants from ver-nalization are valuable features that can be affected by light. Flower induction of plants, without interfer-ence from natural light are critical for e.g. seed com-panies.

The growing environment can be fully controlled as no sunlight is needed due to good growth results with the Valoya spectrum. The spectrum ena-bles higher and more homogenous quality.

Tissue cultureTissue culture growing is typically considered the process where plant material is grown in a growth substance (agar) which contains sugars and hor-mones to grow the plant to the next phase. Plant material can be cell material from meristems, which then grows by cell multiplication into plantlets. These plantlets can then be transplanted into another growth substrate (compost or similar), to develop roots and leaves or they can be cut into material for further cell-level growth, thus multiplying the plant material in development.

Key features of light in tissue culture is good distri-bution of light over the petri-dishes or similar growth trays, controllability of heat (in most cases avoidance of heat from the light source) and enhancement of the cell multiplication in terms of plant material qual-ity and/or speed of development. The low direction-al heat from LEDs allows installation of fixtures closer to the plants, which enables a more dense multilayer system, resulting in increased yield per area.

Plantlets should also develop their first leaves and roots in the final tissue culture phase in order to be able to be transplanted in the next growing phase. Important features of light are naturally the enhance-ment of root development and initiation of vegeta-tive growth.

11

Propagation: young Plants

The Valoya LEDs allow effective tem-perature and humidty control due to no directional heat on plants. The spectrum results in bet-ter rooting and higher capacity due to faster growth.

A key reason for using LEDs in cultivation of young plants are the possibilities to improve quality, increase capacity and to achieve a homogenous crop quality and stable production.

After propagation, plantlets, cuttings or other young plant material are transplanted into seedling cultiva-tion casettes. During this phase the quality of light is essential to ensure a good start for the plant growth.

Depending on the plant type, various character-istics may require emphasis in order to prepare the plant for the next phase after propagation. In prac-tice this may mean a desire to generate strong root growth, keep the symmetry of the plant within cer-tain parameters in order to fit onto the hydrophonic line or some other feature specific for the respective plant.

Many of the characteristics required from young plants can be achieved by using wide spectrum LEDs. Furthermore, LEDs contribute to a good uniformity of the light that ensures a homogenous crop.

12

Production: Leaf

Customers have been able to save more than 50% energy compared to traditional lights, while being able to improve quality i.e. better coloration, and better taste.

Valoya LEDs can improve light conditions in production of lettuce, herbs and micro-greens in greenhouses with static tables, conveyor systems and in multi-layer instal-lations with limited or no sunlight at all.

LED lights are well suited as lighting for conveyor hy-droponic systems due to potential high energy sav-ings. Fixtures can be installed close to plants and a less uniform light distribution can be allowed due to movement of the hydroponic system that results in a uniform distribution of the light during the day.

Valoya lights are today used in growing leafy greens in various settings, both as supplementary light as well as the sole light source without natural light. The intensities vary from different customers goals and go from some 30 up to 200µmol/m-2/s-1 (PAr) settings.

The right Valoya spectrum drives quick biomass gen-eration, compared to traditional lights. strong bi-omass development does not come at a cost of quality. on the contrary, lettuce and herbs grown under Valoya lights have strong colors and taste as well as excellent nutritional values. This has been achieved by enhancing the plants production of chemical compounds (anthocyanins and other phe-nolics), with the right balance of the different areas of the light spectrum.

Valoya LED lights are in use globally with several different lettuce and herb varieties and different pro-duction environments. Valoya LEDs are being used with e.g. lollo rosso, multired, multigreen, frillice (crisp/ice lettuce), romaine, basil, cress, pea shoots, parsley, coriander, dill, etc. For general strong growth of high quality leafy green plants, customers use the AP673 spectrum. If compactness is required, the ns2 spectrum is recommended.

13

Production: Flower

Valoya LEDs contribute to energy savings, faster production, more intensive coloration of flower, bet-ter rooting, more compactness, faster flowering and more flowers.

In year round production, flowers may require artificial light to control flower-ing. On northern latitudes, artificial light is a prerequisite for year-round production of several species.

Light intensity requirements for flowers differ wide-ly between species and between geographical lo-cations. For some plants, increased light intensity can result in faster production time and better qual-ity. rose growers may use up to 150-200 W/m2, while other flower growers find 40-50 W/m2 suffi-cient (HPs installed power). still, especially in win-ter months when HPs is the dominant light source, flower production and quality drops compared to summer. Valoya has been able to improve both productiv-ity and flower quality. Flowers grown with Valoya light has shown more intensive color on flowers and leaves. Valoya’s spectrum for flowers may also im-prove compactness of plants, which reduces the need of growth regulation chemicals. Improved qual-ity has in many cases been achieved with lower in-stalled power than HPs.

Valoyas experience with production or test on flow-ers include saintpaulia, begonia, tulips, kalanchoe, chrysanthemum, alstomeria, bromelia, dionaea etc.

14

Production: Fruit

As an important part of indoor strawberry produc-tion bumble bees are used for pollination. Bees under Valoya LED’s are known to fly and continue pollination even when external weather conditions would naturally stop or slow down bumble bees.

The Valoya AP67 spectrum enabled the bumble bees to start working without support of sun light, immediately when the bee hive door is opened. In HPs light environments bee hives have to be kept closed until day light is available as the bumble bees can not navigate under the HPs spectrum.

Bee friendly light: In a recent demonstration in the Netherlands, Valoya, not only demonstrated successful cultivation of cherry tomato with Valoya LED top-lights, but also that bumble bees can operate better than in HPS light.

Lighting control in strawberries is impor-tant to give extended fruit trusses. The use of LEDs will enhance this with increased flower formation and therefore improved yields. In addition, the sweetness of the fruit can be improved using Valoya LEDs making a more flavoursome and tasty strawberry.

For other types of soft fruits such as cane fruit and bush fruit Valoya LEDs will help improve flowering, increase productivity and overall quality including the flavour and taste of the fruit.

15

Application: Greenhouse Production

Valoya LEDs offer energy savings and/or more production with same light input.

In traditional greenhouses, with glass, poly-carbonate or other transparent materials, growers can benefit from sun light. As sun light is limited to day time, which is longer or shorter depending on geographical lo-cation or season, artificial light is used to improve production. In addition to top-lights, interlights between the crop are in use. Valoya has products suitable both for high power top-lights and for plant friend-ly interlights.

used light intensity and installed light power varies significantly between plant species, geographical lo-cation and growing style. A nordic cucumber grower may use close to 300 W/m2 in roof lighting with ad-ditional close to 100 W/m2 for inter-lighting while an-other growers use less than 100W/m2 in total. some flower growers are successful with 40 W/m2 of HPs light, while competition and room for improvement through artificial light is driving light intensities to-wards 200 W/m2 in rose growing. Intensities are also increasing in cultivation of orchids.

use of Valoya LEDs offer cost savings in ener-gy consumption and increased revenue through in-creased productivity compared to HPs.

Valoya’s r-series LED lights are designed for high installations, with minimal shadow effect and still maximal growth impact. Interlighting, light fixtures placed in the lower sections of the plant canopies, has shown to increase harvest. HPs lamps are used already in many greenhouses, but their benefit is limited as they generate a lot of heat, which when placed close to the plants may cause damage. Inter-lights are highly beneficial with high crops like cu-cumber, tomato and peppers, which all benefit from strong light. Interlight has also been tried with some cut flowers, like roses. Valoya B-series led lights offer several benefits to HPs and red/blue LED interlights. In addition to the better light spectrum for plants, the B-series heat sink also provides some heat radia-tion, which when placed close to the plants acts as a low heat-heat pipe. Plants will thus be able to use both the light energy from the fixture and the heat without being damaged by too high temperatures.

16

Many horticultural process require cultiva-tion in growth rooms and growth cham-bers. These environments provide a sterile and highly controllable growth process, without the support or disturbance of the sun. Quality of light is very important in laboratory and growth chamber applica-tions.

For some processes the spectrum of artificial light should resemble the spectrum of the sun. For these applications, the intense white spectrum, the ns2 may be used.

For other applications the spectrum should bring out special features of the grown plants or plant ma-terial. For a seed company, strong and quick flower induction is critical. Flowering might also require ver-nalization (winter dormancy) of plants. Valoya has a precision spectrum to drive flowering of plants and a spectrum expediting vernalization. some breeding processes require avoidance of vernalization and nat-urally this requires a different type of light.

As the sun is excluded, artificial light is in a key role. Traditionally growth chambers have been equipped with a high number of fluorescent tubes, to achieve light levels sometimes up to 1500 µmol/m-2/s-1. In tis-sue culture applications the light spectra should en-hance cell divisions. There are certain wavelenghts

Application: Laboratory and Growth chambers

that may inhibit of cell division and these should thus be avoided. Generating so much light from FL-tubes, also gen-erates significant heat, which has to be removed from the growing space. There is a variety of FL-tube spectrums available, some especially designed for plant cultivation. LEDs in general can provide benefits as, if properly cooled, do not emit radia-tion towards the plants and as such can help to low-er cooling costs. In applications where the temperature should be kept lower than +20° c, FL-tubes are at disadvan-tage as they operate optimally around +27 - +30° c. Performance and life span of LEDs on the other hand, improves at cooler temperatures. Valoya’s L-series products can replace T8 FL-tubes directly in their current fixtures. L-series is available in most Valoya spectra and will later in 2012 include all commercially available Valoya spectra.

17

Application: Growth rooms

Valoya NS2 - for copying sun lightValoya G2 - for quicker vernalization

Growth rooms may require high quality light up to 1500 µmol/m-2/s-1. Valoya LEDs offer an energy efficient alternative to tra-ditional growth room lighting.

In many growth room applications the light condi-tions should resemble natural light both in terms of light quality and intensity. The traditional lights that have been chosen to do this are metal halide and mercury halide lamps. They have a reasonable good spectrum compared to the sun, and a much better spectrum compared to high pressure sodi-um lights. Metal halide and mercury halide lamps are not efficient, providing less than 1 µmol/watt of light and they have a short life span of about 5000 hours. Growth room installations consume consid-erable amounts of electricity as power consumption can be around 1500W/m2.

recently plasma lights (LEP) have become available. The plasma light has a spectrum that resembles the sun, but it generates a massive amount of heat and is inefficient in terms of µmol/W (around 1 µmol/W).

The singificant heat from metal halide, mercu-ry halide or LEP, increase cooling costs and require plants to be kept at a distance from the fixtures.

Valoya’s r-series are excellently suited to replace tra-ditional fixture in growth chambers, as they are high power (185 W or 370 W) passively cooled fixtures. For sun light “copying” the ns2 spectrum may be used and for flowering the AP67 spectrum offers good results. Valoya r-series fixtures can be installed close to the plants and hence µmol-levels exceeding 2000 µmol/m-2/s-1 are possible. Energy savings com-pared to metal halide or mercury halide luminaires are about 50-60 % for same µmol-intensity.

18

Application: Multilayer

The low heat radiation and optimal light intensity of Valoya LED lights allow installations close to plants and therefore they are ideal for mul-tilayer installations.

Growing in multiple layers on top of each other has great potential for the future; it improves food security in areas with little or no greenhouse cultivation possibilities, it enables local vegetable production in-side metropolitan areas and it gives total control of the growth environment to the growers.

Multilayer growing multiplies the yield and green-house area and gives perfect control of the growth environment. The biggest issue with multilayer grow-ing has been to find a light source that provides good growth without too much heat. This is where Valoya can help.

As multilayer growing is in practice independent of natural light, they can be operated almost anywhere; in old warehouses, in basements and even in mid-dle of sky-scrapers. A fully controlled multilayer unit is also a way to produce a homogeneous crop re-gardless of time of year and outdoor light or weath-er conditions.

Valoya has done a considerable amount of research and trials in growing without natural light. Valoya has also designed fixtures that enable uniform light distribution at low height above the plants. Based on this, Valoya can provide a light spectrum with very strong growth capabilities, yet delivered in a energy efficient way for multilayer installations. Depending on required light intensity, Valoya L-series or B-series can be used.

Valoya L20 is similar to a T8/120 cm fluorescent tube and therefore easy to install even to low spaces. The B-series light is bar shaped and thus very suita-ble for multilayer and greenhouse installations at low height.

19

Application: Valoya Architectural LED Lights

The unique light spectrum of Valoya Architectural LED Lights is ideal for big plant walls and other installations requiring high light intensity.

Valoya´s architectural series lights produce a visually appealing wide spectrum light, which contains the right amounts of different light wavelengths for plants. The superior light spectrum is per-ceived white by humans, thus ideal for installations in offices, homes and public spaces.

Valoya’s architectural series light spectrum is based on Valoya’s plant production spectrum, AP67. The architectural version of the AP67 spectrum has an increased amount of green light, which makes it ap-pear white to humans, while maintaining a superior plant growth spectrum. It is ideal for installations in offices, homes and public spaces as well as in botani-cal gardens and zoos. The Valoya architectural series lights offer different models based on light intensity and form factor re-quired.

The r-series provides high light intensity for a wide range of applications. With the AP67s architectural spectrum the r-series lights are ideal for large plant walls in public spaces, offices and in applications were the light intensity requirements are high and where light should be perceived as white by humans.

The r-series is also recommended for botanical gar-dens and zoos to replace traditional HPs or metal halide lights.

The bar form factor of the B-series allows horizon-tal or vertical installation into constructions for con-venient placement of the light source. The B-series offers years of maintenance free usage making it the ideal choice for architectural installations.

The L-series products are compatible with stand-ard T8 fluorescense tubes and hence interchangeable without modifications. It offers a cost effective, good quality growth spectrum which is easy to install.

20

case: cucumber Interlighting

Cucumber growers in the Nordic countries are able to save over 40% in electricity when using Valoya LEDs instead of HPS for interlighting.Good yield and quality is preserved and with the wide continuous light spectrum, quality control and working conditions are excellent compared to traditional red/blue LEDs and HPS.

cucumber interlightingProducers in Finland may use close to 400 W/m2 in lighting for cucumbers. Around 100 W/m2 is supplied as interlighting in order to provide light into the plant where the roof lights or the sun does not shine. Tra-ditional 250W and 400W free hanging HPs lights have been used as the light source. The hot HPs light bulbs do however distribute light in all directions rather than just towards the plants and present a fire hazard due to the high temperature. The high tem-perature may also harm the plant as leaves closest to the light bulb may be burned.

With Valoya LEDs, producers are able to save en-ergy and increase production and not burn the crop or cause a fire risk compared to HPs and traditional red/blue LEDs.

The Valoya advantageWith Valoyas patent pending tilting interlights, fur-ther energy can be saved as the interlights can be adjusted to illuminate plants downwards during the first weeks of growth and serve as the only light source without roof lighting. When plants grow, the lights will be situated between the plants and the an-gle of luminaires is adjusted to illuminate the plants

Cucumber growers save over 40% energy in interlighting during winter with maintenance free Valoya LEDs compared to traditional HPS.

21

case: W.s. Bentley’s

By using Valoya LED lights, growers of leafy greens will achieve reduced costs through lower installed Watts/m2 and faster time to harvest, which also means fewer to-tal hours of illumination per plant. Sav-ings can also be achieved from less use of water, as the lack of directional heat does not dry the plants or their growth subtrates. The even light distribution from the LED fixtures enables better uniform-ity of the harvest, which may reduce the need for manual sorting of plants.

Valoya led grow lights improve quality and save energy at W.s. Bentley´s (Growers) Ltd.Well established grower W.s Bentley (Growers) Ltd has chosen Valoya grow lights for their pea shoot-nursery in snaith. W.s Bentley uses Valoya B150 fix-tures as the only artificial light source to grow pea shoots. W.s Bentley grow high quality plants, with very low Watt/m2. Energy savings are over 50% com-pared to traditional lights.

The Managing Director of W.s. Bentley’s Jan Bent-ley: ”We did extensive testing of the available light-ing solutions for our new facility. We wanted to have the right light spectrum for our plants, as well as high light intensity fixtures, that we could use as mov-ing lights. With Valoya’s LED lights as artificial illumi-nation we got the best quality of pea shoots, while achieving the significant energy savings we were af-ter. I would say that we got the best of both worlds”.

Savings can be achieved through low-er installed Watts/m2 and faster time to harvest as well as from reduced water consumption.

22

case: Flower Production during Winter

HPS lights tend to produce pale color and stretched plants during winter. Valoya wide spectrum LEDs produce strong flower and leaf color without stretching the plants even without sunlight.

Flower growers have improved their quality of plants during the winter sea-son by using Valoya wide spectrum LEDs instead of high pressure sodium lights. The spectra from Valoya accentuates the desired feature of plants whether it is strong flowering, rich colors or compact-ness.By using Valoya LEDs, producers are able to improve quality while saving energy at the same time.

Winter season challengeFlowers grown with HPs lamps typically show low-er productivity and decreased quality during winter. common problems compared to summer are smaller and less flowers per plant, the color of flowers and leaves are pale, leaf quality becomes worse. These reactions are found in a variety of plants e.g. roses, saintpaulia, tulips, alstomeria, chrysanthemum, be-gonia etc. There is an evident connection between lower plant quality and a decrease in productivity with the dominant use of HPs light with its poor light spectrum.

The Valoya solution for flowers Practice has shown significantly stronger colours on flowers and leafs cultivated with Valoya LED lights compared to HPs. The AP67 spectrum produc-es more buds than HPs and e.g. begonia shows up to 20% increase in buds on plants grown with the Valoya AP67 spectrum than HPs.

With the Valoya ns2 spectrum, poinsettia is grown more compact, creating a visually appealing plant with less growth control chemicals. spectra suita-ble for flowers is available in various forms and allow installation as roof lighting and lighting for moving conveyor systems and tables.

23

case: strawberries, university of Helsinki

strawberry cultivationuniversity of Helsinki tested HPs lights, traditional red/blue LEDs and Valoya AP67 LED lights to deter-mine the suitability as artificial lighting for their growth room. Their requirements were a light with sufficient intensity, overall quality and good per-formance. The Valoya AP67 spectrum fulfilled their criteria. under the Valoya LED lights everbearing straw-berries flowered after 5 weeks, one week earlier compared to the HPs lights, which induced flower-ing after 6 weeks from the beginning of the light treatment. In addition, the spectrum of Valoya LED lights allowed strict control of photoperiodic flower-ing response.

The Valoya AP67 spectrum induces flow-ering efficienctly in conditions with no natural light. It enables good vegetative growth of plants and offers humans good working conditions compared to HPS or traditional red/blue LEDs. With good qualitative results as well as en-ergy saved, University of Helsinki chose Valoya LEDs for their strawberry growth room.

Valoya LEDs for strawberriesValoya LEDs provides excellent vegetative growth required for strawberry plants to flower and to pro-duce berries. The wide continuous AP67 light spec-trum from Valoya also functions as the signal for strawberries to start flowering which in natural con-ditions would be determined by the photoperiod. Good quality results in combination with pleas-ant working conditions made university of Helsinki to choose Valoya as supplier for their strawberry growth room.

Valoya wide spectrum LEDs offer good working conditions and allows quality assessment of plants in con-trast to traditional red/blue LEDs.

24

Product range

As Valoya is solely focusing on horticultural applications, all company re-sources are geared towards creating value for the growers. This takes form in sever-al ways:

• The light spectrum itself is developed for plant growth and made with Valoya proprietary LEDs and hence not limited to what can be done with off-the-shelf red and blue LEDs.

• The robust fixtures are designed to outlast the LEDs themselves (there’s no point in having a fan for active air cooling, which dies out before the LEDs, thus deteriorating the fixture). All Valoya fixtures are passively air cooled, which means no moving parts that have the risk of breaking. The B- and r-series fixtures have IP65 and IP55 ingress protection rating, respectively.

• High performance power solutions to ensure long use life. our power units are designed for over 100 000 hours of usage and have an internal IP rat-ing of IP67.

• Our research and development is fully focused to solve our customers’ needs. We have done, and continue to do research at our own facilites, with research institutions globally and with our custom-ers.

L-seriesThe low heat radiation and optimal light intensity al-low installations close to plants. The L20 form fac-tor and the high performance AP67 light spectrum makes the L20 ideal for use in growth chambers and high density multilayer growth systems. A fluorescent T8/120 cm tube can easily be replaced with the L20.

B-seriesThe B-series products are bar shaped and thus very suitable for installations such as multi-layer, inter-lighting and greenhouse installations at lower height. no heat radiation is emitted towards the plants from the fixture which enables installation of the lights in close proximity to plants.

r-seriesThe r-series products are high power lights with minimal shadow footprint and therefore suitable for large scale installations in traditional greenhouses. The high performance LEDs and the robust fixture design provide a very long life span.

25

About Valoya

Information boxAlways some benefit listed also.Donec pede justo, fringilla vel.

Valoya is a provider of energy efficient LED lights for professional horticultur-al purposes. The company was found-ed in Finland in 2009 and has today 13 employees in Finland, Singapore and UK.

The core idea of Valoya is to provide better light to plants. Valoya does not do “white light” LEDs for of-fice or street light applications; there is always a plant under our lights.

Knowledge about better light is based on extensive academic and practical research on plant behavior to Valoya light. These results have been evaluated and confirmed by professional growers in their own trials or in production use.

The uniqueness of Valoya LEDs is the continuous spectrum of light distributed in different intensities over the wide wavelength range to provide desired results.

To date Valoya has customers in several segments. We have plant breeders, growers and research insti-tutions using our lights to grow plants ranging from flowers and vegetables to ornamental trees and al-gae. our customers are located in 18 countries in Eu-rope, north America, Asia and Australia.

The company is privately owned, by its founders and two investors.

26

Valoya lights are available directly from Valoya and from resellers in selected markets. We provide assistance to our customers in the selection of fix-ture type, spectrum and light inten-sity, should this be needed. In order to help our customers, we typically ask the following questions:

• What do you want to achieve primarily (energy savings, better quality, etc.)?

• Do you have challenges with current light condi-tions that you want to solve with LEDs?

• Are you growing in traditional greenhouses or in no-sunlight, multilayer conditions?

• What plant(s) are you cultivating?• How big area do you want to illuminate, what is

the size of your growth area?• Do you have moving tables or conveyor hydropon-

ic gutters?• Do you have wishes and/or limitations regarding

the installation height of the luminaries?• How much light do you use (annual hours, typical

daily photoperiod, light intensity)?

How to Buy Valoya Lights

In general customers should always pay attention to following factors when choosing LED lights:

• Quality of the light spectrum (high µmol output does not matter if it is in an area which does not benefit the plants or if there are important wave-band areas missing from the light spectrum).

• Focus on real light output, including power con-sumption of power transformers, fans and cool-ing systems. High watt input does not guarantee a high light output.

• Demand info on cooling, question benefits from active cooling systems as they may consume high amount of energy and are also prone to high maintenance costs.

• Ingress protection ratings: is the fixture suitable for greenhouse/growth chamber use?

27

Valoya Light-planning

Successful horticultural lighting is implement-ed based on a through plan made to match the specific customer needs. Valoya light plans are made by a lighting engineer supported by a photo-biologist using the most advanced re-search data and simulation tools, such as Dialux, Light Tools and Relux.

The software provides an accurate result of the lighting pattern to be implemented, considering the plants, desired light level, light distribution, the most effective height for the fixture, irrigation systems, screens, materials and greenhouse construction. un-like other companies, Valoya goes beyond stand-ard light planning by considering factors like moving lights or conveyor systems. As a result of the light plan customers get a proposal for the spectrum to be used, number of fixtures to be installed, distance between fixtures and installation height in order to achieve an optimal lighting installation.

contact informationValoya oyLauttasaarentie 54 A 3 krsFI-00200 HelsinkiTel. +358 10 2350 300Fax +358 10 2962 696

www.valoya.com