With complete absence of sunlight
Finland: Valoya LED produces excellent strawberries
Researcher Dr. Timo Hytönen and his research team at the University of Helsinki tested several artificial light sources for improving vegetative growth and flowering of wild strawberries. The LED lights from Valoya Ltd were among the tested products and proved to be superior in comparison to tested High Pressure Sodium (HPS) lights and to competing horticultural LED lights from a large multinational company.
The purpose of the test was to evaluate the performance of the lights and the suitability of the light spectrum for plant flowering and growth. The test also evaluated the sufficiency of light intensity and the overall quality of cultivated plants. The benefits of using Valoya LED lights compared to the other light sources were: faster flower induction, strong vegetative growth, and a more suitable working light enabling visual quality control.
With Valoya LED lights, everbearing strawberries flowered already 5 weeks after starting light treatment. This was one week earlier compared to plants cultivated with HPS lights. In addition, the spectrum of Valoya LED lights allowed strict control of the photoperiodic flowering response. The blue/red LED fixture from the multinational company proved to be challenging due to the low light intensity resulting in lights being too close to plants. Also, the blue/red light spectrum made visual quality control impossible and working in the growth room unpleasant in general.
Due to the excellent results gained with the Valoya AP67 LED lights, Dr. Hytönen ultimately decided on the Valoya AP67 LED lights for his growth room. The lights are now in active use, enabling shorter growth cycles, better flowering and high quality plants, in no natural light conditions.
For more information:
Lars Aikala
CEO
Valoya Oy
Tel. +358-40-5466639
[email protected]