Increasing Yield: LED Interlights for Tomatoes & Cucumbers

Greenhouses provide an excellent environment for growers to cultivate plants. Within greenhouses, plants are shielded from the harsh outdoor conditions they would otherwise face, such as wind, drought, extreme heat, biting cold, pests, and small animals. Imagine being able to grow vegetables year-round without concern for seasons or outdoor conditions; it's quite favorable. Moreover, in terms of increasing yields, greenhouse cultivation opens up numerous possibilities. Isn't that great?

So, what crops should be planted? What is the best crop for greenhouse production? How can growers and business investors maximize the benefits of their planting? These questions are all worth considering before embarking on a planting project.

Tomatoes and cucumbers are the most common vegetables grown in greenhouses. They share many characteristics:

• They are vine crops with thick foliage.
• They thrive in warm weather.
• Both are in high demand and suitable for large-scale cultivation.

Regardless of the crop chosen, yield is always a concern for growers. What factors affect the yield of these two common, highly similar greenhouse vegetables? What can growers do to improve their yields?

Several factors affect greenhouse productivity, including temperature, relative humidity, irrigation, fertilization, disease incidence, electricity costs, and labor costs. Many of these factors can be easily and accurately controlled in a greenhouse environment.

Today, we're going to discuss a very influential factor, one that is now widely accepted by greenhouse growers: lighting conditions. Practical examples show that cucumber yields significantly increase after LED inter-canopy lighting is provided, sometimes by nearly half, resulting in higher-quality cucumbers with better taste.

Research for higher-yield cultivation has never ceased. Initially, growers explored moving cucumber growth from outdoors to indoors to protect them from outdoor influences. However, diseases and insect pests from the soil persisted. Thus, growers began exploring soilless cultivation, leading to successful hydroponic cucumber cultivation. These measures have proven effective in increasing production.

The research on high yield continues. During cucumber hydroponics in greenhouses, it was found that relying solely on natural light only addressed seasonal cucumber production. To produce year-round, greenhouse growers had to address the slight sunlight shortage in winter. Artificial lighting for greenhouse gardening appears to align with the needs of indoor vegetable production.

For some crops, top-mounted plant lights solved the sunlight shortage issue in winter. However, for high-density crops like tomatoes and cucumbers, their lower layers of foliage shade each other, leading to reduced fruit production, and poor appearance, and taste.

Installing a grow light between vine crops, close to the plants, would be an ideal solution to the light shortage in the underlayer. Previously, with conventional plant lamps emitting too much heat, this was unthinkable. However, LED interlights have solved this problem effectively.

The Atop Lighting HL03 Horti-Reina LED interlight is a high-efficiency, linkable LED interlight solution for vine crops. It emits sideways light distribution up to a 120-degree range, ensuring optimal uniform light for the lower leaves of vine crops in commercial greenhouses, resulting in increased yields.