B&G Visscher

Project Results

Shortly after emigrating to Canada from Holland, Bert Visscher began growing premium cut flowers commercially in Otterville, Ontario. Today, almost 30 years (and several expansions) later, Bert’s son, Herman, leads the family pursuit of delivering the highest possible quality for every stem leaving the greenhouse. The superior quality of their crop is achieved through a meticulous selection of varieties and dialed-in cultivation practices.

Force time of lilies has been 1-2 weeks faster vs. previous crops grown under HPS

The Visscher’s have been using supplemental lighting for 20+ years to grow top-quality cut flowers for their customers year-round. For two decades, they grew under P.L. Light Systems’ HSE2000 magnetic ballast HPS luminaires. Despite taking great care in maintaining their legacy luminaires over the years, the replacement lamps and other parts like capacitors and ignitors were becoming near impossible to find. As electronic luminaires took hold in the market, the magnetic component manufacturers discontinued making the parts and the older, magnetic ballast technology is now considered obsolete. So, this combined with the fact that the existing local power grid was at maximum electrical supply capacity, meant the only logical solution was for B&G Visscher to upgrade their greenhouse lighting to a far more efficient LED system.

P.L. Light Systems’ HSE2000 magnetic ballast HPS luminaires still in use after 20+ years

After much research and discussions with other growers, B&G Visscher ultimately opted for P.L. Light Systems’ TriPlane Linear (SQ configuration) LED luminaires for both the retrofit of the existing greenhouse and their expansion. Although there were other competitive product options that delivered a similar quality and technical performance to the TriPlane Linear, Herman felt P.L. Light Systems’ genuine determination to specify a product that met his specific needs, their quality of service, and after sales support made them the best lighting partner.

The Visscher’s have been thrilled with the response of their crop under the LED lights in their existing greenhouse and are looking forward to the new expansion coming online this month. Herman has learned that they’re able to push the plants far harder under the LED lighting vs. HPS, with increased stem strength. In fact, the force time of their lilies has been 1-2 weeks faster (depending on the variety of lily) under the LED lights vs. previous years when the plants were grown under the HPS light. This is particularly impressive, given the unusually dark winter (as a result of cloud cover) experienced in Southern Ontario over the winter of 2023/24.

The overall improvements to the crop quality under the LED vs. HPS lighting included a darker green leaf colour, significantly increased stem strength and greatly reduced bud abortion.

Another big advantage of the LED system is the reduced power consumption. Despite the fact that B&G Visscher doubled their number of supplemental lighting hours vs. previous years (thanks to the unusually dark winter), their electrical consumption only increased by 10%. They are looking forward to realizing even more energy savings next year when the weather hopefully delivers a more typical sunny winter.

Bert and Herman are looking forward to soon having their entire facility converted to an LED system so they can continue to focus on what they do best: growing nothing but the best quality floral stems.

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