Van Zanten Greenhouses is a family run greenhouse that focuses on growing potted ornamentals. They have been growing for over 30 years in Pelham, Ontario where they began by growing cut freesia but have recently transitioned away from cut flowers into potted plants.
Location: Pelham, ON, Canada
Crop: Ornamentals
Luminaire: NXT2
Reflector: Alpha
Van Zanten Greenhouses is a family run greenhouse that focuses on growing potted ornamentals. They have been growing for over 30 years in Pelham, Ontario where they began by growing cut freesia but have recently transitioned away from cut flowers into potted plants. They grow many seasonal varieties, and when we visited in the summer, the greenhouses were full of phalaenopsis orchids.
Van Zanten Greenhouses sells most of their plants to other greenhouse growers, where they combine and distribute them as larger orders. Orchids are grown out to a specified size, then shipped to other Ontario growers who finish growing them for customers.
Growing year-round flowering potted plants means they need consistent light levels to keep yields and quality at their highest, which is important since they are located in a northern climate where winter DLI’s (daily light integrals) can be as low as 3 moles per day. Many potted flowering plants requires DLI’s between 10-25 moles per day for consistent quality and to ensure flowering. Since supplemental light is integral to their operation, they installed P.L. Light Systems’ NXT2 HPS luminaires with Alpha reflectors to uniformly distribute light over the crop—enabling them to achieve optimum light intensity, with fewer luminaires.
Without supplemental light, crop cycles can become longer, and plants are less likely to flower when DLIs are below their minimum requirements. This is why many ornamental growers, such as Van Zanten Greenhouses, have come to depend on supplemental lighting for year-round growing. To learn more about Van Zanten visit their website at http://www.vanzanten.ca/
