MJBizMagazine September 2021 Lighting Buyers Guide - 6

MJBizDaily Buyers Guide Lighting
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" When I think about what growers consider (in
a lighting system), I think about how we get the
most out of this plant, " said Travis Higginbotham,
vice president of production for Harborside, a
vertically integrated California cannabis company.
Higginbotham and other horticultural lighting
professionals consulted for the MJBizDaily
Lighting Buyers' Guide recommend growers
evaluate the following factors in their lighting
research:
* Cannabis crop lighting needs.
* The growing environment.
* Climate and region.
* Applicable energy and lighting regulations
and incentives.
* The cannabis marketplace.
* The future of cannabis lighting.
* Cannabis crop lighting needs
Cannabis needs a lot of light for peak
performance, Higginbotham said. Growers
should pay close attention to light quantity and
how much daily light integral (DLI) is delivered to
optimize production.
He aims for a minimum DLI of 50 moles, a
unit for measuring light. Bright sunshine in the
summer may deliver as much as 65 moles a day.
But light quality, or spectrum, is also essential,
Higginbotham said, though spectrum has been
a hotly debated topic since LEDs entered the
cannabis marketplace.
LEDs can be designed to include or exclude
different wavebands of the light spectrum,
providing many more spectrum options than
traditional high-intensity discharge (HID) lights.
First-generation LED technology could only
compete against HPS lights for energy use
within the red and blue spectrum ( " blurple "
lights), which use the least amount of energy for
photons produced, according to Alex Gerard, chief
technical officer at Foshe, an LED horticultural
lighting manufacturer.
A Cannabis Lighting
Buyer's Checklist
What to Know and What to Ask
Ask yourself:
F What yields do you expect to achieve?
F What is your daily light integral (DLI)?
F How will you provide spectrum?
F Does your state have an LED rebate
program?
F How much will your energy use cost?
F What's the ultimate goal of your
cannabis business?
F What do your end customers value?
Ask your manufacturer:
F Is this light listed with the nonprofit
DesignLights Consortium? How did
it rate?
F What is this light's efficacy?
F What is this light's failure rate?
F What is this light's yield per square
foot?
F How long will this light last?
F What is the Ingress Protection (IP)
rating for this light?
F What do your customer support and
technical services offer?
F How long has your company been in
business?
F Can you refer me to other growers
that have purchased from you?
Don't be afraid to:
F Get multiple quotes.
F Reach out to agriculture extension
programs, university agriculture
departments and professional lighting
organizations (such as GLASE) for
advice.
6
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MJBizMagazine September 2021 Lighting Buyers Guide

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