“This year we traveled to Finland with its harsh winter climate of extremely cold temperatures and short daylight periods. This climate poses extreme challenges for greenhouse operations, and we can learn a lot from the growers who are using our LED grow lights in this environment. This event presents a unique opportunity for people across the tomato community to learn more about applications in different climates and varieties,” says Udo van Slooten, manager of Philips Horticulture LED lighting. “Our customers were inspired and got a deep understanding by discussing experiences and ways of working with peer growers and crop consultants. This often leads to new insights, and inspires new strategies for growing using LED lighting.” Participants were impressed with the quality of the installations and results being achieved in Finland. “This is really like the G7 for tomato growers,” says one of the participants.

The tour began at Martin Sigg’s greenhouse in Närpes, Finland which moved to a 100% LED installation for his Merlice variety. “I was proud to share our experiences using a combination of two lines of LED interlighting with LED toplighting with the visitors,” says Sigg. “This installation gives us much more freedom to achieve even higher light levels without the higher heat levels created by HPS lighting. It is the perfect solution for a lower greenhouse like ours.” Sigg reports that the crop looks very strong and generative and production has exceeded his expectations so far. Growing under LEDs allows him to maintain a good balance and openness i which is crucial for scaling up to higher stem density at the right moment.

Stefan Gulin from the Gulin Oy Ab nursery grows Encore tomatoes and increased his yields by 20% in an LED interlighting trial. That’s when he decided to expand the LED area to an entire climate area using a combination of HPS and two lines of LED interlighting. The tour also stopped at the Stig-Erik Vikars nursery, which is using a combination of HPS and LED interlighting to improve the quality and yields of its Encore tomatoes. Another example of the HPS and LED interlighting combination was also shown at the nursery of Johan Lassander Oy Ab. With this installation they have achieved year-round tomatoes for the Sassari cherry tomato variety.