LEDs are changing the face of horticulture lighting and nowhere is that more evident than at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colorado, where forward thinking education and research is being conducted on the effect of growing under LEDs at the new CSU Horticulture Research Center.

Last month, Philips Lighting collaborated with CSU to host the inaugural LED Lighting Research Summit. This first time event brought together leading horticulture researchers from several universities including Michigan State University, North Carolina State University, and Utah State University and even Wageningen University in Wageningen, Netherlands.

Attendees of the inaugural LED Lighting Research Summit

The Research Summit came about after CSU opened their new Horticulture Research Center in Fort Collins in late 2015. The $7.5 million facility, with a growing area of 2,200 square feet, is outfitted with Philips Horticulture LED lighting including Philips LED Toplighting, LED Flowering Lamp, and LED Interlighting.

 CSU Horticulture Research Center – Fort Collins, Colorado

Dr. Steve Newman, Ph.D., Greenhouse Crops Extension Specialist and Professor of Floriculture at CSU and event host said, “Our recent collaboration with Philips Lighting positions us to use new LED technology to focus our research and cultivation studies. We’re proud of the work we are doing here at CSU and excited about the potential it offers horticulture students and the horticulture industry.”

During the one and half day event, attendees had a chance to get an inside look at the impressive CSU facility and learn of recent research findings including:

• LED supplemental lighting as a potential alternative to chemical PGRs; presented by Dr. Ricardo Hernandez, North Carolina State University
• Sole-source LED lighting in plug propagation; presented by Dr. Paul Karlovich, C. Rakers & Sons
• Growing hops in the greenhouse under horticulture LED lighting; presented by Dr. Bill Bauerle, Colorado State University
• Crop growth modeling and crop strategies; presented by Dr. Esther de Beer, Philips Lighting

Each presentation was followed by a Q&A and open discussion.

Dr. Erik Runkle, Michigan State University, shares his research findings on the topic of LEDs and photoperiodic lighting

About the summit, Ron DeKok, Business Development Director, Philips Lighting North America, said. “To better serve the market and our customers, it’s important we tap in to the expertise of this group to ensure that we have a solid understanding of what they see as the challenges and applications for growers as the adoption of LEDs increases across a broad range of growing environments.”

Photo (left): The hops trial underway at CSU is on display at the event’s opening reception. Photo (right): Dr. Wim van Ieperen, Wageningem University, and Dr. Royal Heins, HRT Services, LLC, converse over beverages at Fort Collins Brewery

Overall, attendees enjoyed having a chance to interact in small group settings and have meaningful conversations about their work. Here’s what a few attendees had to say about the research summit:

“The ability to beneficially change plant shape with unique light spectra has now made LEDs a cost-effective option for several crops in commercial greenhouse applications”, said Utah State University’s, Dr. Bruce Bugbee. Dr. Bugbee’s presentation examined LED’s commercial application value in his presentation: “Six Considerations for Determining the Value of LEDs”.

Dr. Erik Runkle of Michigan State University said, “The research summit provided an excellent opportunity for leading researchers and growers to share their experiences with LED lighting on a wide range of crops.  The ability to discuss many of the opportunities (and constraints) helped provide directions for future LED research to move the implementation of this technology forward.”

Travis Higginbotham, Research & Development Manager at Battlefield Farms, said, “LEDs have the potential to revolutionize our approach to growing, as we attempt to satisfy an environmentally concerned consumer. LEDs can be a tool to reduce our environmental impact through energy savings, and improve plant growth efficiency.”