walters gardens totalgrow testing report 140514

WaltersGardensTotalGrowLightTesting

TestSummary:

Thepotentialfora2/3powerconsumptionreductionbyreplacing1000Whighpressuresodiumlightswith150WTotalGrowTG15AlightswastestedandprovenbycomparinggrowthcharacteristicsofseveralWaltersGardensperennials.Eightcharacteristicsweremeasuredon11varietiesofplantsin2growthstagesusing3lightintensitiesrepresentinglesser,equivalentandgreaterthancurrentWaltersGardenslightinglevels.

Plantstested:

MonardaLeadingLadyPlum(showandproduction,3lightintensities) EchinaceaJulia(show,3intensities) Heucherella(show,3intensities) AgaveQWT(production,3intensities) CarexBananaBoat(production,3intensities) CoreopsisMoonbeam(production,3intensities) CoreopsisZagreb(production,3intensitieslostfrominadequatewatering) DianthusFireStar(production,3intensities) GeraniumRozanne(production,mediumintensity) EchinaceaKimsKneeHigh(production,mediumintensity) HakonechloaAureola(production,mediumintensity)

GrowthDataCollected:

Height(all10varieties) Diameter(6varieties) Largestleaflength&width(7varieties) Branching(Monarda) Totalshoots(6varieties) LeafCount(6varieties) RootScore(all10varieties)

ResultsSummary:

TheTotalGrowlightingstrategytestedrequiresonlyonethirdofthepowerconsumptionofthe1000WHPSlightingsystemwhileconsistentlyyieldingstatisticallyequalgrowth.Mostvariationinthedataisbetterattributedtouncontrolledvariablesthantothelighting,especiallydifferingsoilmoisturelevelsduetovaryingamountsofairflowandoccasionallyinconsistentwatering.Whencombiningdatafromallvarieties,alltraitswerewithinonestandarddeviationofdifferencebetweenlightingtypeswithonlyheightandbranchingdifferingbymorethan0.5standarddeviations(greaterinTGduetogreaterMonardashowplantsizes).Averagelightintensitiesweretargetedat25%higherunderHPStotesttheabilityoftheTotalGrowspectrumtobeequallyeffectiveatalowerlightintensity.Averagelight

intensities,measuredinmole*m2*s1PAR,were21%higherunderHPSareasthanTotalGrowareaswhenmeasuredwithanOceanOpticsUSB2000spectrometerandamobileintegratingsphere.Rootgrowthandqualityappearedtobethecharacteristicmoststronglycorrelatedwithlightintensity,showingimprovementathigherintensitiesregardlessoflightingtype.

Resultsindetail:

Evaluatingeachdatacategorybynumberoftrialswithgreatervaluesfromeachlightingtypeandaveragemagnitudeofvariation,measuredbystandarddeviations(SDs):

HeightTGgreaterin16/29trials(.6SDs)o GreatestforTGinMonardaandHeucherellashowplantsandAgaveandGeranium

productionplants,greatestforHPSinCoreopsisMoonbeamandDianthus DiameterTGgreaterin9/19trials(.1SDs)

o GreatestforTGinMonarda,EchinaceaandHeucherellashowplants,greatestforHPSinDianthus

LargestleaflengthandwidthTGgreaterin10/18trials(.2SDs)o GreatestforTGinMonardaandHeucherellashowplants,allothersverysimilar

MainBranches(Monardashowplantsonly)TGgreaterin2/3trials(.9SDs) TotalShootsHPSgreaterin13/20trials(.3SDs)

o GreatestforHPSinMonardaproductionplantsandCarex LeafCountHPSgreaterin12/17trials(.1SDs)

o GreatestforTGinMonardashowplants,greatestforHPSinMonardaproductionplantsandEchinaceaKimsKneeHigh

RootScoreHPSgreaterin16/29trials(.3SDs)o GreatestforHPSinCarex,CoreopsisMoonbeamandEchinaceaKimsKneeHigh,all

othersverysimilar

Foreachcharacteristic,therewasanear5050splitoftrialswithgreaterresultsbetweenthetwolightingtypes.Combinedwiththesmallmagnitudeoftheaveragevariationsbetweentreatments,theseresultsstronglysuggestthatthelightingusedwasaninsignificantsourceofvariation.

Focusingonlightingintensity,itwasexpectedthatthemediumlightintensitywouldproducethemedianvalueforeachgrowthcategories.Inreality,mediumlightlevelsactuallyproducedthesmallestaveragenumbersforhalfofthedatacategoriesinbothlightingtypes.Thisisbestexplainedbythegreaterimpactoftheothervariablesinfluencinggrowth.Thismediumlightinglevelisthemostrelevant,however,asitrepresentstheamountoflightcurrentlyprovidedinthegreenhouses.Also,flatstestedundermediumlightlevelsweremostsimilarlypositionedrelativetofansandthusshouldhavesimilarlevelsofmoisture.Everyplantalsohadatleastonemediumlightingtreatmentflatwhile3productionplantsdidnothaveloworhighintensityflats.Height,diameter,largestleaflength&width,leafcount,andMonardasbranchingallweregreateronaverageunderTGlighting(0.5,0.9,0.5,3.0and2.0SDsofaveragedifference,respectively)whiletotalshootsandrootscorewereaslightlygreaterunderHPS(0.3and0.3SDsofaveragedifference,respectively).

Rootdatawasalsoselectivelyanalyzed.Rootscoresweredeterminedbytakingpicturesofeachplantsrootsandgivingascorebetween05relativetotheotherplants.Thiswasthusthemostsubjectiveofthedatacategoriestaken.Especiallydryorwetsoilwasnotedaswellasseverityofboltinginfloweringplants.Bothlightingtreatmentsproducedthebestresultsunderhighlightingwithmediumlightslightlyoutperforminglowlight.Boltinghadinconsistenteffects.WetanddryconditionsappearedtoadverselyaffectrootdevelopmentaswellexceptfordryandnormalconditionshavingequalresultsforHPS.Overall,HPShadaslightadvantageinaveragerootsscores.Byobservation,itappearedthatTGplantsoccasionallyhadlarger,whiterrootsthanHPSwhileHPSplantshadagreaternumberofsmaller,brownercoloredroots.

Discussion:

Plantsgrownunder1000WHPSandtheeffectiveequivalentamountof150WTG15Alightsdidnotdemonstrateanyconsistentsignificantdifference.Occasionalvariationswithinthesmallsamplesizesofindividualplantvarietiesandlightintensitieswerebetterattributedtouncontrolledvariablesthantolightsourceastheyfavoredeachlightsourcerelativelyequally.Forexample,MonardaandHeucherellashowplantsunderTotalGrowlightsrelativelyconsistentlyoutscoredHPStrials,butDianthusandCarexplantsunderHPSlightsshowedsimilartrendsovertheirTGequivalents.

Whencombiningallresults,thereappearstobeaslighttrendofTGplantshavinggreaterabovegroundgrowthandHPSplantshavinggreatergrowthinrootsandnewshoots.ThismaybeduetotheradiantheatofHPSlightsthatdriesoutsoilmorequickly.TheresultsshouldbedriersoilsunderHPSplantsthanTGplantswhichwouldfavorrootdevelopmentoverabovegrounddevelopment.GrowingunderTGlightsmightallowreducedwateringneedstomaintaindriersoilsandbetterrootgrowthwhendesired.

Rootgrowthalsoappearedtobethecharacteristicmostdirectlyimprovedbyincreasedlightingintensities,especiallyunderTGlighting.Averagerootscoresimprovedby0.6(ona05scale)forbothlightingtypeswiththeincreasefromlowtohighlightingintensity.Itwastheonlycategorythatincreasedbothfromlowtomediumintensityandmediumtohighintensityunderbothlightingtypes.Again,thismaybeconfoundedbyincreasingsoiltemperaturesanddrynessunderincreasedlights,butrepresentsanopportunitytorefinegrowingstrategiestoimproverootgrowthwhenthatisapriority.

Figures:

5 7 9 12 15 17 20 22 23 24 25 25 25 25 26 26 26 26 25 25 25 25 24 23 22 20 17 15 12 9 7 5

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Figure1TotalGrowPARoutput(mole*m2*s1).Squaresrepresentonesquarefoot.RedareasrepresentlowerthannormallevelsofequivalentsupplementallightingforWaltersGardensgreenhouses,greenrepresentsnormalrangesandyellowrepresentsincreasedlevels.Blueboxesshowactualareasusedfortestingtheselightlevels.DarkgreenareasareidealtestareasduetocomparableairflowlevelstodarkgreenareasunderHPSlighting(seefigure2).Thickoutlinesrepresentfixturelocations.

28 28 30 30 28 28 30 32 34 34 33 33 32 31 32 32 32 32 31 32 33 33 34 34 32 30 28 28 30 30 28 28

36 36 39 39 36 36 38 39 40 39 38 37 36 35 36 37 37 36 35 36 37 38 39 40 39 38 36 36 39 39 36 36

45 46 49 49 46 45 48 48 46 44 43 41 40 40 41 42 42 41 40 40 41 43 44 46 48 48 45 46 49 49 46 45

53 54 58 58 54 53 54 53 50 48 47 46 45 45 46 46 46 46 45 45 46 47 48 50 53 54 53 54 58 58 54 53

58 61 66 66 61 58 57 55 52 51 52 53 52 51 51 51 51 51 51 52 53 52 51 52 55 57 58 61 66 66 61 58

69 73 77 77 73 69 65 62 60 60 61 60 59 58 57 57 57 57 58 59 60 61 60 60 62 65 69 73 77 77 73 69

84 89 91 91 89 84 78 75 75 74 72 70 67 65 65 65 65 65 65 67 70 72 74 75 75 78 84 89 91 91 89 84

95 99 ## ## 99 95 88 85 87 86 82 77 73 70 69 68 68 69 70 73 77 82 86 87 85 88 95 99 ## ## 99 95

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96 91 88 88 91 96 ## ## ## ## 92 85 80 76 75 74 74 75 76 80 85 92 ## ## ## ## 96 91 88 88 91 96

91 84 81 81 84 91 ## ## ## ## 94 88 82 78 77 77 77 77 78 82 88 94 ## ## ## ## 91 84 81 81 84 91

87 81 81 81 81 87 99 ## ## ## ## 93 85 80 78 78 78 78 80 85 93 ## ## ## ## 99 87 81 81 81 81 87

87 81 81 81 81 87 99 ## ## ## ## 93 85 80 78 78 78 78 80 85 93 ## ## ## ## 99 87 81 81 81 81 8791 84 81 81 84 91 ## ## ## ## 94 88 82 78 77 77 77 77 78 82 88 94 ## ## ## ## 91 84 81 81 84 91

96 91 88 88 91 96 ## ## ## ## 92 85 80 76 75 74 74 75 76 80 85 92 ## ## ## ## 96 91 88 88 91 96 Figure2HighPressureSodiumoutput(mole*m2*s1).Squaresrepresentonesquarefoot.RedareasrepresentlowerthannormallevelsofequivalentsupplementallightingforWaltersGardensgreenhouses,greenrepresentsnormalrangesandyellowrepresentsincreasedlevels.Blueboxesshowactualareasusedfortestingtheselightlevels.DarkgreenareasareidealtestareasduetocomparableairflowlevelstodarkgreenareasunderTGlighting(seefigure1).Thickoutlinesrepresentfixturelocations.

0.000.200.400.600.801.001.201.40

Averages(AllPlants)

TotalGrow

HPS

Figure3Normalizedaveragesforthe8measuredcategoriesofgrowthforallplantsundereachlightingtreatment.Errorbarsrepresentonestandarddeviationgreaterorless.

0.000.200.400.600.801.001.201.401.60

LightIntensityAverages(AllPlants)

TGLow

TGMed

TGHigh

HPSLow

HPSMed

HPSHigh

Figure4Normalizedaveragesforeachgrowthcategoryseparatedbybothlightingtypeandlightintensity.Errorbarsrepresentonestandarddeviationgreaterorless.

Figure5TotalGrowtestareaattheendofthetest.

Figure6TotalGrowfinishingplantstestsatweek1andweek8.

Figure7TotalGrowproductionplantstestatweek1andweek8.Moreplantvarietieswereaddedasthetestprogressed.