WaltersGardensTotalGrowLightTesting

TestSummary:
Thepotentialfora2/3powerconsumptionreductionbyreplacing1000Whighpressuresodiumlights
with150WTotalGrowTG15Alightswastestedandprovenbycomparinggrowthcharacteristicsof
severalWaltersGardensperennials.Eightcharacteristicsweremeasuredon11varietiesofplantsin2
growthstagesusing3lightintensitiesrepresentinglesser,equivalentandgreaterthancurrentWalters
Gardenslightinglevels.
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:
TheTotalGrowlightingstrategytestedrequiresonlyonethirdofthepowerconsumptionofthe1000W
HPSlightingsystemwhileconsistentlyyieldingstatisticallyequalgrowth.Mostvariationinthedatais
betterattributedtouncontrolledvariablesthantothelighting,especiallydifferingsoilmoisturelevels
duetovaryingamountsofairflowandoccasionallyinconsistentwatering.Whencombiningdatafromall
varieties,alltraitswerewithinonestandarddeviationofdifferencebetweenlightingtypeswithonly
heightandbranchingdifferingbymorethan0.5standarddeviations(greaterinTGduetogreater
Monardashowplantsizes).Averagelightintensitiesweretargetedat25%higherunderHPStotestthe
abilityoftheTotalGrowspectrumtobeequallyeffectiveatalowerlightintensity.Averagelight

intensities,measuredinmole*m2*s1PAR,were21%higherunderHPSareasthanTotalGrowareas
whenmeasuredwithanOceanOpticsUSB2000spectrometerandamobileintegratingsphere.Root
growthandqualityappearedtobethecharacteristicmoststronglycorrelatedwithlightintensity,
showingimprovementathigherintensitiesregardlessoflightingtype.
Resultsindetail:
Evaluatingeachdatacategorybynumberoftrialswithgreatervaluesfromeachlightingtypeand
averagemagnitudeofvariation,measuredbystandarddeviations(SDs):

HeightTGgreaterin16/29trials(.6SDs)
o GreatestforTGinMonardaandHeucherellashowplantsandAgaveandGeranium
productionplants,greatestforHPSinCoreopsisMoonbeamandDianthus
DiameterTGgreaterin9/19trials(.1SDs)
o GreatestforTGinMonarda,EchinaceaandHeucherellashowplants,greatestforHPSin
Dianthus
LargestleaflengthandwidthTGgreaterin10/18trials(.2SDs)
o GreatestforTGinMonardaandHeucherellashowplants,allothersverysimilar
MainBranches(Monardashowplantsonly)TGgreaterin2/3trials(.9SDs)
TotalShootsHPSgreaterin13/20trials(.3SDs)
o GreatestforHPSinMonardaproductionplantsandCarex
LeafCountHPSgreaterin12/17trials(.1SDs)
o GreatestforTGinMonardashowplants,greatestforHPSinMonardaproductionplants
andEchinaceaKimsKneeHigh
RootScoreHPSgreaterin16/29trials(.3SDs)
o GreatestforHPSinCarex,CoreopsisMoonbeamandEchinaceaKimsKneeHigh,all
othersverysimilar

Foreachcharacteristic,therewasanear5050splitoftrialswithgreaterresultsbetweenthetwo
lightingtypes.Combinedwiththesmallmagnitudeoftheaveragevariationsbetweentreatments,these
resultsstronglysuggestthatthelightingusedwasaninsignificantsourceofvariation.
Focusingonlightingintensity,itwasexpectedthatthemediumlightintensitywouldproducethe
medianvalueforeachgrowthcategories.Inreality,mediumlightlevelsactuallyproducedthesmallest
averagenumbersforhalfofthedatacategoriesinbothlightingtypes.Thisisbestexplainedbythe
greaterimpactoftheothervariablesinfluencinggrowth.Thismediumlightinglevelisthemostrelevant,
however,asitrepresentstheamountoflightcurrentlyprovidedinthegreenhouses.Also,flatstested
undermediumlightlevelsweremostsimilarlypositionedrelativetofansandthusshouldhavesimilar
levelsofmoisture.Everyplantalsohadatleastonemediumlightingtreatmentflatwhile3production
plantsdidnothaveloworhighintensityflats.Height,diameter,largestleaflength&width,leafcount,
andMonardasbranchingallweregreateronaverageunderTGlighting(0.5,0.9,0.5,3.0and2.0SDsof
averagedifference,respectively)whiletotalshootsandrootscorewereaslightlygreaterunderHPS(0.3
and0.3SDsofaveragedifference,respectively).

Rootdatawasalsoselectivelyanalyzed.Rootscoresweredeterminedbytakingpicturesofeachplants
rootsandgivingascorebetween05relativetotheotherplants.Thiswasthusthemostsubjectiveof
thedatacategoriestaken.Especiallydryorwetsoilwasnotedaswellasseverityofboltinginflowering
plants.Bothlightingtreatmentsproducedthebestresultsunderhighlightingwithmediumlightslightly
outperforminglowlight.Boltinghadinconsistenteffects.Wetanddryconditionsappearedtoadversely
affectrootdevelopmentaswellexceptfordryandnormalconditionshavingequalresultsforHPS.
Overall,HPShadaslightadvantageinaveragerootsscores.Byobservation,itappearedthatTGplants
occasionallyhadlarger,whiterrootsthanHPSwhileHPSplantshadagreaternumberofsmaller,
brownercoloredroots.
Discussion:
Plantsgrownunder1000WHPSandtheeffectiveequivalentamountof150WTG15Alightsdidnot
demonstrateanyconsistentsignificantdifference.Occasionalvariationswithinthesmallsamplesizesof
individualplantvarietiesandlightintensitieswerebetterattributedtouncontrolledvariablesthanto
lightsourceastheyfavoredeachlightsourcerelativelyequally.Forexample,MonardaandHeucherella
showplantsunderTotalGrowlightsrelativelyconsistentlyoutscoredHPStrials,butDianthusandCarex
plantsunderHPSlightsshowedsimilartrendsovertheirTGequivalents.
Whencombiningallresults,thereappearstobeaslighttrendofTGplantshavinggreateraboveground
growthandHPSplantshavinggreatergrowthinrootsandnewshoots.Thismaybeduetotheradiant
heatofHPSlightsthatdriesoutsoilmorequickly.TheresultsshouldbedriersoilsunderHPSplantsthan
TGplantswhichwouldfavorrootdevelopmentoverabovegrounddevelopment.GrowingunderTG
lightsmightallowreducedwateringneedstomaintaindriersoilsandbetterrootgrowthwhendesired.
Rootgrowthalsoappearedtobethecharacteristicmostdirectlyimprovedbyincreasedlighting
intensities,especiallyunderTGlighting.Averagerootscoresimprovedby0.6(ona05scale)forboth
lightingtypeswiththeincreasefromlowtohighlightingintensity.Itwastheonlycategorythat
increasedbothfromlowtomediumintensityandmediumtohighintensityunderbothlightingtypes.
Again,thismaybeconfoundedbyincreasingsoiltemperaturesanddrynessunderincreasedlights,but
representsanopportunitytorefinegrowingstrategiestoimproverootgrowthwhenthatisapriority.

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Figure1TotalGrowPARoutput(mole*m *s ).Squaresrepresentonesquarefoot.Redareas
representlowerthannormallevelsofequivalentsupplementallightingforWaltersGardens
greenhouses,greenrepresentsnormalrangesandyellowrepresentsincreasedlevels.Blueboxesshow
actualareasusedfortestingtheselightlevels.Darkgreenareasareidealtestareasduetocomparable
airflowlevelstodarkgreenareasunderHPSlighting(seefigure2).Thickoutlinesrepresentfixture
locations.
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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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87 81 81 81 81 87 99 ## ## ## ## 93 85 80 78 78 78 78 80 85 93 ## ## ## ## 99 87 81 81 81 81 87
91 84 81 81 84 91 ## ## ## ## 94 88 82 78 77 77 77 77 78 82 88 94 ## ## ## ## 91 84 81 81 84 91

Figure2HighPressureSodiumoutput(mole*m2*s1).Squaresrepresentonesquarefoot.Redareas
representlowerthannormallevelsofequivalentsupplementallightingforWaltersGardens
greenhouses,greenrepresentsnormalrangesandyellowrepresentsincreasedlevels.Blueboxesshow
actualareasusedfortestingtheselightlevels.Darkgreenareasareidealtestareasduetocomparable
airflowlevelstodarkgreenareasunderTGlighting(seefigure1).Thickoutlinesrepresentfixture
locations.
96 91 88 88 91 96 ## ## ## ## 92 85 80 76 75 74 74 75 76 80 85 92 ## ## ## ## 96 91 88 88 91 96

Averages(AllPlants)
1.40
1.20
1.00
0.80
0.60
0.40
0.20
0.00

TotalGrow
HPS

Figure3Normalizedaveragesforthe8measuredcategoriesofgrowthforallplantsundereach
lightingtreatment.Errorbarsrepresentonestandarddeviationgreaterorless.

LightIntensityAverages(AllPlants)
1.60
1.40
1.20
1.00
0.80
0.60
0.40
0.20
0.00

TGLow
TGMed
TGHigh
HPSLow
HPSMed
HPSHigh

Figure4Normalizedaveragesforeachgrowthcategoryseparatedbybothlightingtypeandlight
intensity.Errorbarsrepresentonestandarddeviationgreaterorless.


Figure5TotalGrowtestareaattheendofthetest.

Figure6TotalGrowfinishingplantstestsatweek1andweek8.

Figure7TotalGrowproductionplantstestatweek1andweek8.Moreplantvarietieswereaddedas
thetestprogressed.