Intracanopy lighting or intercanopy lighting, sometimes called under-canopy lighting, is by no means a new technology in controlled-environment agriculture. Commercial cultivators have been installing it for years under the canopy of their tomatoes, peppers, and vines. Now, cannabis facilities are catching on to this concept.
By shining light into the underbelly of the plant's canopy, growers have reported impressive results: better bud size, increased yield, and more profit per square foot. Under canopy lighting is a cheat code for getting more out of your facility without the expansion, and TSRgrow explains why.
What is intracanopy lighting?
Intracanopy lighting is when cultivators place lighting fixtures within the plant canopy, typically paired with overhead (top) lighting. This under-canopy lighting improves light penetration and photosynthesis in the lower parts of the plant canopy. Instead of a top-down lighting strategy, these fixtures are supplemental, placed beneath and in parallel with the canopy.
LED intracanopy lights allow fixtures to be placed closer to the canopy without damaging the plants. Intracanopy lights are widely used in greenhouses and indoor facilities for tomatoes, cucumbers, and peppers, and now, this technology is finding its way into cannabis production.
The benefits of intracanopy lighting for cannabis cultivation
Increases yield and flower quality
Across the board, the results from yield and harvest quality following the implementation of intracanopy light speak for themselves. While still a relatively newer concept among cannabis cultivators, the early signs indicate possible increases of up to 30 percent in total yield and perhaps even increases in THC profile.
Enhances plant growth and development
Intracanopy lighting addresses the common issue of top canopy leaves blocking light to lower branches. Increasing the light within the plant canopy leads to greater and more uniform light penetration.
This consistent light exposure leads to more uniform growth and development, particularly for the lower buds. According to growers, this reduces "B" size popcorn buds and increases "A" sized buds.
Reduces labour expenses
Top lighting emphasizes flower development solely across the upper levels of the canopy, which is why growers rely on trellising, lollipopping, and other aggressive pruning tactics. With the lower levels only producing lower-quality flower, it made sense to expend significant resources pruning to refocus a plant's energy to where it counts.
Yet, pruning is one of the more substantial and costly labor expenditures a facility has in the grow cycle. One of the benefits of intracanopy lighting is that there is much less need to prune because the lower parts of the plant become measurably more productive. This can lead to significant operational savings in cannabis cultivation.
Increases revenue from same square footage
Most cultivators don't have the option to keep expanding. They are locked into their facility and must work within a limited growing space, which subsequently limits revenue potential. In this all-too-common scenario, optimizing the current space to increase yield is one of the only tactics growers have to make greater returns. Intracanopy lighting is a powerful means to increase yield in the space you already have, perhaps by as much as 20 to 40%.
Intracanopy lighting in the research
Studies performed in other agricultural sectors have shown that intracanopy lighting has increased the yield and quality of fruits and flowers by allowing lower leaves to photosynthesize more effectively.
In a cucumber trial, intracanopy lighting increased yields by 11%. A study on tomatoes found that using intracanopy and top lighting together, each providing half of the light, resulted in the most uniform light absorption across the plants. They also noted that having lights at different heights in the canopy made the light distribution even better.
In a blackberry study, researchers applied intracanopy lighting with LEDs during the growth cycles in spring and autumn to see if it could boost yield. They found that the plants with moderate and higher LED intercanopy light produced 79% to 122% more fruit than plants without added light. This meant that for every one percent increase in the light provided by the LEDs, there was about a three percent increase in the amount of fruit harvested.
Significant findings in cannabis cultivation
But how does this translate into cannabis? Thankfully, growers no longer need to draw inferences from tomato and cucumber studies into their own lighting strategy because recent industry-specific studies have been performed exploring intracanopy lighting for cannabis cultivation.
As announced in 2023, StateHouse has been experimenting with methods to boost grow room efficiency through intracanopy lighting—positioning LEDs to direct light strategically beneath or alongside cannabis plants. Their research has been notable, revealing a 20% increase in yield and a 27 percent enhancement in bud size.
In another study published in 2018, researchers discovered that intracanopy lighting for medicinal cannabis cultivation improved light distribution and led to quantifiable enhancements in crop yield and quality. The study specifically reported that integrating LED interlighting resulted in a substantial increase in 'A' class flowers, accompanied by a notable five percent increase in THC levels across the crop.
This targeted under-canopy lighting approach also yielded a higher overall crop output, with a reported increase in dry flower weight from 0.27 gram/mol under standard HPS lighting to 0.37 gram/mol when combined with LED interlighting.
These two separate studies demonstrate the efficiency of using inter-canopy LED lighting to boost both the quantity and quality of cannabis, providing a solid case for its broader adoption across greenhouse and indoor facilities.
Level up: Rolling out under canopy lighting in your operation
"Delivering greater yield, larger bud size, and higher THC, it's time to optimize your grow room with intracanopy lighting. TSRgrow builds advanced LED lighting solutions tailored to your specific growing needs," the company says.
"Our high-powered top light and under-canopy LED fixtures integrate with remote power servers and GROWHub environmental controls to ensure optimum light distribution and plant growth."
For more information:
TSRgrow
[email protected]
www.tsrgrow.com