Shedding light on savings

Photos courtesy of Greenheart Farms

With several locations in California, Greenheart Farms is a transplant production nursery known for its diverse growth of crops such as restoration plants. Totaling 123 acres of indoor and outdoor production, efficiency is key for everyday functionality to run smooth. One way Greenheart Farms ensures this is through the use of PARsource supplemental lighting and customized lighting layouts that accommodate their greenhouse needs.

“We are currently using the Phantom DE HID Light System,” says Bill DeVor, general manager and COO of the Arroyo Grande facility. “We like having the ability to adjust from 600w to 1000w.” With the recent addition of the DE HID lights Greenheart is now achieving even greater lighting efficiency.

The light system is also easy to install and use, DeVor says. The product proves to be reliable, consistently achieving all end growth result goals across each greenhouse. This quality becomes especially vital factoring in Greenheart’s different geographic locations parallel to their served markets.

PARsource, a Hydrofarm Company, has been doing business with Greenheart Farms since 1998. Their long-standing partnership is what led Greenheart to upgrade to the newer technology that DeVor says the company is enjoying.

PARsource systems and lighting layouts provide improved uniformity and reduced growth time among crops. Greenheart is able to produce more consistent output per year and have production schedules remain on target.

PARsource has helped add to Greenheart’s bottom line. Minimizing crop time, pesticide costs and culls/dumps all bundle into reducing their overall production costs.

Greenheart has been able to avoid constant changes as well. The lighting required a few accommodations to be made initially, but the benefits outweighed the effort.

“It’s been over 20 years since we have really made any adaptations due to the lights,” DeVor says. “The biggest changes were switching to ebb-and-flow irrigation and spraying at night. Our DIF control is much improved.”

DeVor recognizes a need to keep pace with the ever-changing needs of customers and therefore is committed to keeping up with the latest technology. While always investigating new means of remaining top in the nursery industry, PARsource has remained top-tier when it comes to cost-saving as well.

“We have been through five evolutions with PARsource as their technology improves,” DeVor says. “I don’t foresee ever needing to change.”