British strawberries could soon be available all year round, thanks to pioneering new technology which will force them to grow out of their traditional season. When LED lighting is used in greenhouses, strawberries can be fooled into thinking that it is spring rather than winter.
Forcing of fruit and vegetables isn’t a new thing but traditionally the practice is carried out using energy hungry white lighting. The new red and blue LED lights are low-energy, meaning they use much less power and therefore mean that strawberries can be grown out of season at lower cost.
The LED 4 CROPS poroject is being pioneered at the Stockbridge Technology Centre in Selby, North Yorkshire in partnership with CambridgeHOK and Philips.
Graham Ward, STC chief executive said “This is the first investment made for horticultural research facilities since the withdrawal of most UK Government funding for such capital projects.”
Philips Lighting have over five years experience with over 100 projects completed investigating the effects of LEDs on a range of crops around the world.
After starting my garden maintenance and landscaping business in 1984 and running it for 21 years I decided I needed a change of direction (probably a mid life crisis, no seriously! :-0) Together with my family, wife Donna, Son Henry and Daughter Fleur (not forgetting Hector the Black Labrador) I moved to France in search of an old farmhouse to renovate. In the interim period whilst waiting for the contract to go through I started writing a blog. Initially just to keep a diary for family and friends to keep up with our progress if they wished but then it occurred to me that there isn’t a real time watcher of the landscape industry in the UK. I didn’t want to waste my experience and experiences so I decided I could put all of this Juice to good use so I started Landscape Juice.
Source: Landscape Juice – LED Lights Set to Extend Strawberry Season – Philip Voice
