If you are looking to increase your yields, have many harvests throughout the growing season, or withstand extreme weather conditions, light depriving greenhouse systems are a viable answer to your business-related questions. The energy efficiency of these systems and the possibility of full automation with minimal upkeep make building and maintaining a light deprivation greenhouse a good business strategy.
Business owners who endure the initial cost of install will reap the benefits more quickly than those without the advantage of light deprivation or protection from extremes of environment that are afforded with a correct install of a light deprivation greenhouse system. It is estimated that as many as six harvests can be made per year with the use of light deprivation, versus only one harvest per year when using an outdoor or more traditional modality. Each of these harvests, when brought to market, will yield returns that help to pay for the install of the greenhouse. Add to that list a higher quality of product due to being nurtured and controlled appropriately, and you have quite a few viable reasons to install a light dep greenhouse system.
Cultivators of tulips, chrysanthemums, asters, Christmas cactus, cannabis, mums, cosmos, zinnias, and even begonias can all increase their output by inducing flowering in this unique way. For florists and floral arrangers, as well as those seeking shorter fruiting times for traditional crops like squash, tomatoes, corn, and beans, light deprivation is the way to go. Faster flowering times also make light deprivation an option for commercial lettuce growers interested in the collection of seed for a variance of commercially available cultivars. Growers of carrots, peas, cabbage, leaf lettuce, broccoli, and many other perennials which are interested in creating seed stock can utilize light deprivation greenhouses in conjunction with an outdoor cultivation modality to both create viable seed and cultivate long-season crops.
Light deprivation greenhouse systems are also suitable for more tender perennial plants before they are moved to a more permanent outdoor environment. While the plants are young, aged yearling to three years, they can be kept in a light deprivation greenhouse which will protect them from the frost, as well as from excess sunshine which would damage the young and developing apical meristems of these plants. Some species that would benefit from this type of treatment include the flowering maple, cat's tail aloe, foxglove, curiosity plant, Washington navel orange, jade plant, orange twinspur, skyflower, Japanese blueberry, green fennel, orange sunflower, flax, several sage species, petunias, and hibiscus. These showy ornamental plants are sure to sell when placed on the shelves of a larger commercial nursery, as landscaping companies use these plants to improve aesthetic quality to people's homes and businesses. Many cultivars of these plants are only possessed by collectors and carry over to higher market value due to rarity. These showy tender perennials are sure to thrive in the environment of a light dep.