Bay Area cannabis grower increases yields with LEDs

Added on 13 October 2023

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Bay Area cannabis grower increases yields with LEDs

Oakfruitland also reports lower energy use while providing brighter lighting using Fluence luminaires purchased before the horticultural downturn. But when will the market recover?

With the horticultural lighting market in a slowdown, vendors are taking the opportunity to herald the positive results of customers who bought prior to the fall off. In the latest example, Fluence has trumpeted the increase in yields at an Oakland, Calif. indoor cannabis grower.

Oakfruitland opened in 2019 and in 2021 switched from a single level approach to a two-tier rack system, at which point it installed some 2,400 Fluence LED luminaires, Fluence said in an article it sponsored in Cannabis Business Times (CBT). The grower had previously used high-pressure sodium (HPS) lighting.

In a recent press release, Fluence said that the LEDs have led to a 5% increase in yields and, despite higher lighting levels, have also cut Oakfruitland’s energy usage by 5%.

Oakfruitland chose Fluence — owned by Signify — over several other LED brands it tested, even though the Fluence lights were more expensive than some, Fluence said in the sponsored CBT article.

“A lot of people are stuck in their comfort zone and don’t want to try [LEDs] because they don't think that it will [impact yield or quality], but we can see the results,” Oakfruitland CEO Linzi Liu said in the story. “Plants are healthier and less vulnerable. The end product is denser, and the color looks nicer, and it's much more frosty — and that’s what people are looking for right now.”

The higher quality has helped Oakfruitland buck the overall industry decline in California retail cannabis sales, Liu claimed.