Dynamic greenhouse climate control to conserve energy and improve crop quality

Xiuming Hao, AAFC, Youbin Zheng, University of Guelph, Mike Dixon, University of Guelph

Conserving energy is a top priority for flower greenhouse operators. With this objective in mind, Dr. Xiuming Hao with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada developed and assessed greenhouse heating and climate control strategies that would conserve energy without sacrificing timely production and maximum plant quality. The resulting Temperature Integration Strategy incorporates early morning and pre-morning temperature reductions producing a high quality, compact poinsettia plant that maintained leaf area, bract area and biomass while saving energy. The study also identified that higher root zone heating temperatures could be used with the new Temperature Integration Strategy for additional energy savings but irrigation management may need to be adjusted.

Further reading:
Response of poinsettias to dynamic temperature integration with pre-morning and early morning temperature drop and root zone heating.