Light Deprivation Supplies

Greenhouse Light Deprivation Supplies

Advancing Alternatives’ greenhouse light deprivation supplies will help you construct a light dep greenhouse system that is uniquely designed to roll your blackout poly on a curved structure. Typically this is done on the outside of your greenhouse structure, so it takes up less valuable crop space inside. Our system can also be installed on top of a lightweight frame on the inside of your greenhouse structure, typically preferred in climates that receive heavy snow and high winds.

When regulations allow, our systems are the preferred method of installing a light DEP system on a freestanding greenhouse. Since an external system provides room for additional crops and supplemental lighting/growing systems inside your greenhouse! Your order will be packaged based on your budget, the dimensions of your greenhouse, and the type of automation you are employing.

Light Deprivation Statistics

• 68% of population live in state where marijuana has been legalized.
• 34 states including D.C. have medical marijuana laws.
• 12 states including D.C. have recreational marijuana laws.
• $18 billion legal sales of cannabis in 2019
• $41 billion projected legal sales of cannabis in 2025

In such a lucrative business, efficient cannabis growing practices are more important than ever. Most cannabis growers have come to realize the potential of using light deprivation cannabis growing as a way to make a big impact.

How Does Light Deprivation Work?

If you’re a cannabis grower, you’ve probably heard about using light deprivation to promote more growth and a better product when growing outdoors in a cannabis greenhouse. Light deprivation follows the same principals as using grow lamps for indoor growing, controlling the amount of light and darkness your plants are exposed too. Flowering is controlled by a plant’s natural reaction to light, a process called photoperiodism. As seasons change, the amount of available daylight will encourage flowering in plants. Short-day plants initiate flowering during the shorter days of late summer and early fall, when there is less daylight). Long-day plants begin to flower when days grow longer, like they do in the spring, and there is more available daylight. Cannabis, which is classified as a short-day plant, naturally begins to flower in September. However, by using light deprivation techniques, cannabis growers can create “black out” periods to artificially control their plants’ budding cycle. With a light deprivation system, growers can harvest more than once a year by encourage flowering at times of the year when it would not naturally occur. In addition to promoting multiple cannabis harvests, light deprivation can also result in a better crop. Cannabis naturally reaches it’s peak flowering cycle as summer turns into fall and the weather turns cooler. These dips in temperature can often inhibit flowers from expanding to their best size. By tricking the plants into thinking that the seasons are changing earlier than they truly are, cannabis buds begin flowering during warmer weather and expand into full, chunky flowers.

What Are The Benefits Of Light Deprivation?

Adding a light deprivation systems to your cannabis greenhouse benefits you through an improved product, an increased bottom line, and more eco-friendly growing practices.

• The ability to produce year-round regardless of weather conditions and natural sunlight.
• Harvesting multiple times per year increases profits.
• Growers have better control of their harvests with light deprivation.
• Crops can go to market at any time of year where they are worth more and sell quicker.
• Light deprivation removes the need for grow lights, which reduces monthly overhead and your carbon footprint.
• Growers have fresh product in their greenhouse, while, at the same time, plants under full sun are still vegetative or early flowering

How Can I Automate Light Deprivation?

Most growers begin a light deprivation routine by manually restricting the amount of light their crops receive. They do this by adding light proof covers their plants or manually covering/uncovering their cannabis greenhouse with blackout tarp. They soon learn that this can be incredibly time consuming. In light deprivation, timing is crucial to successful growth and automating the process is the most efficient operation. A 12/12 light deprivation cycle in the most common in cannabis growing. 12/12 means your plants receive 12 hours of daylight and 12 of darkness. As an example, a grower who is doing manual light deprivation has to be ready to cover his plants or roll down his tarps at 7PM and then be ready to uncover every morning at 7AM. Timing is everything. Growers who use automated controllers in their greenhouse operations, however, simply program the desired times and the work is done for them. In a cannabis greenhouse, controlling light is not the only factor that attributes to healthy crop. During periods of “black out,” high amount of heat and moisture can build up inside your greenhouse, which can lead to nutrient deficiency, pest infestation and halt THC production. By using automatic controllers, you can monitor and set limitations for humidity and temperature as well.

Our Unique Solutions to Light DEP

We package your automated light deprivation system based on the dimensions of your greenhouse and the type of automation you are employing. Light Deprivation Components

• Light deprivation curtain package
• Light deprivation timed controller
• Low voltage motor
• Blackout fabric

Advancing Alternatives’s light deprivation systems are designed uniquely to roll on the outside of your greenhouse structure so they take up less valuable crop space inside. This allows room for additional crops and supplemental lighting/growing systems on the INSIDE of your greenhouse!

Features of our Roll-to-Peak Light Deprivation System

• Strong, 2” diameter roll bars internally spliced distributing pressure evenly along the length of the rolling curtain, reducing droops and shadows
• Strongest, most reliable 24VDC motors that deliver consistent power along wide and long spans
• Easy-to-program electronic controls that assure a consistent light deprivation schedule
• Automate with our CLD2-MO timed controller or our AegisTEC family of controllers to coordinate light deprivation with other systems like heating and cooling
• Wind control system that maintains a constant, even pressure along the travel of the light deprivation curtain
• Two-layer, inflated perimeter light seal that creates an air “pillow” adding pressure to the closed curtain thereby assuring total darkness