RED x Vreugdenhil-Klugt
With 47 hectares of greenhouses, Vreugdenhil-Klugt is a major player in the Dutch production of young plants. The RED solution opens a new way for them to improve the quality and consistency of production.
22 March 2024
A Dutch key player‘s focus on innovation
For over 50 years, Vreugdenhil-Klugt has been developing its business in Westland and Bleiswijk. The company operates several sites amounting to a total of 58 hectares.
Specializing in growing young plants, Vreugdenhil-Klugt focuses on continuously innovating to consistently deliver plants of impeccable quality. An innovation supported by close collaborations with partners sharing this DNA. John Potters is Vreugdenhil-Klugt’s Head of Vegetables Cultivation located in the town of De Lier near Rotterdam.
Growing the very same plant throughout the year
The main objective of Vreugdenhil-Klugt is to standardize production throughout the year. Their greenhouse climate management needs to be perfectly controlled regardless of the weather outside. To achieve this, the Dutch company possesses a variety of tools such as screens, misting and of course artificial LED lighting.
“The new techniques deployed by RED Horticulture will allow us to achieve better quality and better consistency.”
RED: a distinctive and innovative concept
John Potters required controllable LED lighting for young plants in spectrum and intensity to meet the crops’ needs. For a replacement with equivalent power of HPS lamps, Vreugdenhil-Klugt chose RED T 680 luminaires. They have 4 individually controllable wavelengths including far red grow light.
Constantly a step ahead technologically, RED T luminaires hold the best efficiency on the market. The installation is designed to ease the solution’s start-up process as much as possible. All connections are wireless. Thus, the entire installation only requires a power supply.
A RED referent agronomist for personalized monitoring.
RED Horticulture delivers cutting-edge technical solutions backed by agronomic support. With extensive experience and continuous investment in R&D, RED is recognized as a leader in photobiology.
Agronomic support started well before the installation, with an in-depth analysis of Vreugdenhil-Klugt’s needs to define the optimal strategy. Since the solution’s launch, John Potters has conducted regular field monitoring. Vreugdenhil-Klugt continues to optimize its lighting strategy in close collaboration with their dedicated RED agronomist.
MyRED: intuitive and efficient.
The MyRED application is widely deployed among Vreugdenhil-Klugt teams. They can easily modify different parameters such as spectra and lighting phases. The dashboard allows them to quickly understand natural and artificial light conditions.
The application features unique patented innovations such as Smart Dimming which helps improve agronomic and economic results.
Beneficial results in all aspects.
John Potters was able to quickly visualize the first benefits of the RED grow light solution. The production cycles were shortened, the plants were more robust with better root systems. Economically spoken John specified that power consumption was lower which enabled deployment of a larger DLI at a similar cost.
“Through control of artificial lighting we obtain homogeneous and qualitative plants regardless of the season and external weather conditions.”
Vreugdenhil-Klugt successfully met its challenge and is now planning to expand its LED-lit surface area.
Use Cases
RED x Vreugdenhil-Klugt
