Product diversification is a key element for most businesses. The same goes for the adult-use cannabis market, especially with consumers becoming increasingly savvy. However, diversifying with cannabis can be quite a challenge, as you have to deal with a crop that is susceptible to the slightest change in the growing environment. Thus, growing different cultivars in the same room can be extremely challenging, as they might have different requirements in terms of optimal climate and lighting conditions. Yet, Bountiful Farms, an award-winning cannabis cultivation company in Massachusetts, has found the perfect way to make that happen. They use advanced LED lighting solutions by TSRgrow. The integrated controls give them the ability to map out, zone, and control the lighting and environment for each cultivar being grown.
Zach Taylor, GM of Cultivation at Bountiful Farms, and Mikhail Sagal, President of TSRgrow
A constant flux industry
“If you love what you do, you don’t necessarily work,” says Zach Taylor, GM of Cultivation at Bountiful Farms. “We sacrifice a lot for these plants, and this is what makes it a craft: putting that extra attention into the details. It’s not about being a master grower, it's about constantly learning and evolving in this constant flux industry.” He continues to explain that this is his first year growing with LEDs and that he selected TSRgrow as a supplier for many reasons. “First and foremost, customer service brought me to TSRgrow,” he says. “On top of that, they are not new to the LED space. A lot of successful companies in cannabis have learned their trades elsewhere and applied that knowledge to cannabis; that’s what TSRgrow has done.”
One of the unique characteristics of TSRgrow’s advanced LED lighting solutions is the absence of drivers/ballasts on their fixtures. Power is centralized outside of the grow room and decoupled from fixtures, bringing with it many advantages including digital control. Built-in software with infinite zone configuration allows for:
- Unlimited Zone control for on/off and dimming and light scheduling
- Power monitoring and reporting
- Light recipe tracking and reporting
- Historical trends, comparative analytics from Zone records
Click here to watch a video tour of Bountiful Farm
Centralized location removes significant waste heat from the rooms, reducing HVACD OPEX and CAPEX; Streamlines and simplifies maintenance outside of the grow area with quick-change servicing and reduced chance of crop contamination; no more need for contactors, relays dimming wires, or other equipment, greatly simplifying and reducing installation costs.
Different cultivars under one roof
“If you really love what you do, you want to give your plants the best environment,” Zach continues. “Thanks to TSRgrow, we can provide an environment that can be adjusted for many different cultivars. Flexibility and modularity are indeed the key elements of TSRgrow LED solutions. “Our goal is to give growers the tools to fine-tune their recipes and dial in the lights, nutrients, CO2, and so on,” says Mikhail Sagal, president of TSRgrow. “Controls and integrated solutions are where we see everything going in the industry: being able to integrate everything together and trying to take all the unnecessary elements out of the grow space.” All of those elements are at the very core of the TSRgrow advanced solution concept, with the server room being a pivotal factor. “One of the things we focus on is to bring the heat out of the grow” Mikhail continues. “You put all the power in the server room, and all that heat is taken out of the grow environment. This also gives us the ability to digitally monitor and control the different lights and groups. From an installation perspective, the Bountiful Farms’ server room is top-notch.”
Thanks to the advanced controls that TSRgrow gives Bountiful Farms on the growing process, Zach points out that they have seen an increase in resin in their plants. “We grow certain cultivars for resin production, and other cultivars for flowers,” he remarks. “For resin production, we have filled a room with 18 different strains, but throughout each of them, we have seen an increase of up to 1-1.5% in resin, which is huge. Our concentrates department asked what we did differently in this room to increase the resin because they saw the difference.”
Click here to watch a video tour of Bountiful Farms
Staying energy compliant 
On top of that, the possibility to individually control every fixture remotely very much aligns with the energy efficiency requirements in Massachusetts. “The energy efficiency clause is a huge hurdle,” says Zach. Bountiful Farms worked with TSRgrow to integrate energy redundancy into the system to ensure lights are always on. Coupled with the reporting, monitoring, and control capabilities of TSRgrow’s advanced LED lighting solution, Bountiful can ensure compliance and advance their GMPs (General Manufacturing Practices).
Bountiful Farms is excited to be working with TSRgrow and looking forward to future harvests and increased yields.
For more information:
TSRGrow
info@tsrgrow.com
tsrgrow.com