Tips for Improving Radish Yields with Dynamic LED Lighting
April 8, 2025 In 2023, Sollum Technologies started working with greenhouse operator Les Serres Bertrand outside of Montreal in its transition from high-pressure sodium (HPS) to dynamic LED lighting for radish production. Together, Sollum and Les Serres Bertrand set two clear objectives for this collaboration:
- Shorten the growing cycle of radish crops in the winter.
- Optimize the light spectrum to achieve the right radish shape.
“What we really focused on was getting a good, round shape for the radishes, like small golf balls,” says Rose Séguin, agronomy lead at Sollum Technologies. “The light spectrum impacts plant morphology, including root development. We wanted to develop recipes that helped radishes grow faster, but without causing the roots to stretch or the bulb to become elongated. Balancing our blue and far-red levels helped us do exactly that.”
Based on the positive results Les Serres Bertrand saw after adjusting their far-red and blue light levels, Séguin offered three lighting tips for radish growers to improve their yields.
Les Serres Bertrand, a greenhouse operation outside of Montreal, was able to boost its radish yields using dynamic LED lighting. | Photo: Rose Séguin
Three Lighting Tips for Boosting Radish Yields
- Keep shape in mind. Radish growers should consider the radish shape they’re trying to achieve before adjusting their lighting. Since Les Serres Bertrand wanted to grow round radishes, Sollum focused on increasing blue light and reducing far-red light levels. But for growers seeking to grow longer radishes, such as the French Breakfast varieties, increasing far-red light levels could help lengthen their crops.
- Maintain light uniformity in your greenhouse. Ensuring light is evenly distributed across all crops in a growing environment is essential. “Having a high light uniformity is a very important step to making sure the growth rate and shape is uniform across the entire growing area,” she says.
- Consider the sunlight you get from season to season. “You always need to consider the difference in what lighting is giving you from one month to the next,” she says. “Winter is the darkest time of the year but also the most stable, lighting-wise. So while we are very dynamic during the winter, we are especially dynamic during the spring and fall when natural light intensity and spectrum are changing dramatically to make sure we don’t lose any productivity.”
