Cucumbers - Bloemteknik

Adjust your thinking

Adjustable light-engines to increase cucumber yield, shorten crop cycles & save energy.

What is it?

Patent pending adjustable light-engines designed to increase PPFD on the vertical face of your vine growing plants.

How does it work?

Engineered to be application adaptable, improve uniformity and maximise PAR light-use efficiency within your facility.

Baseline Vertical PPFD (µmol/m2/s)

~12% increase in Vertical PPFD
(µmol/m2/s) vs 1 kW HPS

~43% increase in Vertical PPFD
(µmol/m2/s) vs 1 kW HPS

What does this mean for my cucumber plants?

Growers & academics agree that as a rule of thumb, a 1% increment in PPFD results in a 1% increase in yield of fruiting crops¹. Bloem’s adjustable light-engines enable growers to increase the PPFD on the vertical face of vine growing crops by up to 36%, without increasing energy consumption.

Existing

Conventional 1 kW HPS Toplight

Bloem Solution 1

Bloem 680W LED Top Crop

Bloem Solution 2

Bloem 680W LED Top Crop

“Intensity uniformity is the consistency of total PAR light distributed over the growing area. This is typically measured at the crop canopy by the volume (%) of the grow area that falls within the specified tolerance of the PPFD setpoint.”

Using Bloem’s Wand Platform

The Bloemteknik Wireless Adaptive Network Delivery (Wand) platform provides advanced dynamic control for single and multi-channel grow lights.

Dynamic Lighting

Whether the grow areas require precise, plant-centric dynamic control or a straightforward daily schedule, Bloem’s Wand platform offers a flexible and tailored solution designed to meet the unique needs of your facility

Development Phase Shifting

Dynamic light adjustment for optimised plant growth stages

Energy Cost Fluctuation

Efficient energy distribution to balance cost and performance

Circadian Rhythm Steering

Light modulation aligned with natural plant cycles

Artificial Daylength Extension

Extended illumination periods for enhanced productivity

Blue Light
400 - 500 nm

Blue light is necessary to ensure healthy development of chloroplasts in cucumber plants

Increases compactness, biomass, leaf thickness and protein synthesis in cucumber plants

Reinforces the antioxidant levels and nutritional qualities of cucumber fruit

Green Light
500 - 600 nm

Green wavelengths stimulate photosynthesis below the primary canopy leaf layers

Inclusion of green photons increases fruit weight and dry matter content in cucumbers

Improved human visual quality for detecting pests, pathogens, and nutrient deficiencies

Red Light
600 - 700 nm

Increased photosynthetic pigments and soluble carbohydrates

Larger proportions of red photons required during the cucumber flowering period

Excess red wavelengths can promote, stretched, elongated & curled leaf characteristics

Far Red Light
700 - 800 nm

High R/FR ratios can improve canopy morphology by encouraging upwards stretch

High R/FR ratios accelerates flowering and an overall increase in plant source strength

Low R/FR ratios elicits shade avoidance responses negatively influencing early fruit production

Crop Type

Cucumber Seedlings (New)

Cucumber Seedlings (Mature)

Cucumber

Crop Stage

Propagation

Vegetative Growth

Flowering

Fruiting

DLI (mol/m²/day)

2-5

8-15

15-25

20-35

PPFD (µmol/m²/s)

100-200

200-300

250-450

350-650

Photoperiod (Hours)

6-8

10-14

14-18

16-18

The quantity of photosynthetic active radiation (400 – 700nm) required is defined by the Daily Light Integral (DLI). DLI refers to the quantity of PAR the plant is exposed to within a single day (24-hour period). Each plant, including cucumber plants, have a minimum and maximum DLI to facilitate growth and this varies by stages and variety.

Typically, flowering, and fruiting stages of cucumber plants have a recommended DLI range of 20-35 mol/m²/day. The desired photosynthetic active radiation density (PPFD) can be calculated from the DLI target and exposure duration (photoperiod).

For example, using a photoperiod of 16 hours provides the following formulae:

20 mol/m²/day / 16 hours / 60 minutes / 60 seconds = 347 µmol/m²/s minimum PPFD
35 mol/m²/day / 16 hours / 60 minutes / 60 seconds = 608 µmol/m²/s maximum PPFD

Increasing the photoperiod decreases the PPFD requirement to achieve a similar DLI (mol/m²/day) and the reverse can be said for decreasing the photoperiod and increasing the PPFD.

“Typically, flowering & fruiting stages of cucumber plants have a recommended DLI range of 20-35 mol/m²/day.”

Get the Full Story

To see the complete list of light wavelength effects on cucumbers, PPFD & photoperiods for all growth stages and much more please download our cucumber cultivation lighting application guide.

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