Fluence and Innexo BV’s Research Partnership Explores Eliminating Vegetation Phase to Drive Potential Energy Savings for Growers

Fluence, a global provider of energy-efficient LED lighting solutions for commercial cannabis and food production, announced the continuation of its partnership with Dutch organization Innexo BV (Innexo), a specialty agricultural contract research organization that focuses on molecular farming and medicinal plants.

Fluence and Innexo’s research partnership is focused on assessing the viability of cultivating cannabis without a standard vegetative phase, a practice generally associated with lower energy use that passes savings directly to growers in Europe and around the globe. Preliminary data from Fluence and Innexo demonstrates the potential of the “no-veg” growing method to help growers save money while improving quality and consistency. The Fluence and Innexo teams intend to collaborate on a full-scale research project to validate these initial results.

Most commercial cannabis cultivators use a vegetative phase to ensure proper plant growth to support flower weight and to gain a full and dense canopy. This phase can last anywhere between seven days and four weeks, requiring a significant investment of time, electrical energy and resources. Initial findings from Fluence and Innexo demonstrate the potential of this method to maintain crop quality and yield while creating up to 55% savings on annual electrical costs directly associated with lighting.

When the plants would typically enter the vegetative phase, they were instead transplanted to the flowering room, where they immediately received their maximum light intensity. In this system, cannabis crops reach their final height—between 70 and 120 cm—around 28 days after transplant. Eliminating two weeks of vegetative phase represents up to 252 hours of direct electricity savings per light per crop cycle. Additional savings are realized through lower HVAC costs and generally more efficient cultivation cycles. Initial research indicates that “no-veg” growing is most effective with plant densities between eight and 10 plants per m2. Thus far, research has tested the viability of “no-veg” growing across six cannabis cultivars, 10 different nutrient lines and a wide range of light intensities.