Frequently asked questions

Only Sollum’s technology is the only one offering a comprehensive solution that includes a truly dynamic platform and LED grow lights, and great support.

Our fully programmable SUN as a Service® cloud platform is unique: it enables an infinite number of light recipes and recreates the full spectrum and intensity of the Sun’s natural light, from sunup to sundown, from anywhere in the world.

Sensors in Sollum fixtures deliver the benefits of SUN as a Service® by enabling automatic dimming in real time to fit the recipe according to changes in ambient light. And growers have full control from their PC to modify light spectra based on their observations to drive key greenhouse cultivation factors such as plant morphology and pest control.  Read our white paper on light management and plant morphology and How LED dynamic lighting contributes to pest management.

There’s dynamic, and then there’s fully dynamic! Our solution adapts to producers’ growing methods, not the other way around. Other fixtures provide a limited number of preprogrammed light recipes at the factory, based on fixed light spectra.

Only our SUN as a Service® cloud platform enables an infinite number of light recipes because our software dynamically recreates any spectra of the Sun’s natural light, from sunup to sundown, anywhere in the world, on any given date. One fixture does it all and producers benefit from all software updates.

Our solution is fully dynamic / programmable, which means that there is no need to change the software of the fixtures when changing crops. Contrary to fixed spectrum lighting, our solution can adapt to your observations or apply the most recent scientific findings in plant lighting. And growers benefit from all software updates.

Read our case study on a Sollum client who operated a seamless transition to a more profitable crop thanks to dynamic lighting.

Our SUN as a Service® platform monitors your system 24/7 and will send us a notification if a grow light or any other item of the solution requires our attention. We can fix most issues remotely and we also go on site if needed. And since our solution allows you to switch or rotate crops as you see fit, our agronomists work with you to plan the upcoming year, if required.

We’re always a phone call away to answer your questions.

We understand this can be a little daunting at first, so we have a full team of engineers, programmers, technicians, and agronomists to train and support growers throughout their time using our lighting solution. We’re there for our clients through every stage of the preparation and installation of their greenhouse lighting all the way through first harvest.

The SUN as a Service® platform delivers the amount of light each plant benefits from in their native environment, no more, no less. And it compensates ambient light in real time to match the light recipe. For example, by avoiding having the grow lights on when ambient light suffices, growers reduce their energy bill. Growers also benefit from the increased energy savings that arise from crop-specific lighting since some crops require less light than others.

Read our white paper: Dynamic Lighting allows growers to push the boundaries of energy efficiency .

Lighting tailored to the native conditions of a produce provides the quality nature has to offer and what consumers and the supply chain require – better taste, appearance, and plant morphology, longer shelf life, and less waste.

Read our case study about a specialty producer of high-quality herbs in the US.

Growers can cultivate tomatoes, peppers and and strawberries within the same facility. A simple drag and drop interface allows them to send a recipe programmed on our SUN as a Service® platform to designated groups of fixtures – a zone of the greenhouse. It also allows growers to rotate crops as they see fit.

Using their PC, growers can visualize the lighting map of the greenhouse with each fixture in its exact location. All they have to do is browse their playbook of recipes, select the recipe they want to apply, and drag and drop the recipe on the zone they’ve created. Each crop will benefit from optimal lighting conditions.

‍Watch this short animation for more details.

With multi-zone light management, growers can evaluate the impact of different light recipes on produce before full scale cultivation without the services of outside partners. Our team of agronomists and technicians will support growers throughout the process and results will be observed on site, in real conditions and much faster, while normal production resumes in other parts of the greenhouse. Read our case study on one of our clients’ enhanced research capabilities thanks to our solution: Lighting up the next generation of biostimulants.

A light recipe is a specific modulation of the full spectrum of the Sun’s natural light cycle according to the native region of a fruit or vegetable and the location of the greenhouse. We can recreate the Sun’s intensity and spectra from sunup to sundown, in any region of the world and at any given time. We even account for cloud cover!

With the support of Sollum’s team, greenhouse growers establish a basic recipe before the start of production. They can elect to modify their recipe or temporarily adapt luminosity to improve quality and productivity on the basis of growth-related observations. Not only does our technology allow growers to adjust light intensity, it also enables them to add, remove, modulate, and manage the ratios of colour wavelengths such as far-red, blue, or green.

That gives the grower the ability to define what is best for each crop. Read our case study to learn more about the benefits of adding and removing far-red during winter pepper production, or our white paper on Photoreceptors and Red/Far-red Impacts .

The SUN as a Service® platform uses open-source architecture, which enables it to interface and interact with other greenhouse management systems.