{"id":138,"date":"2021-10-05T11:31:20","date_gmt":"2021-10-05T11:31:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/autopot.co.uk\/garden\/2021\/10\/05\/seeing-the-light-at-the-nlg-greenhouse\/"},"modified":"2023-06-02T13:19:10","modified_gmt":"2023-06-02T13:19:10","slug":"seeing-the-light-at-the-nlg-greenhouse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/autopot.co.uk\/garden\/2021\/10\/05\/seeing-the-light-at-the-nlg-greenhouse\/","title":{"rendered":"Seeing The Light – At The NLG Greenhouse"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A greenhouse whose very fabric can \u2018increase crop yield, speed of growth, as well as improve taste, plant health, and vigour\u2019<\/a>?! With a proposition that strong its small wonder that AutoPot beamed over to the University of Warwick<\/a> this month. For a visit to the world\u2019s first Natural Light Growing Centre (NLG).<\/p>\n\n\n

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Above: The NLG at the University of Warwick<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

To do full justice to the NLG we must first dip into the acronym gym for an initial-heavy workout. The NLG has been created by Crop Health and Protection (CHAP)<\/a>, one of four UK Agri-Tech Centres funded by Innovate UK<\/a>, and Rapid Installation Process for ETFE (RIPE)<\/a>, a horticulturally focussed architectural design practice. More than mere name checking, this credit roll matters in that it goes a long way towards explaining the plant-centric ideas behind the innovative facility.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Above: The scale of RIPE and CHAPS\u2019 work is indicative of the extent
to which advanced growing techniques are now being pursued<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

The basic premise of the NLG is that plants benefit in material ways from natural light. In the view of the NLG\u2019s creators this is because, in evolutionary terms, natural light is an intrinsic part of a plant\u2019s existence. Over millions of years vegetal life has evolved on earth with access to the full spectrum<\/a> including UV rays. Only recently have we started asking that plants grow in glasshouses where elements of light such as UV are reduced or lost.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Above: Taste test winners! ETFE greenhouse-grown cucumbers
trump supermarket rivals in a blind taste test comparison<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Innovative, sustainable tech is used at the NLG in an effort to prove that natural light can play a part in controlled environment agriculture. In place of traditional glazing, a specially coated, non-drip ETFE (fluoropolymer) film is \u2018inserted into the lightweight (greenhouse) frame design and tensioned using patented heat technology.<\/a>\u2019 This film, \u2018used widely in Japan for nearly 40 years,<\/a>\u2019 does allow UV to pass unobstructed, and it\u2019s credentials don\u2019t stop there.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Above: ETFE film allows the full spectrum of light – including UV – to penetrate,
giving plants the quality of light they\u2019ve evolved with over millions of years<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Glass breaks and breaks often. When glass breaks crops are culled. If damage to the glasshouse is serious then the cost of the necessary cull will often dwarf the cost of glazing repairs. Bad enough in the well-insured commercial set-ups of developed countries. But if you want to roll out controlled environment growing globally, as seems increasingly imperative<\/a>, then a far more durable solution than glass is required. ETFE film fits the bill. It is strong, highly weather resistant, doesn\u2019t absorb radiation, and UV doesn\u2019t cause it to degrade. \u2018But it\u2019s a plastic!\u2019, you cry, \u2018that\u2019s no way forward!\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Above: Not only does ETFE film allow UV penetration, it\u2019s also far more
durable than glass and no threat to the crops within the greenhouse<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

To think that plastic has no part to play in future life on earth is perhaps a little naive. It just needs to be used carefully, and as in this case, for good reasons. If a substance is being used in a vital role (ie. Better crop production), if it\u2019s going to have a decades-long lifespan, if it\u2019s not going to be casually discarded, and if it can be melted down and reconstituted as itself, then there\u2019s quite a strong argument that its use is justified. ETFE ticks these boxes. Mightily impressed by the NLG facility and keen to participate in such an exciting venture, we at AutoPot have thrown our hat into the ring.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Above: Credentials Galore – The benefits of an ETFE film greenhouse over Float or Tempered Glasshouses<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

In the coming months we\u2019re looking forward to the installation of twenty-six power-free easy2grow modules<\/a> at the NLG. These will be growing tomatoes, cucumbers, and melons as we seek to demonstrate how our high-yielding, gravity-fed tech can mesh with the remarkable properties of an ETFE greenhouse. Plants control their own irrigation in AutoPot Watering Systems – a natural way of growing – so we\u2019re really pleased to join in with a project like the NLG that, similarly, puts plants in their element.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A greenhouse whose very fabric can \u2018increase crop yield, speed of growth, as well as improve taste, plant health, and vigour\u2019?! With a proposition that strong its small wonder that AutoPot beamed over to the University of Warwick this month. For a visit to the world\u2019s first Natural Light Growing Centre (NLG). To do full […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":139,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[33,41],"tags":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/autopot.co.uk\/garden\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/06\/NLG_Main.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/autopot.co.uk\/garden\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/autopot.co.uk\/garden\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/autopot.co.uk\/garden\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/autopot.co.uk\/garden\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/autopot.co.uk\/garden\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=138"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/autopot.co.uk\/garden\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":783,"href":"https:\/\/autopot.co.uk\/garden\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138\/revisions\/783"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/autopot.co.uk\/garden\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/139"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/autopot.co.uk\/garden\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/autopot.co.uk\/garden\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/autopot.co.uk\/garden\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}