Automatic for the people

Richmond Nursery, in Richmond, Ontario, is an 8-acre site with more than 1 million plants of up to 1,000 different types.

Given the variety of plants, the nursery’s watering, lighting and climate control requirements are complex and costly.

Peter Rofner, general manager of Richmond Nursery, previously used simple timers for controlling lighting in his greenhouses. This system needed constant adjustment as daylight hours changed.

“We sometimes had situations where we were paying for two hours of lighting when it was unnecessary,” Rofner said.

Plus, the nursery was spending approximately $4,000 (Can.) a month on natural gas heating. Rofner thought an integrated, automated system that could control heating, lighting and watering would cut costs.

Power and flexibility
Rofner turned to Louis Levetsovitis of Natural Automation in Greely, Ontario, who put together a package of HAI by Leviton components to address the nursery’s particular challenges. One of the toughest aspects of the project was ensuring that heating, ventilation, lighting and water usage were correct for many different types of plants.

“Specific species of plants get specific amounts of water,” Levetsovitis said. “We went into great detail there.”

Another challenge was adjusting the watering rate based on the relationship between outside and inside temperature. “When it’s 70° to 80° F outside, it’s 110° F in the greenhouses,” Levetsovitis said. “At that inside temperature, it takes so many more gallons to properly water the plants. For example, at 110° we might need 60 gallons per minute.” These parameters change with the seasons and the plant species. Rofner had previously developed a software application that displays the temperature inside and outside the greenhouses and the resulting growth rate of the plants at the nursery. Rofner’s tool was integrated into the new system. The lack of mandatory, proprietary software was one reason Rofner chose this particular system.

“I knew what I wanted and where I wanted it to go, and it went pretty smoothly,” he said.

Getting results
The automation system has reduced the nursery’s electrical expense by 50 percent — from $6,000 (Can.) per month to $3,000. Natural gas expenses were reduced from $4,000 per month to $2,500. That adds up to annual savings of $36,000 for electricity and $18,000 for natural gas.

Plus, Rofner has an integrated system that provides him with detailed data on business operations. And he knows that with the automation system now in place, as conditions, seasons and plant species change, the system will automatically adjust and optimize the nursery’s systems.

Information provided by HAI by Leviton