Led light timing in a high growth, high density, closed environment system

Abstract

Disclosed herein is a high growth, high density, closed environment growing system and methods thereof. A method of accelerating plant cell growth in a growing system may include adjusting the lighting in accordance with an identified plant growth stage.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A growing system for promoting the rapid growth of seedlings, comprising:
 a substantially closed container;   a nutrient solution within the closed container;   a seedling positioned within the nutrient solution;   a grow light; and   a controller coupled to the grow light adapted to:
 receive information on a growth of the seedling; 
 calculate a seedling stress duration, wherein the seedling stress duration commences with the positioning of the first seedling in the growing system and terminates when growth is observed in the first seedling; 
 divide the seedling stress duration into a plurality of subphases; 
 determine a subphase factor for a second seedling positioned in the growing system based on which subphase the second seedling has reached based on an elapsed time; 
 calculate the total number of on/off light cycles and a duration for each on/off cycle, wherein one cycle is turning the lights on and off; and 
 control the grow light to execute the total number of calculated on/off light cycles for the calculated duration of time the lights are on and time the lights are off during each cycle in the growing system. 
   
     
     
         2 . The growing system of  claim 1 , wherein the subphase factor is determined by multiplying the seeding stress duration by a fraction. 
     
     
         3 . The growing system of  claim 1 , wherein the number of on/off light cycles is determined by dividing the total timing of the light cycle in the subphase by two times the subphase factor. 
     
     
         4 . The growing system of  claim 1 , wherein a duration the lights are on and a duration the lights are off in each on/off cycle is calculated by multiplying the subphase factor by 60 minutes. 
     
     
         5 . The growing system of  claim 2 , wherein there are three subphases and the fraction for a first subphase is 1/600, the fraction for the second subphase is 1/300, and the fraction for the third subphase is 1/200. 
     
     
         6 . The growing system of  claim 1 , wherein the growth is observed by a visual analysis of the first seedling. 
     
     
         7 . The growing system of  claim 1 , further comprising a sensor that provides the information on the growth of the seedling. 
     
     
         8 . The growing system of  claim 7 , wherein the sensor comprises a sensor selected from the sensors consisting of: a video sensor, a laser sensor, a location/proximity sensor, a weight sensor, an O 2  sensor, and a sensor measuring a concentration of a nutrient solution. 
     
     
         9 . The growing system of  claim 1 , wherein the growing system is a hydroponic growing system. 
     
     
         10 . A hydroponic growing system for accelerating growth of a seedling, the system comprising:
 a rack having a plurality of shelves mounted thereupon, and wherein at least a plurality of the shelves comprises a flood tray;   wherein each of the flood trays comprises a nutrient solution inlet and a nutrient solution return plumbing;   a plurality of lights each positioned above one of the flood trays; and   wherein the plurality of shelves are vertically moveable thereby determining a distance of each of the plurality of lights above each of the plurality of flood trays.   
     
     
         11 . The hydroponic growing system of  claim 10 , further comprising a controller adapted to move the plurality of shelves to position each of the plurality of lights to accommodate a height of plants in the plurality of flood trays. 
     
     
         12 . The hydroponic growing system of  claim 10 , further comprising a controller adapted to move the plurality of shelves to position each of the plurality of lights to accommodate a growth of plants in the plurality of flood trays. 
     
     
         13 . The hydroponic growing system of  claim 10 , further comprising a controller adapted to move the plurality of shelves to position each of the plurality of lights to be eight ( 8 ) inches from seedlings in the plurality of flood trays. 
     
     
         14 . The hydroponic growing system of  claim 10 , further comprising a second rack having a second plurality of shelves mounted thereupon, and wherein at least a plurality of the second plurality of shelves comprises a flood tray;
 wherein each of the flood trays comprises a second nutrient solution inlet and a second nutrient solution return plumbing;   a second plurality of lights each positioned above one of the flood trays of the second rack; and   wherein the second plurality of shelves are vertically moveable thereby determining a distance of each of the second plurality of lights above each of the plurality of flood trays of the second rack.   
     
     
         15 . The hydroponic growing system of  claim 14 , wherein the second nutrient solution has a distinct composition from the nutrient solution. 
     
     
         16 . The hydroponic growing system of  claim 14 , wherein the rack is bolted to the second rack.