ReduFuse or ReduFuse IR?

A few years ago Mardenkro introduced ReduFuse. It is a coating that diffuses sunlight while hardly reducing light transmission. It is used mostly in the summer months for vegetable and flower crops that normally are not, or very minimally, screened. It’s clear from the graph below that light transmission across the entire spectrum remains virtually the same.

Light transmission when applying the coatings ReduFuse and ReduFuse IR to glass

ReduFuse is not a shading product so it’s less commonly used for crops that require shading. These include sun loving pot plants, different types of cut flowers, and vegetable crops in warm countries. Diffuse light certainly has advantages for these crops, which can be read about, for example, in the article “Pot plants benefit from diffuse light”. ReduFuse alone is therefore not sufficient for these crops and they will still require additional shading. Therefore Mardenkro developed a coating that diffuses the light and at the same time screens out part of the infrared light. This coating, just like ReduFuse, has a high haze factor of at least 70%. Light transmission is slightly lower than that of ReduFuse in both the visible light spectrum and that of PAR light. ReduFuse IR is therefore less suitable when it’s important to maximise the amount of light in the greenhouse. By applying the ReduFuse IR coating it’s possible to benefit from diffuse light during the whole summer and there’s less need to screen the crop with a shade cloth.

Plants prefer uniform climate

Occasional light stress makes ornamental plants stronger. But generally speaking, plants prefer uniformity.

Delaying crop growth in anticipation of better times

The market for ornamental products has declined drastically due to the coronavirus. Many growers have questions about slowing down their crop growth in order to lower or postpone production.

Pot plants benefit from diffuse glass

A wide range of flowering and green pot plants performs better under ReduFuse. For some types the increase in productivity or acceleration of the production cycle is quite substantial. That is especially true if the grower can allow in more light. But even at an equal level of light, diffused light leads...