Assiniboine Park Conservancy

Argus sat down with Rhonda Halliday and Kerry Witherspoon at the Assiniboine Park Conservancy to discuss the new greenhouse and aspects of its control system.

Why this new greenhouse?

Our previous greenhouse facility was outdated and labor intensive. Everything from temperature recording to venting was done manually and because of the age of the facility the boiler heating system consistently needed repairs and was expensive and inefficient. Knowing that we were building the Leaf botanical garden and anticipating the need to grow plants from climactic regions around the world, a new more efficient greenhouse facility was required.

What are some of the technical aspects of the facility?

We are not a typical production greenhouse growing mono crops for resale, we are trying to establish a collection of endangered, unusual and culturally relevant plants to be used in the Leaf and around Assiniboine Park. Our new facility is approx. 8,500 sq. ft. (790 sq. m) and can be divided into 5 bays, each with its own environmental settings.

During the height of spring planting, we would house about 15,000 plants comprised of over 150 species. Shading, heating, and venting are all controlled by the Argus system according to the limits we preset, and the data gathered from its integrated weather station. Temperatures, humidity, and light levels are all recorded and graphed for us to access whenever required. Thanks to applications like Argus Live we can monitor and adjust greenhouse conditions and receive alarms on our phones.

What does the new greenhouse mean for you and the community?

The new greenhouses allow us to recreate environmental conditions from around the world. We can provide plants for the indoor and outdoor gardens that showcase species that are culturally important to our visitors whether they were born in Canada or elsewhere helping us foster the emotional connection between people and nature.

Why Argus?

The Argus environmental control system allows us to easily program different set points for each of greenhouse bays. We can even set temperatures to change several times throughout the day and overnight and Argus controls the fans and vents automatically. The integrated weather station reacts to wind speed and direction, precipitation, and outdoor temperatures and adjusts venting accordingly. It also provides us alarms 24/7 if greenhouse conditions go beyond our set points. We can receive these alarms and make required changes on our phones so even if staff aren’t on site our plant collections are protected. Argus doesn’t require constant monitoring like our old greenhouses. We can “set it and forget it”.

What kind of results are you getting with your Argus Controls system?

One of the biggest challenges in northern greenhouse growing is maintaining diverse interior temperatures when it is -30 and a clear sunny day. Tropical temperatures are fairly easy to maintain as usually only heating is required but when you need plants to stay in a dormant state at temperatures between 0 and 4 degrees, cooling is often needed. If you have a manual environmental system, you are relying on someone constantly monitoring the temperatures and opening/closing vents until the correct temperatures are attained.

With Argus controlling the environment, temperatures are maintained within 5 degrees of our set points without someone having to constantly monitor and adjust the settings. Argus also sends us an alarm if temperatures are not being maintained so we are made aware before damage is done to the plants. This means more time can be spent on all the technical aspects of growing healthy plants, so we require less people for the same amount of greenhouse space. It also allows us to attempt specialty growing techniques like mosaiculture, topiaries and cascade mums which require almost constant attention and care.