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Chuck McKenrick, VP of Sales“By managing the manufacturing in-house, we can design and bring inventive products to market faster than anyone else,” says Chuck McKenrick, VP of sales.
One of the company’s most notable innovations is under-canopy lighting—a long-awaited solution in the cannabis community. Leveraging advances in LED spectrum tuning, waterproofing and energy efficiency, GrowPros made the lighting both practical and profitable. By illuminating the lower parts of the cannabis plant, previously underexposed and underutilized, growers can unlock the full potential, increasing yields by 30–60 percent and turning once wasted plant material into valuable output.
Leading the Evolution of Under Canopy Cultivation
Under-canopy lighting has been around since the pre-legal or black market era. But until recently, the technology to make it viable didn’t exist. The intense heat from traditional high-pressure sodium lights often burned cannabis plants and made narrow work areas hazardous for workers. Fluorescent lights lacked a full spectrum, weren’t waterproof and offered little to no return on investment.
Grow Pros took under-canopy lighting from concept to commercial success by engineering fixtures for the distinct challenges of the grow environment. For instance, unlike top grow lights that are typically installed once and rarely handled afterward, under-canopy lights are installed and removed multiple times per year to allow for pruning, maintenance, and harvesting access. Since this task is typically handled by junior staff, the fixtures need to be especially durable and easy to manage.
The GrowPros lighting was proactively designed to improve ease of installation, durability and user-friendliness.
To complement its engineering efforts, GrowPros also took the lead in making under-canopy lighting more financially accessible, not only by managing manufacturing in-house, but by proactively pursuing rebate approvals even before product launch. This ensured they would qualify in as many regions as possible. The strategic approach allows it to offer high-performing fixtures at significantly more affordable prices for growers looking to maximize ROI.
On the innovation front, it continues to push the boundaries of spectrum science. It was also among the first to incorporate 730-nanometer, far-red light into a fixed spectrum, a breakthrough that dramatically improves light penetration throughout the canopy. Integrating far-red light required precision. Too much can trigger a shade-avoidance response in plants, causing unwanted stretching or reduced bud density. Conversely, too little can induce a direct sun response, limiting lateral growth and slowing canopy development. GrowPros successfully dialed in the ideal amount, enhancing yield without compromising structure.
This breakthrough paved the way for developing the first dual-spectrum controlled, under-canopy lights—Under Canopy Four. These fixtures allow growers to independently control the 730nm far-red wavelength, which can promote earlier flowering. Some customers report flower site formation three to seven days sooner. They also shorten the overall flowering cycle and provides growers with more flexibility in scheduling.
The Under Canopy Three introduces advanced crop steering capabilities. With one-half of the wattage of the fixture emitting UV and high-blue spectrums and the other half focused on red and far red, cannabis growers can fine-tune the light output to enhance color expression, aromatic profile and cannabinoid development, all tailored to the specific strain.
GrowPros also offers cultivation consulting tailored to each grower's environment, goals and strains. The team helps clients fine-tune everything from light strategy, crop steering, facility design, spectrum planning and rebate optimization, ensuring growers get the most out of their investment. Involvement in some of the latest horticultural spectrum studies in collaboration with leading universities keeps its recommendations grounded in cutting-edge science.Adapting Solutions for Real-World Impact
GrowPros' client-first approach is reflected in how they help growers navigate and implement lighting strategies that best fit their operations. In one case, a grower trialed dual-spectrum and fixed-spectrum under canopy lights. While the dual spectrum solution delivered strong results in a small-scale test area, expanding its use across a larger facility presented unexpected complexity. With a larger team involved in day-to-day operations, managing advanced spectrum controls became less efficient when scaled to hundreds of thousands of square feet of flower canopy. GrowPros worked with the client to pivot back to a fixed spectrum setup, a more plug-and-play solution that better suited the scale of the facility and its staffing structure. The client successfully streamlined workflows without compromising performance.
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By managing the manufacturing in-house, we can design and bring inventive products to market faster than anyone else
It also worked with a grower who had long relied on high-pressure sodium top lighting and was resistant to newer LED technologies. Rather than pushing a complete transition, GrowPros introduced under-canopy LED lighting that worked alongside their existing HPS system. The added light significantly improved lower plant development, increased total yield and boosted overall revenue. Encouraged by these results, the grower later replaced their HPS fixtures with full-spectrum LED top lights, achieving greater energy efficiency and yield improvements.
Empowering Growers with Scalable, High-Performance Solutions
GrowPros is entering an exciting new chapter. After five years of strong national sales, it is expanding rapidly into international markets with new distribution across Canada and emerging opportunities in Europe.
“We’ve continued to expand year after year, largely because we’ve stayed on the cutting edge,” says McKenrick.
From a technology standpoint, GrowPros is doubling down on spectrum crop tuning—the ability to tailor light spectrums precisely to a plant’s strain and stage of growth. New multi-spectrum controlled top lights are being developed to work optimally with the company’s under-canopy fixtures, creating a fully integrated lighting system that maximizes yield throughout the entire canopy space.
It controls manufacturing in China and is exploring American production opportunities to increase flexibility and resiliency as the company scales.
As GrowPros Solutions grows with intention, it continues to balance breakthrough innovation with real-world practicality. This forward-thinking yet grounded approach has made it a trusted partner for cannabis growers looking to maximize performance, efficiency and return on investment.
Why Under Canopy Lighting Is Becoming a Procurement Priority in Commercial Cultivation
Canopy uniformity has become a financial issue rather than a cultivation preference. Commercial growers pushing for tighter harvest windows and higher room productivity have run into the limits of top-light-only strategies, especially inside dense flowering environments where lower canopy performance drags overall output. Energy costs have sharpened the scrutiny. A lighting upgrade that improves biomass but inflates HVAC demand or complicates labor routines rarely survives a serious procurement review.
That pressure has changed how executives evaluate under canopy lighting. Fixture efficacy still matters, though purchasing teams now spend more time examining installation turnover, rebate eligibility and labor interaction inside active grow rooms. Many facilities underestimated how often these fixtures would be handled during cleaning, crop resets and maintenance cycles. Equipment that performs well in a controlled test environment can become a liability once crews repeatedly disconnect, move and reinstall units under production conditions.
Spectrum management has also moved closer to the center of purchasing discussions. Early under-canopy systems often produced inconsistent plant responses because growers lacked precision over far-red exposure and lower-canopy penetration. Some installations improved flower density while creating unwanted stretching or irregular structure in sensitive cultivars. That forced cultivation teams to look beyond headline efficiency metrics and focus on controllability. Procurement groups now favor lighting systems that allow spectrum adjustment without introducing unnecessary complexity into room management.
Return calculations have evolved alongside those cultivation changes. Yield discussions once revolved around grams per watt. Commercial operators now measure room productivity against total canopy volume, particularly in multi-tier or high-density facilities where unused lower growth zones represent lost revenue. Under canopy lighting has gained traction because it expands productive plant surface area rather than simply intensifying top exposure. The distinction matters when flower pricing tightens and cultivation margins narrow.
Grow Pros Solutions entered this segment from a manufacturing and fixture-design background rooted in horticultural LED systems. That experience appears to have shaped its approach to under canopy deployment in practical ways. Its product development focused not only on light penetration and spectral tuning but also on repeated installation conditions inside commercial facilities where fixtures are handled constantly by cultivation staff. That operational reality is often overlooked by vendors whose products are designed primarily around laboratory performance.
Its under canopy systems incorporate independently managed spectrum controls including 730-nanometer far red capability intended to accelerate flower initiation and improve canopy penetration. The company also developed fixed-spectrum options for facilities that prefer a simpler deployment model across larger employee teams. That distinction reflects a useful understanding of cultivation management constraints rather than a one-size-fits-all product philosophy.
Cost pressure remains part of the equation. Grow Pros Solutions has invested heavily in utility rebate qualification for under canopy fixtures, helping reduce adoption costs in facilities already balancing electrical upgrades against production targets. Its manufacturing relationships and relatively agile product cycle have also allowed it to adjust fixture design quickly as commercial growers expose installation or durability issues during deployment.
Executives evaluating under canopy lighting should pay close attention to how vendors address labor interaction, spectral control and rebate positioning alongside yield claims. Grow Pros Solutions stands out because its product direction appears tied closely to those day-to-day cultivation pressures rather than to abstract performance marketing. For commercial operators trying to increase canopy productivity without adding unnecessary system complexity, that balance makes it a credible choice.
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