Anything else I should add?

[zBRiCKz]

just wanted to say smart pots need drip catchers or the floor is going to get wet..
maybe cause mold.
Very nice setup btw!!

Thanks kimchi!

Yeah I'm planning to just use some disposable turkey pans under the pots. Nice and easy to water the plants and dump the run off in the bathtub around the corner


I also grabbed some of those generic white paper plates, kind of like a thin cardboard, and set them up as reflector hoods for the hanging bulbs.

 

[OldMedUser]

Hot spots from tin foil on CFLs just don't happen jojo. It's like an urban myth that just won't go away. CFLs aren't intense enough but HIDs for sure are. I use some foil on the sides of my crappy reflectors with the 400s and don't get any burns. For CFLs You can take a piece of foil big enough to cover half the bulb and wrap it up against the coils. If the top is a little bigger than the sides you can wrap the foil around the top of the bulb to hold it on and even tuck the foil into the coil at the bottom so it doesn't flap around. The heavy duty foil you get for the BBQ works best and you can put the foil on shiny-side-out if you're worried about hot spots.

The best reflectors are made out of aluminum just like the foil tho they generally have a mottled surface so that light doesn't get focused in a beam that could make a hot spot.

Die myth DIE!

L8r

 

[jojo677]

You're probably right about the myth OldMed! I always doubted it, but I wouldn't fit in if I didn't post something I read somewhere online!

Anyway, aside from the myth, there is something else that makes me not want to use foil. Reflectivity!

Flat white latex paint (85-95%)
Panda Film (85-95%)
Orca Grow Film (90-94%)
Mylar (90-95%)
Styrofoam (60-70%)
White Poster Board (up to 60%)
Aluminum Foil (55-60%)
Emergency blankets (70%)

I pulled this off another site, but I've seen very similar figures floating around here. Though you can't believe everything you read online!

 

[zBRiCKz]

Seeds will be here tomorrow! Gonna go ahead and setup the grow journal!

 

[OldMedUser]

Flat white latex paint (85-95%)
Panda Film (85-95%)
Orca Grow Film (90-94%)
Mylar (90-95%)
Styrofoam (60-70%)
White Poster Board (up to 60%)
Aluminum Foil (55-60%)
Emergency blankets (70%)

I pulled this off another site, but I've seen very similar figures floating around here. Though you can't believe everything you read online!

You sure can't believe everything you read. Emergency blankets are Mylar yet rated much lower. lol

I used to just buy an emergency blanket for $2 at the Bargain Store and drape it over my 4' fluoros to trap as much light in around the plants as possible.

I can't believe that the shiny side of foil is only 55-60% tho the chart doesn't specify which side.

The thing is that light from CFLs drops off in strength very fast the further away. That's why they need to be very close to the plant like an inch or two. As most light from CFLs comes off the side of the bulbs cone shaped reflectors that hold the bulb in a base up position are not all that effective even with a good flat-white coating inside. First the light has to travel to the edge of the cone then bounce downwards to the plant so that adds 2 or 3" to the distance. If the back side of the CFL is basically coated with the foil no extra distance is traveled by the light and all the light the bulb produces is aimed right at the plant from as close as you want. You could probably make a line of glue on the coils of bulb down each side of the bulb, stick on a piece of mylar and then trim the edges so the back half of the bulb is covered. I'd screw the bulb in it's socket first and use a marker to mark the spots on the coils where the edges of the mylar should be so it is oriented properly when screwed back in.

Any reflective material on the back of the bulb is better than having it bounce a few inches out to the wall of the grow space then all the way back past the bulb to finally reach the plant. If you run your CFLs a foot above your plants you're going to see a lot of stretch. I've even seen CFLs somewhere that have a reflective coating on one side of the bulb to do exactly what I'm talking about. Probably got that idea from that.

L8r

L8r