Hi i currently got a lil grow in my closet that is painted white. Now i want to put something more reflective in there. Whats the best, cheap material that i can purchase at regular stores? Ive been lookin for mylar but my grow shop says online that its like 50 bucks for a 50in by 100in. So is there anything else you can use, oh and im told emergency blankets are useless.

There are rolls of reflective insulation sold in different sizes and are located in the insulation aisles of hardware stores.

Your flat white closet paint is fine. Why are you wanting to spend $$ when what you got is good?

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Kali Mist/Colombian Red Haze journal

Here's my last grow AK47 and PPP in hempy journal

tinfoil works

A smooth reflector is best for CFL bulbs. Try sheet aluminum. It holds its shape and if you find a polished sheet, it's around 85-95% reflective.

Your even cheaper option is taking any kind of general purpose glue, like Elmer's, or stick glue... cover a piece of cardboard or wood or plastic with glue(flat and thin but rigid is probably best) and then glue the dull side to the surface. If you have a really flat, smooth surface, take the aluminum foil and use a soft clothe and polish the surface first on that, then carefully put it on the glue-covered surface to retain as much smoothness as possible. Try not to get glue onto the shiny side of the foil(I've used an Ace Bandage, you can roll back any part that gets glue on it and keep going!). Start from the middle and use the clothe or whatever to get it as crinkle-free as possible. Your fingers can leave smears from oil/dirt and isn't nearly as even. Not only does it reflect great but it nearly absolutely blocks all light(especially the visible kind). Get foil tape to close any cracks. Or just put foil and tape it on with duct tape, or heck, glue it!

As for *best*? Probably silver. Over 99% across most of the spectrum when polished. Gold is *slightly* even better(but the price, ouch!). Then there's mylar which is up to 98%. People tend to distort *white paint* numbers. Unless you're powder-coating, you'll see max of 70-80%. Other (expensive) additives can increase this.

I've seen titanium dioxide/magnesium fluoride charts that claim over slightly over 100% reflection, due to the photo-active materials 'glowing'. Not sure if it means much for the PAR spectrum. Lumens alone aren't really a great indicator of how well a plant will grow under a bulb. PAR is photosynthetic active radiation. Classically defined as light waves between 400nm to 700nm. With the peaks being on the ends of this range. HPS is typically most intense around 570nm.

CFLs can generate nearly perfect black bodies, or CRI which is how closely a bulb matches sun light(as far as colors of objects are concerned). CRI isn't very important either. But it's not bad to have(fuller spectrum). GE Daylight bulbs seem very well suited to plant life. They spike around 400nm - 450nm and 650nm(great for plants). And otherwise have a smooth black body. CFL bulb manufacturers matter. They use expensive phosphors to tone light and generic brands might not fair as well.

What's most important is high bulb PAR rating and quality reflectors. A mirror-finished/polished aluminum sheet will be better than foil, and getting an Al alloy reflector would be even better. Mylar would be even better if you can find it cheap. With gold/silver being the best... if price is not an issue.

Proper reflectors can increase yields up to 30-40%. Don't mess with foil unless you don't have a better option. If you can get polished sheet aluminum good, 'professionally' cut for you, even better. Mylar.. great, might cost more.

The thing about aluminum vs white paint is that aluminum preserves the light spectrum much better than paint which cuts off intensity and is irregular. You would have to get a specialty paint and airbrush very smoothly to get near to aluminum. This is sometimes seen in reflectors. I've always heard no paint is better as far as most reflectors/bulbs. Paint causes more diffusion. This might be better for high watt HID. CFL's? No.

The cheapest and best shit you can get is an emergency blanket from any local store in the camping section. Walmart sells them for $1.98 shit is just like mylar.

Also 1 blanket should be good for your small grow.

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every thing I say is definitly a lie, don't trust me.
http://www.rollitup.org/general-mari...ml#post3216785

Emergency blankets are good..... and shiny xmas paper... its all the same stuff.

And i WOULD NOT recommend tin foil, it conducts electricity, causes hotspots, is hard to get flat, and is nowhere near as good as shiny xmas paper.

Hope this helped m8

if your using cfls tinfoil should not be a proble, it is a major problem when it comes to HID.

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every thing I say is definitly a lie, don't trust me.
http://www.rollitup.org/general-mari...ml#post3216785

I suppose.... but it terms of pure reflect-ability its still no match for mylar or polywrap (shiny wrapping paper)

ya i got a emergency blanket now and its alright i guess. its got tonnes of creases in it cause it was folded when i bought it so i just did the best i could. i got pics up at New Farmer-CFL 2 weeks in

I have found the perfect reflective material and it is really cheap, go to your local Dollar Tree and look for the silver tissue paper that you use to stuff gift bags with. You will find that it is a little thinner than mylar but it is the perfect solution to your reflective problem and you get 4 sheets in each pack and they measure 18X30 inches. only one dollar per pack.