marajuana mad science ( i <3 tinfoil )

so iv'e been growing for a little bit now in a box, (when i say box i mean... BOX) it's about 2ft by 2ft by 1/2 ft. well i discovered tinfoil a while back and haven't looked back since, i covered everything in tinfoil, the whole inside of the box the plant's tub, and the top of the soil, and i pretty much found that working with such a reflective surface in such a small area means that my lumen levels are fucking off the chart for now, im using just a 40watt bulb normal energy saving. now iv'e been using 150 watt halogen before and i think that the lighting levels aren’t too far off each other, has anyone else covered their soil with tinfoil? originally i figured that my soil would get baked and so would my plant, well with the 150 watt it did, however the 40 watt i got a nice amount of light and my plant looks like it's having a good time XD the one problem i do have with covering the soil with tinfoil is that the soil will stay damp for a lot longer without all the moisture getting to evaporate off it, how ever so long as i don't get root rot im all good. XD

if anyone gets ' bored i sugest they try this to boost their light intake, and if anyone's had a bad experience with tinfoiling everything but their plant please post.

I think tin foil got a bad rep when folk started lining their walls with it and having electrical shorts. I don't hear about that much now, since there are lots of alternatives, but it used to be an issue a while back (mentioned in some older grow books). Also note that flat white reflects about 90% of light, reflective Mylar and tin foil only give you marginally better reflection-- and tin foil can reflect light away from the plant.

I'm impressed by your micro-grow, though, and can imagine that foil might be a good medium for that grow space.

White paint is a LOT more reflective than tin foil, sound stupid but is true!

Halogen bulbs are no good for growing, to much heat and wrong color light.

I thought the problem with foil was that it wasn't very reflective (*compared to things like mylar and panda film), and that it also created heat spots that could burn plants? *I've never heard of it causing electrical problems

why is this in the 'advanced' section? ...

tinfoil is farless reflective than mylar and can cause hotspots, putting foil on the pot is stupid, the bottom of the leaves dont absorb the light, the tops do, your just messing up your soil drying properly.

jdizzle22 said:

I thought the problem with foil was that it wasn't very reflective (*compared to things like mylar and panda film), and that it also created heat spots that could burn plants? *I've never heard of it causing electrical problems

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Indeed, you are correct.

Have you guys ever tried white coroplast? Comes in sheets and can be cut with a good razor knife. Its the stuff that the beer companies and pepsi make their advertisements that go in the store windows. Its like corogated cardboard but its plastic and is very bright white. I have some of it for building rc nitro airplanes (Just google nitro spad airplane and you will see tons of them). Im gonna try it.

Grasshopper

darkdestruction420 said:

tinfoil is farless reflective than mylar and can cause hotspots, putting foil on the pot is stupid, the bottom of the leaves dont absorb the light, the tops do, your just messing up your soil drying properly.

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couldnt have said it better myself

mylar can be gotten cheaper than a roll of foil. go to the camping section at walmart and find the emergency blankets

Tin foil is more of a tempature reflector/insulator than light reflector.get mylar and you will see real difference. Also get rid of halo light n get cfls

I also have a 2x2x3 box but i used mirror. My box is a just a reflector for the cfls

I refuse to believe white reflects better than a mirror, if i reflect light with a mirror i can see it an feel it.

SCARHOLE said:

I also have a 2x2x3 box but i used mirror. My box is a just a reflector for the cfls

I refuse to believe white reflects better than a mirror, if i reflect light with a mirror i can see it an feel it.

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lambertian_reflectance vs http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Specular_reflection

noooo no mirror im pretty sure they absord light... if i was to click on that link above me im sure it would say the same thing.. and wouldnt it be pretty pricey to use mirrors?

I work with glass an cut the mirrors for free. All 6 sides of my box are mostly covered.

I use cfls (150 watts)an dont have to wory about hot spots.

But my box is definatly brighter with mirror vs white.

SCARHOLE said:

I work with glass an cut the mirrors for free. All 6 sides of my box are mostly covered.

I use cfls (150 watts)an dont have to wory about hot spots.

But my box is definatly brighter with mirror vs white.

Click to expand...

not sure about this but, dont most glass absorbe UV's and difuse them and thats why your spose to use hurrican glass for cool tubes because it lets the UV's pass through.

have you ever seen the thread where people with light meters measured what was the most reflective? brick top posted it a long time ago. Mirrors do not reflect as well as mylar or white paint. It's a scientific fact.

Flat white paint works wonders.

well... i just found this web sight, and sorry... most of you are wrong... apparently according to this tinfoil is more reflective than white paint.... which seems to make sense http://fins.actwin.com/fish/aquatic-plants/month.9702/msg00453.html anyone else got some sources of information that proves me wrong? rather than just saying random shit to confuse people.

when you look at the mirrors inside the box does it look black? because that would probably mean that all the light is being absorbed by the plant... which is good XD