Mirrors.. no good.... Seriously ...???

So I've been slowly building a grow room and in the process i had a huge mirror that I put on the back wall under the work bench where I suspend lights for a very nice size veg or flower chamber.

Right now I have my clones vegging there and at one of the regular meetings of the smokin circle I was hosting it was brought up that mirrors werew not a good thing for reflective value and foil was better.

An indepth debate started when one member suggested that they didnot reflect the right color light. To my surprise.., another member agrees...

I gotta know.. theres now way it couldn't reflect the light that hits it... IS THERE ???

Mirrors are horrible. Just get some mylar. If you can't afford that, get flat white paint.

SimplySmokin said:

So I've been slowly building a grow room and in the process i had a huge mirror that I put on the back wall under the work bench where I suspend lights for a very nice size veg or flower chamber.

Right now I have my clones vegging there and at one of the regular meetings of the smokin circle I was hosting it was brought up that mirrors werew not a good thing for reflective value and foil was better.

An indepth debate started when one member suggested that they didnot reflect the right color light. To my surprise.., another member agrees...

I gotta know.. theres now way it couldn't reflect the light that hits it... IS THERE ???

Click to expand...

The light spectrum does not simply consist of visible light. There is infra red, ultra violet, etc... Some of those frequencies are not reflected back from a mirror although there is no way to visually detect that.

Many long drawn out debates have been done on this issue...

The problem with a mirror is that the light must travel through the glass,
bounce off the reflective surface, then back through the glass.
Instead, just use a reflective surface.

MYLAR MYLAR MYLAR. It reflects ~99 percent of light. ALL LIGHT. Mirrors are not meant for growing.

Just wrap the mirror in mylar. problem solved...

On to world peace...

If you want cheep mylar. go to the dollar store and buy some emergency blankets. They are $1 each and a decent size..

I would also think that a mirror could, if set up in a particular fashion, focus the light and possibly reflect it to a single point and cause a hot spot ( maybe catch something on fire ) I use to use a mirror and reflect the sun to light stuff on fire when I was little, they work just as good as a magnifying glass.

Wow, thanks for all the great and rapid feedback. I guess the explanation Sure Shot provided at least gives me something solid to hang the theory on. And yepper NLX, Yung, Tym, and Mang I agree gonna be wrapping it in mylar for sure. And thx for the concentration of heat possibility also noxious. Ya know I'd give you all some of those + reps if I had some to lay on ya... but since I don't have a clue what the hell they are... I reckon I must not have any of em.., lol

Anyway .. thx bunches for the input growers

Will still be a long debate in the circle

Mylar isnt 99% reflective, nothing is. Not even the best mirrors for nasa telescopes.

I have always used mirrors cause they are Very reflective. an has given me no problems an made my cab look soooo much brighter.

If i flashed you in the sun with white painted board or mylar youd hardly notice. If you got flashed with a mirror youd be blinded its so intense.
I use HIDs cause its intense light, my whole cab is a polished reflector bouncing around intense light.
Diffuse light is week light.

Kick the bottom of the mirror out tell it reflects on the side of the plant. You wont need side lights anymore.

Its all based on my observations, But mirrors reflect light.

foil is not good either can make hotspots its hard to work with and does not reflect so well

save yourself the hassle and get the mylar

SCARHOLE said:

Mylar isnt 99% reflective, nothing is. Not even the best mirrors for nasa telescopes.

I have always used mirrors cause they are Very reflective. an has given me no problems an made my cab look soooo much brighter.

If i flashed you in the sun with white painted board or mylar youd hardly notice. If you got flashed with a mirror youd be blinded its so intense.
I use HIDs cause its intense light, my whole cab is a polished reflector bouncing around intense light.
Diffuse light is week light.

Kick the bottom of the mirror out tell it reflects on the side of the plant. You wont need side lights anymore.

Its all based on my observations, But mirrors reflect light.

Click to expand...

I use mirrors as well. Mirrors and Flat white.

SCARHOLE said:

Mylar isnt 99% reflective, nothing is. Not even the best mirrors for nasa telescopes.

Click to expand...

Household mirrors are 99% reflective. High grade optical mirrors are 99.9% reflective. mylar is 92-95% reflective. The amount of light glass absorbs is negligible. It's only the high ultra violet that is absorbed, which the plants don't need. There is a alot of misinformation on the web about this. Mirrors 'may' not be optimal for other reasons, but it's not because of reflectivity.

Thanks for this useful post Kerova +Rep

"Mirrors.. no good.... Seriously ...???"



Seriously!

i wouldnt ever use them. at least just use a couple pieces of mylar. i dont even cover my whole room..

Yeah, another thread of people speaking from a position of inexperience.

Anybody who actually uses mirrors will tell you there is no problem
Everybody and their grandmother who has never used a mirror will talk about hot spots and so on.

If it was me I'd believe the people who actually have experience instead of e-parrots.

Kerovan said:

Household mirrors are 99% reflective. High grade optical mirrors are 99.9% reflective. mylar is 92-95% reflective. The amount of light glass absorbs is negligible. It's only the high ultra violet that is absorbed, which the plants don't need. There is a alot of misinformation on the web about this. Mirrors 'may' not be optimal for other reasons, but it's not because of reflectivity.

Click to expand...

It is not at all about how reflective mirrors are, but how they reflect.


Mirror Reflection: 
This occurs when the incident ray hits a smooth or glossy surface such as glass. The only time light will be reflected directly back to source is when the incident light is directly at right angles with the reflective surface. All other times the light will be returned in the opposite direction. That is called specular reflection. No matter how highly reflective the material may be it makes for a terrible reflective material for plant growing.

Diffuse Reflection: 
This occurs when light strikes rough or uneven surfaces, these types of surface cause the rays of light to be scattered in many directions. That is what you want for growing.

Brick have you ever used mirrors? Not asking if you can google, if you've used mirrors.

Japanfreak said:

If it was me I'd believe the people who actually have experience instead of e-parrots.

Click to expand...

That stand for educated parrots.