Solution to CFL foliage burn

looks great, I tried chicken wire over all the lights before but still had leafs poke thru.... I like it screen door stuff. How much does it block Lumens if any? Can you measure? Curious.

Unfortunately I don't have access to a light meter. I'm sure it is blocking a small amount, but just with the naked eye there is no noticeable difference. I'll take a couple of lumens drop in exchange for nice green leaves. You do bring up an interesting point though. I guess the "ideal" way to do it would be to use one of those round pyrex bread pans. I generally MacGyver anything I make, lowest cost with the highest efficiency.

White Noise said:

Unfortunately I don't have access to a light meter. I'm sure it is blocking a small amount, but just with the naked eye there is no noticeable difference. I'll take a couple of lumens drop in exchange for nice green leaves. You do bring up an interesting point though. I guess the "ideal" way to do it would be to use one of those round pyrex bread pans. I generally MacGyver anything I make, lowest cost with the highest efficiency.

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Ay whitenoise, long time reader, never posted. I tried making the "frame" of the lights that the mesh goes around. no luck and terrible quality. I was just wondering how u made yours like that? thx. Pat.

+rep i like this idea a lot, and any idea that involves a little diy. good thinking.

englisia321- Looks like you caught me on exactly the right day! I just grabbed more screen from Home Depot and plan on making a couple more cages tonight. I'll grab some pictures and post them up for ya.

White Noise said:

englisia321- Looks like you caught me on exactly the right day! I just grabbed more screen from Home Depot and plan on making a couple more cages tonight. I'll grab some pictures and post them up for ya.

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Thx a ton whitenoise. shoulda asked u the first time before i made a hackjob outta my lights =(

what a quality idea. I will be putting this into action tomorrow.

i love the idea. no use for it tho. small gro.

I was thinking about the lumens thing too. but then i thought that the leaves that arnt burned anymore will be able to take in more light. so it should atleast even out. my plants had way to many burnt leaves...

englisia321- Well I was planning on making a couple more of those boxes and posting a little guide, but unfortunately my roommate made off with the camera for the night. I'll post it tomorrow for you.

*edit* Someone mentioned on their +rep message that they were buying mesh tomorrow. The cheapest way I found to do it was at home depot, in the doors section. You can get a 36x84 roll for $8.50. Let me know if you find something better!

I like the design of those cages. I'm wondering if you could get the bulbs even closer with more ventilation. I could see getting a few panes of glass, and cutting out panes that would assemble into an 8-sided diamond shaped lantern of sorts.

That way, you could drill some holes for ventilation, assemble the frame and put some high end multi-speed computer fans around the bulbs to maintain airflow. Wire them to a relay mounted somewhere on the wall, with voltage regulators for speed (temp) control on each fan.

I think the fans and regulators might cost you..$115 max if you go around to one of those computer recycling places. You would be surprised how much high end hardware you can find for cheap. The glass is the expensive bit, as always.

You get magnification from the glass, and the leaves can be closer due to the increased ventilation. I wonder if this idea is financially viable for the lumen & growth increase you might get? Maybe not.

my burns are real minimal like a few scraped knuckles after a few months Labor. However the fact they can grow up right next to the cfl itself is kinda nice as there is some bright real estate I cannot use (due to chance of burn) through out the hood or light top. Might have something there for the CFL Horti's

Mezmiro- While it would look awesome, I'd hate to spend more than a few bucks for a cage on my CFLs. Like Cali chronic was saying- the burns tend to be mostly superficial. Any burning is bad obviously, so the idea is to get rid of the burns and open up that empty real estate as cheaply and efficiently as possible.

Sorry guys my digital camera broke. I'm going to pick a new one up within the next couple of days. I'll get those pictures up as soon as I can.

White Noise said:

Sorry guys my digital camera broke. I'm going to pick a new one up within the next couple of days. I'll get those pictures up as soon as I can.

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Ay whitenoise, so im still a little stuck on making these cages.. thx. pat.

englisia321- I'm sorry I haven't posted the DIY section that I promised. Had a little run-in with the local authority and have been busy bringing my room up to code. Once everything is put back together, I'll grab another camera and post it for you.

Maybe if you tell me exactly the problem that you are having I can lend some advice. When I make my cages, the base is a square of plywood cut from a larger sheet. I then drill a hole in each corner of the square. I happened to have some sticks just kicking around that I used for the wall supports, but dowel rods would work even better. Just cut your square base, drill 4 holes, and insert your supports. If they won't stay, you drilled your holes too big. You could use a glob of wood glue on the bottom of your dowels for added support.

For the hole in the middle of the base, measure it to find the exact center. Then take whatever socket you are using and place it in the middle of your base. Flip it over and draw a line on the base around your socket. For this i used a hole saw to create an opening, and then a jigsaw to get the shape right. After you cut your hole the socket should be snug when placed inside. You want to make sure your light isn't going to tip over when you plug it in.

When I put the screen on, I don't just wrap it around the 4 supports. Measure the distance between each one, and bend your screen accordingly. If you bend the screen to the right shape before you put it on, you should have very little lateral torque on your supports.

I hope this helped, but if not let me know where you are stuck and I'll do my best to help. The DIY post is coming soon, I should be done rebuilding the room within a couple of days.

Dude your a genius for thinking of this and i want to thank you for sharing your invention with everybody it really helped my girls.

If the mesh ends up having a prolonged exposure to the CFL bulb, do you think it might be hot enough to catch fire?

Sensi8739- That would probably depend on what type of mesh you decide to use, and what type of bulb you are running. As of right now the only CFLs that I run in my room are the 65w variety, so I can't speak for the larger/hotter bulbs. I have 4 running in cages in my flower room at 12/12 and 2 helping my mothers at 24/0. These bulbs definitely don't get hot enough to start the metal screen on fire. The idea is to have the screen far enough away so the foliage can touch it and not be burnt. So if the foliage isn't burning, the screen is definitely not.
If you were to run higher wattage bulbs, the principle would be the same. You would want your screen far enough away from the bulb to not burn your foliage, so there should not be any danger of burning the screen.

Ricky316- Thanks for the feedback, I'm glad it helped your ladies out!

Done something similar with my new autoflower grow box, good stuff