My plant is under 2 30w cfls and 1 13w cfl in a small space. I've read conflicting information as to weather foil will help or damage the plant.. Can anyone help me out with this?
With fluorescents and CFLs it won't burn your plants but any HID lighting will. Honestly some mylar emergency blankets are your best bet. They are far more reflective and cheap! Only about $3 for a decent size piece. You can get them at walmart or any similar store. I think they're usually over in the camping section.
^Nope. Possibly if foil were perfectly shaped into a parabolic mirror it could burn your plants, but the real problem with foil is simply that it is not as reflective as either mylar or flat bright white paint. And forget space blankets, they are not mylar and are not particularly reflective either. There's a reason these blankets cost $3 and a roll of horticulture-grade mylar costs over $20. If you hold one of those space blankets up to the light you can see right through it. Light passing through is light not reflected. Stick to a bright white surface such as flat bright white paint or the white side of panda film, or else use horticulture-grade mylar.
I dont agree completely. I do agree that there is a reason the blankets are 3 bucks and the other is more. BUT in my own personal experience they do the job for the buck. I have a hood i made that is the length of my closet and the width and puts out about 70'000 lumen . i hung a piece across the front of the light like a drape and i CAN see through it. But the amount of light that isnt getting out of the closet is ridiculous. I got used to how bright the light is because i never had anything covering it. i have to let my eye adjust everytime i lift the drape/blanket. So if its blocking 90% of the light that was getting out of the closet, I can only assume its reflecting it back. I think it was worth the money spent. If you have the money, get the good stuff. Aluminum foil is bad. period. hell while youre saying 'fuck it' why dont you say 'fuck it' and just stop tryin to grow. you cant get something for nothing. I dont understand people that dont get this concept.
i've never seen or heard of aluminum foil damaging a plant until this forum. its by far has the best value and is almost as reflective as mylar. i dont think it should be a problem, most ppl seem to use it because of value. personally i got a roll of mylar from htgsupply.com shit is as reflective as a mirror. ppl tell me space blankets hold in too much heat. i havent used them so i cant say for sure. but because of pricing, i would assume mylar is better. but i havent compared the 2. toastybiz you can also see thru mylar if you hold it up to your face and look at light. it's like a window tint. i dont think htgsupply.com would sell shit mylar, there products are top of the line. not sure how that compares to the blanket tho.
Like I said Aluminum foil absorbs more light than it reflects, believe it or not. It will not hurt your plants, but if you want a optimal reflective material use mylar, or flat white paint. Were talking nickels and dimes here when the ultimate goal should be the quality and yield of something you have put a lot of time nurturing over several months.
And/or absorbing it. Certainly space blankets do reflect some light, there's no dispute about that. My point is that it's less reflective than "real" mylar, less even than flat bright white paint, so when choosing a surface for the purpose of reflecting the most light reasonably possible, I t don't think it's a very good choice. Grocery-store aluminum foil is nowhere near as reflective of light as horticulture-grade mylar. One is manufactured to optimize heat reflection, the other is manufactured to optimize light reflection, they can't be equal in each others' specialty. Um, not my mylar.
I agree with toasty. Aluminum/tin foil is for cooking, not reflecting. 2 mil mylar is where it's at. Or just flat white paint.
I don't see how 50 dollars in mylar will improve a CFL grow when the grower is using a reflector. All the light will be pointing down anyway. Now with a non reflected light I can see how it might wrangle up a little light.
I think it has been proven that any light reflection will help. Maybe not to the point of a super bumper yield, but dose help, especially on lower foilage. If cost is a factor you can just paint some cardboard and tape to wall.