Reflective material need help asap!!

Flat white paint,Panda Film or Mylar are the best options you have.Tinfoil burns like a magnifying glass,havent heard of heatsheild cardboard.I thought we talked about this already...

 

I am not familiar with the reflective cardboard that you are referring to. My concern would be that if the creases in the reflective material are in a fixed position then it will serve as a focal point, like a magnifying glass, and cause hot spots. Why the objection to flat white paint? As far as utility it is the easiest to maintain and quite effective. If you wish to have something more reflective then there is always the mylar "emergency blankets" that can be had fairly cheap in any Walmart/Target sporting goods section. These unfortunately are sold folded up and therefore have creases as well. However it can be installed loosely as to allow it to move with the air movement caused by fans to reduce the amount of time light is allowed to focus on any one part of your plant(s).

 

I really don't understand all the talk of hot spots and such. I really don't believe any of these myths to be true at all. It isn't even logical.

First, people slam tinfoil. Why? It's cheap and it is reflective. Hot spots from pinpoints of light? I have a 1000w MH bulb, uncooled, between 8 and 12 inches from my plants. You can't tell me that reflected light, traveling at least twice the distance, is more powerful than the bulb.

Now, I have 2 of these hanging bare bulb in my room. The room is about 8x8 and is fully mylared. There are pinpoints of light all over my plants, but no burning or hot spots or ill effects at all. And if you have a fan blowing in your room, the likelihood of a hot spot is further diminished because your "hot spots" are constantly moving.

This, of course, is all simply personal experience, opinion and point of view...

 

^you must be an exception. Tin foil beat my plants half to death, raped my wife, and set my house on fire.

OP If it's not a growtent with reflective material... then just paint it.

 

I think the problem is simply one of misplaced blame. If hotspots don't exist in one or more grows, then it's time to examine alternate reasons for the burn that people notice. I believe it's more a feeding, watering or some other human factor more than anything else. Logic simply dictates it. See what I'm saying here? If foil is less reflective than Mylar, then Mylar would tend to cause hotspots more readily, but tents are totally reflective and also crinkly, yet they produce I burnt examples all the time...

Please don't anybody take offense to what I'm saying. I'm just sharing my personal thoughts and observations and trying to shed light on all the grow myths that abound.

 

Try "Diamond film".

You will have to use "Liquid Nails" or a staple gun to make sure it stays up, but it works great.

 

Reflectix. It's like the bubble wrap that is used for car sun shades. Easily stapled or glued in place. Adds insulation and reflection.

 

Foil is the worst to use I think, use white visqueen plastic

 

Perfect example would be a car sitting out on a hot day... The light and atmosphere outside might not be very hot, but because the car is metal and shiny it absorbs heat very easily and quickly. Mylar and panda film are plastic and have lower specific heat so they don't get hotpots but still reflect light well.

 

Also, tinfoil, being that its crinkles are so deep and defined, it's almost like a magnifying glass, when children set ants on fire. It basically creates lasers, and mostly due to the fact as well that it reflects more heat, than light.

 

the problem when talking about hot spots is people using analogies like "magnifying glass" this is simply incorrect. hot spots do happen but unlikely to burn plants, just give you areas that become uncomfortabley hot. this is quite likely. I take it you have never heard of Archimedes? he used mirrors positioned perfectly to magnify the suns rays to burn down enemy ships. this is possibly myth due to the accuracy needed to accomplish this, but technically possible. a solar oven uses the same technology.. if you stuck 1' squares of mirror to a standard satellite dish and put something burnable where the lmb sits it won't be long before it bursts in to flames.

the idea of foil having a similar effect is because it's hard to lay it flat so light is reflected at different angles. if you had 10 small areas of foil reflecting infrared heat to single point then that point will be 10 times hotter than any other reflected area and yes this would easily set your plants on fire. with cfls it's simply not an issue as they don't emit enough heat to warrant any concern.

the other problem with foil is that some light passes straight through it, so is obviously not reflected. in my opinion foil is not as bad as people make out but I thought I would explain how hot spots happen as it seems a few people have got the wrong idea and are passing incorrect information about

 

your incorrect, fans have much less effect on infrared radiation than it does with convection. convection transfer is what your thinking about.

reflected radiation will be less than direct but if you have several angles of foil all directing it to the same spot then it will be noticeably hotter in that spot. google solar oven, or solar camp fire

 

mylar is very easily installed flat and relatively angle free. very small dimples n wrinkles are likely to diffuse and scatter light more evenly. diamond mylar is great for this

 

Because when you use a light meter to test reflectivity tinfoil gives you 65 to 70% reflectivity whereas white paint is 90% and mylar is 90 to 95% The panda stuff is around 97%

Basically you are wasting lumens.

 

very bad analogy, and incorrect, that is not how a car gets hot. it gets hot due to the greenhouse effect and that's caused by the internals heating up from radiation heat and the heat moving to the air space via convection and then being trapped inside the car. this has absolutely nothing to do with hot spots. also if the car is shiny it will be more inclined to reflect heat. matt black parts get the hottest because they absorb more heat radiation

 

magnifiers and lasers? what on earth are you talking about? haha

 

The fan moves the Mylar, thus moving any hotspot you may have often enough that it wouldn't burn.

There has been a lot of posts saying I'm wrong. That's ok by me. You guys grow however you like. I'm just saying the hotspot problem is myth. If it wasn't, it would happen all the time. Fact is, it doesn't.

If tinfoil is less reflective than Mylar and white paint, it stands to reason that the chance of hotspots would be less as well.

I do believe that new growers use what they can, and they usually fuck up their first grow. Then, as they gain experience, they upgrade their equipment and suddenly they start having more success. Here's the secret... It's not the new equipment that's making things work better, it's the grower themselves! You are just learning to grow better, that's all.

In my setup, I have a room inside a room. I've hung my Mylar from the roof and formed a 6x8 room inside a 10x15 room. I have 2000w mh hanging bare bulb. I have a desk fan on the floor moving air around. No exhaust, no hotspots no nothing. My temps swing from 30* - 10* depending, lights on or off.

 

Wow, the info I read was ~80% consistent on forums I've read, but the way you put your information seems quite plausible, and makes sense. thank you for clarifying, and sorry for my incorrect information!

 

I was referring to "pin points" of light and heat, and being focused, like your comment about the satellite with 10 fitted squares of reflective material, all directing light to one point.