65w / 300w refletor or hang sideways

I have my 65w cfl sideways, my question is would it be more usefull in a reflecter faceing down ?

i think that you should aim them where you need the light.

i think you should have a reflector regardless of facing down or sideways

All CFLs need a reflector, for sure.

Maybe not, if it is lowered down deep in between two plants.

a reflector is always good, but not absolutely necessary. if you could get one it would be all the better. for my grow right now im not using a reflector cause its in the corner of my closet and my closet is painted white, so the walls reflect a lot of the light. i have been told though that cfls do give off better light if they are hung sideways. good luck.

Jorge Cervantes says reflectors for CFL's are a waste.

Majority of light in a CFL comes from the side of the bulb, and not out the tip like most people think. This means having your light sideways above the plants would be more effecient then having it pointing down above the plant in a reflector. With a CFL in a reflector the light bounces from the reflective material, back into the bulb, going nowhere near the plant.


That said, I run this reflector for my huge 250 actual watt CFLs:
http://www.bghydro.com/BGH/itemdesc.asp?ic=HLIFBW&eq=&Tp=

And I do use some parabolic reflectors, but thats just because I like the clamps and it makes it easy to move around. I have more than enough to make up for the loss of light in the reflector.

Thanks for the replys all

The Clamp reflector only captures SOME light from the sides of the bulb but does not redirect any light fromt he tip. Spiral and Tube Type CFLS emit most of the light from the sides, not the tip or end.
There are reflectors that place the bulb sideways, instead of vertical, and they are more efficient, but not as portable and easy to move around as the Clamp Reflectors.

Lowering a CFL bulb down in betwen plants is ideal and a reflector would be almost useless then..