Mirrors in grow box?

This is one of those things that seems like such a good idea, there has to be something wrong with it or everyone would be doing it

I have access to a bunch of mirrors and since I am preparing for a first time small grow It'd be easy to line a couple sides of my grow area in mirrors. I did a little searching around and couldn't find much info on the subject. I found a thread somewhere where a poster said the mirrors actually absorb light. Can you guys verify this?

i have heard that using mirrors can be bad as far as burning the plants, and adds to the heat overall but thats what i heard and the guy seemed to know a little, and i never hear anyone suggest it, the best thing i have heard is glossy white paint

ya I wouldn't use mirrors, the whole hot spot thing but mainly take that mirror and reflect the light onto the wall (not from a far distance ). now from just as close use a white piece of paper you'll see that much more of the light has been reflected on the wall instead of just a more directed to one spot piece of light. (ya redneck science goin on here lol ).

Funny thing is mylar is almost identical to a mirror except that it probably is quite porous which is why it is good for lining your grow area.

Well i probably did not make any sense at all but hey its almost 5am :/

Mirrors don't reflect spectrum so you'd essentially just be blinding your plants, and the would definitely burn with the intensified heat.

NO- the problem with mir is it soaks up light not reflect it like you think it should because it reflects image. Youd think it would do the same with light. You are not smart and we are all not dumb reason no one does it, it does not work.

luck to you my brother.

ya thats something you dont really hear much about..i always wondered myself..but i guess we all know now..
and ya mylar is the best...panda film next..white gloss paint next..and if you cant afford any of those..just go buy a bunch of xmas wrapping paper and stick it to the walls...its cheap..its white.and it works awesome....hope to see your growthread up soon!!

RichED said:

NO- the problem with mir is it soaks up light not reflect it like you think it should because it reflects image. Youd think it would do the same with light. You are not smart and we are all not dumb reason no one does it, it does not work.

luck to you my brother.

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I dont think we ought to call the guy not smart, after all, he did ask before he burned up a bunch of plants and theres no such thing as a stupid question

Growgetem said:

I dont think we ought to call the guy not smart, after all, he did ask before he burned up a bunch of plants and theres no such thing as a stupid question

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yeah i agree! he was at least SMART to ask first......thats what we are here for! ask first, and dont cry later


Peace

lazy88 said:

ya thats something you dont really hear much about..i always wondered myself..but i guess we all know now..
and ya mylar is the best...panda film next..white gloss paint next..and if you cant afford any of those..just go buy a bunch of xmas wrapping paper and stick it to the walls...its cheap..its white.and it works awesome....hope to see your growthread up soon!!

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HMMM...are you sure about the "white Gloss paint"?

i think its white FLAT paint that reflects better....am i wrong?


peace

Mirrors are not actually all that reflective, I have heard that mirrors are only about 80% to 85% reflective, also mirrors do not defuse light which can cause "hotspots". Flat white paint is actually more reflective than mirror and it defuses the light very well. mylar of course is the best reflective material you can get with i being about 98 % reflective.

Hope this helps

its flat/matt white paint not glossy,

a good quality mirror can reflect 96 to 98%,.. a high quality mirror can do 99.9%. I've never looked into a household mirror and seen a reflection that was 80% of what was shining into it. To my eyes it's identical. The reflection is the light given(reflected) off by an object bouncing off the mirror. You would notice if the reflection in a mirror was 80% dimmer.

A mirror is nothing more than a piece of glass with a reflective material attached to the back. It's virtually impossible to get a "hot spot" with a flat mirror. A "hot spot" is when the light is concentrated on a small spot,. like a concave mirror would do. Foil can accidently have these types of shapes made into it if it's not flat. It's similar to the effect of using a magnifying glass in the sun.. It's also the same principle large telescopes use,.. concave mirrors to concentrate the light/reflection to a smaller spot. If you use flat mirrors the only hot spot you could create is in the corner where two mirrors meet, and that's not concave nor will it concentrate the light enough to burn anything,.. In other words, if you're corners are burning your plants, the rest of your grow is probably going to cook anyway.

The quality of the glass has an effect on the percent reflection.

It may add to the heat of the grow, by reflecting infrared light or heat energy back into the grow. Light bulbs give off heat energy as well as light energy. This is one reason why you get more lumens per watt when you go above 400W with HPS,.. they get more efficient at convert more electricity to light. I don't see a white wall preventing the heat, because it would both reflect it also (just not as efficiently) and heat up slightly-warming the grow,. The same principle used in vacuum thermos bottles. Your hot liquid gives off radiant heat (like a light source does) and it get's reflected back into the liquid by the mirror finish in the thermos.

White walls reflect enough light,.. mirrors, mylar reflect more. Not many people have the problem of too much light, and if they do, there's no need for reflective material at all.

Murphy Lightworks said:

Mirrors are used in lasers to created a Quantum effects called constructive interference. But can also create destructive interference. I've done it before using sunlight. It has something to do with phase. I was using mirrors to mine gold and I accidentally noticed dark patterns on the ground. It was trippy.

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Was this true 12 years ago?