The Unbelievably Easy Way To FINALLY End Debate About Aluminum Foil's Reflectivity!

I've been reading "hugely* contentious debates on the reflectivity of aluminum foil -- ones with folks investing enormous amounts of argument and discussion time.

Yet there's an *incredibly* easy way to end the debate FOREVER, and help us grow better plants -- which is what we're mainly here for.

Here's the incredibly simple experiment (in general, not in anal detail):

Someone here MUST have a PAR-specific light meter, or know someone who does. Wrap a piece of cardboard in GENERIC aluminum foil and wrap another piece with Mylar. Stick a CFL under one and then under the under, measuring the PAR with your meter.

DEBATE SOLVED!

For those who are a stickler for precision, realize here that PRECISION ISN'T IMPORTANT FOR THIS END-OF-THE-DEBATE test.

Why? Because the argument is between EXTREMES. We're simply trying to see whether aluminum foil is closer to a PATHETIC reflector of PAR light (i.e., 50%) or closer to a VERY GOOD one (90%).

It's that simple. I'd do it, but I only have an old Panalux light meter (not PAR specific).

~jessie

PAR has nothing to do with hot spots on your leaves and that is why you dont use tin foil.

bigv1976 said:

PAR has nothing to do with hot spots on your leaves and that is why you dont use tin foil.

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Debate solved!!! Who use's tin foil for growing, If your going for cheap and easy get a emergency blanket.

bigv1976 said:

PAR has nothing to do with hot spots on your leaves and that is why you dont use tin foil.

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There is an old wives tale that "Tin Foil" will burn your plants, it is not true.

As for is "Tin Foil" the best, No and hardly anyone will say use it.

But then again it comes down to how anal are you. I have seen grows in a cardboard box with no reflective coverage at all, which did very well.

For a good old ghetto grow, it really doesn't matter.

If you want to get an extra 3% yield....... Do what everyone says

Well I would take another 3%!!!

Shit if I had 3% more of my last very small grow I woulda got another 10.6 grams. If you dont need 10.6 grams you can give em to me.

bigv1976 said:

Shit if I had 3% more of my last very small grow I woulda got another 10.6 grams. If you dont need 10.6 grams you can give em to me.

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So your small grow gave you 12.4852 ounces and your worried about 10.6 grams?

Then you would have 12.11 ounces.

Hahahaha ! Maybe your math is off.

That is like saying you have $10,000 in your pocket and you kep that $100 bill you found?

bigv1976 said:

That is like saying you have $10,000 in your pocket and you kep that $100 bill you found?

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The point I was trying to make... is that on many forums, including this one there are many CORRECT ways to do things. Where the incremental increase in output is not worth the effort.

To grow weed, everything does not need to be "CORRECT". There are things you can do (or not do) that will dramatically increase your yields.

Some things you can't quantify. So for the Newbies don't follow everyone suggestions as they were golden. Much of the information on this site is "Mis-Information", use your common sense, read a book.

If I tried to do everything "CORRECTLY" I probably wouldn't start a grow
Use a good light, don't over water, don't harvest early, good luck

I agree with you 100%!!!!!!!! But for someone to come on here and try to discredit hot spots from tin foil by stating PAR #'s is a perfect example of that mis-information you speak of and then someone, just to keep the argument going, says I am splitting hairs because I am willing to improve my grow to get another 10 grams out of it. Dude 10 grams is $100 so like I said before if anyone wants to give me 10 grams of weed or a $100 bill I am more than grateful to accept it.

bigv1976 said:

PAR has nothing to do with hot spots on your leaves and that is why you dont use tin foil.

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Nobody has actually made TIN foil for decades.

But for many years I have made reflectors out of aluminium foil which I have used for tomatoes, cacti, grapes and MJ - with no problems whatever. This ´hot spots´ garbage is EXACTLY that.

And of course aluminium foil is readly available, a good reflector of light, and is dead cheap.

bigv, you are just repeating some hokum you have READ - you have never used aluminium foil as a reflector or you would KNOW that is hokum.

My main point in starting the thread was specifically to have us avoid the waste of time arguing/debating/guessing on this particular issue. The easiest of experiments would, more or less, solve the 50% vs. 90% reflectivity question.

Also, I honestly thought the "hot spot" argument had faded away with other wives tales. I mean, if you're using an HID lamp AND using aluminum foil as a reflector AND you have no air circulation moving the plants, then you might be at risk of a burn spot on a leaf. But from my reading and from knowing other growers, that's not what folks are using (or not using) aluminum foil for. So, that's not really of significant concern.

And about the 3% issue, I'm all for getting 3% more! I love 3%. But that's not really what the issue is here. I was proposing the simplest of experiments to tell us, once and for all, whether the often-repeated claim that aluminum foil has HORRIBLE reflectivity (50%) or PRETTY GOOD (85-90%). Even rigorous tests can easily have a 3% +/- degree of accuracy.

As for why the question matters, well, many of us use CFL's to grow -- especially smaller grows. So, how do you get (let's say) ten individual 30-watt spiral CFL's bulbs to most efficiently deliver their light to the plants? Whether aluminum foil is a horrible or very good reflector would directly and significantly impact a grow of this type. There are many other reasons a grower might want to know the truth about aluminum foil, and that answer could easily be determined by the easiest of experiments.

~jessie