You can get higher yields from your marijuana plant by manipulating its natural light cycles. Lighting also helps your plants to complete photosynthesis. Photosynthesis is the process a plant uses to create its own food. They absorb light energy through the chlorophyll in their leaves. The light energy is used to react water with carbon dioxide to create food sugar. Photosynthesis is directly associated with the intensity of the light the plant receives among a few other factors. Thus, when you manipulate the light your plant receives then you affect how much food your plant makes to feed itself.
Now that you know how important lighting can be, you’re going to want to give your plants all the light power they can use. There is something else you can do besides adding bright lights to your grow room to get big, healthy plants. Adding reflection to the walls of your grow area can give you up to 30% more light than you already have without any extra electricity!
Lighting is one of the most important factors.
Good reflection on the walls near your plant will bounce the light from your lights back to your plants instead of letting it go to waste and get absorbed by the walls. Reflective walls also prevent some of your marijuana plants from having dark spots where no light is available. The farther light has to travel to your plant, the more light is lost. So, when you have reflective walls then some of the light that would get lost traveling from the light bulb to the plant gets reflected for your plants to use.
In order for the reflective surface to work successfully your plants need to be in a small enough space for the reflection of the light to reach them. If they’re standing in the middle of a big room, then reflective walls won’t do them much good.
There are many options to choose from when it comes to reflective materials, tents offer some of the best light reflectivity out there. Their “walls” have been specifically designed to reflect the most light back to your plants.
Mylar is one of the most popular options for growing room reflective material and for good reason as it reflects more than 95% of the light that hits its surface. Mylar is fairly cheap and comes in 1mm or 2mm thick sheets you can stick to your walls. A more durable form of mylar is called Foylon. It has is a reinforced laminate coating that prevents it from creasing or tearing. C3 anti-detection film is another form of Mylar. This form is specifically designed to keep heat from escaping so it is great for growing indoors during the wintertime. Be wary to use this type of Mylar during the summer when your plants need plenty of ventilation.
Reflective Materials
Flat or matte white latex paint is an excellent choice as it has an 85-95% light reflectivity. Flat white paint is cheap and effective and doesn’t give you problems like air pockets or hot spots. White paint absorbs lots of heat without reflecting it back into the room so it keeps the room cooler than some other reflective material. It’s also a breeze to clean as you can simply wipe it down. Although it would seem logical to use glossy paint, opt for the matte version. Sometimes the paint label will even say how reflective it is, so opt for the one with the highest reflectivity.
There are many other reflective materials you can use like panda or tin foil, but they don’t work as well as the ones I’ve listed. To make the best of the reflective material stick to some rules. When you put reflective materials on the walls make sure that the materials are laid flat against the wall to avoid creating hot spots and reducing reflectivity. Make sure there are no creases or wrinkles in the materials. Sharp corners are less reflective than smooth curves. One of the best textures to reflect light and cut down on hot spots is the hammered style texture. From time to time clean the reflective materials as dirt will cause it to become less reflective.
Reflective material is an easy and affordable way to increase the light that your plants receive. It can be an asset to any grow space as it will give you higher growth and bud production.
Source: https://amsterdammarijuanaseeds.com/blog/how-to-control-cannabis-odors-from-your-grow-room/
