Can You Use Mirrors?
- Thread starter Scopse
- Start date
Sorry but from what I have read/learned no mirrors are actually bad as yes they reflect light they do not reflect the parts of light the plants need. I wonder if you could burn them this way as it may cause a similar affect as foil (hot spots)? IDK . Flat white paint is your best cost effective reflective method. Try searching threads for reflective materials-if I can find the posts I got my info from I will edit with links. In your case what if you were to suspend a few cardboard sheets with Mylar affixed-just a thought as I was thinking of doing something similar with my set up 
nice plants good luck
Sub'd and +rep Ok I found one hope it helps https://www.rollitup.org/general-marijuana-growing/377251-aluminum-foil-instead-mylar.html
nice plants good luckSub'd and +rep Ok I found one hope it helps https://www.rollitup.org/general-marijuana-growing/377251-aluminum-foil-instead-mylar.html
Spanishfly
Well-Known Member
Sorry ghb, that is not so, mirrors are >95% reflective - this is why we use them to form a reflection - I have used them myself in growing and find them absolutely fine. A small amount of incident light is indeed absorbed as the light passes twice through the glass (twice) but it is only a tiny amount.
Drawbacks are they are expensive, heavy and fragile - which is why I use aluminium foil generally.
Drawbacks are they are expensive, heavy and fragile - which is why I use aluminium foil generally.
SkunkDunks
Active Member
Wouldn't a mirror create a blazing hotspot somewhere in the room?
ghb
Well-Known Member
not gonna argue that fact, i have always been told that they are not to be used to reflect light in growing because of the reason i stated. the point you make is even better
cowboylogic
Well-Known Member
LMAO, always question advice from this guy. ghb mirrors are absolutely no good at reflecting usable light to the plants. They are only good at making 'hotspots' and tinfoil is not much better. Get some space blankets (emergency) or as stated flat white paint.
DarkSecrets
Member
Nice Teddy.
HerbalBeast
Well-Known Member
YOU sleep in the spare room? might as well just put your plants in bed and tuck them before lights out 
just kidding they look great. why don't you just get some cardboard and wrap it with aluminium foil (shiny part in). then put those around your plants. Easy and super cheap. Good luck with your girls! 
Scopse
Active Member
Haha cheers I've had it for like 20 years.
My whole bedroom is painted white and I just removed the bed sheets so literally everything is white in there now.
Thanks for everyones help in erradicating the evil mirror.
bigv1976
Well-Known Member
What happens when light hits a mirror?
You walk into a dark bathroom.
You turn on the light.
What actually happens when the light hits the mirror?
You're probably thinking, "It's reflected, you dunce. It hits the surface and is bounced back. Thanks for wasting my time."
Only it's not.
The photons in light are actually absorbed by electrons in the atoms on the mirror's surface. In turn, these atoms emit new photons, causing a reflection. Strange, huh? Welcome to quantum mechanics.
We understand this phenomenon through quantum electrodynamics, the work of Richard Feynman Julian Schwinger.
As Feynman once said, "I hope you can accept nature as she is -- absurd."
You walk into a dark bathroom.
You turn on the light.
What actually happens when the light hits the mirror?
[FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica, san-serif][/FONT]
You're probably thinking, "It's reflected, you dunce. It hits the surface and is bounced back. Thanks for wasting my time."
Only it's not.
The photons in light are actually absorbed by electrons in the atoms on the mirror's surface. In turn, these atoms emit new photons, causing a reflection. Strange, huh? Welcome to quantum mechanics.
We understand this phenomenon through quantum electrodynamics, the work of Richard Feynman Julian Schwinger.
As Feynman once said, "I hope you can accept nature as she is -- absurd."
Spanishfly
Well-Known Member
How so???? A mirror will just reflect what is in front of it.
If you look in a mirror do you burn yourself??
Spanishfly
Well-Known Member
I only talk about what I have TRIED and done. Unlike you cowboy, who justs reiterates Old Wives´Tales that you have only READ and not TRIED.
This ´hotspots´nonsense that you are twittering on about is exactly that - an Old Wives´Tale that you have just READ about.
And nobody has made TINfoil in decades.
Th trouble with MJ forums is they are populated by dopey kids who have never grown anything else, have no general horticultural knowledge, and just read total garbage as if it were gospel and pass it on. And none of them have the common dog to actually test the crap they are spouting, by tryng it.
Sound familiar, cowboy????
Spanishfly
Well-Known Member
TOTALLY right bigv. A flat mirror will only reflect the image in front of it - ie, it will reflect the exact image of any lamp onto a plant. No problem at all.
But if I were to take the hyperbolic mirror from my Maksutov-Cassegrain telescope, which is made to focus light rays to a point, and very carefully position it with respect to a plant, I might JUST be able to generate a hotspot where those rays converge. Certainly not with a flat mirror or any piece of randomly crinkled foil.
Spanishfly
Well-Known Member
I was talking about a parabolic mirror.
You are not sure of the difference beteween an accurately ground parabolic mirror and a lump of foil crinkled so that it will reflect light in random directions?
If I replace the mirror in my telescope with a piece of crinkled foil I will see fuck all - for a moment I thought you had a bit of common sense.
Scopse
Active Member
Thanks for your input Spanishfly, basically from what you're saying is that you've actually used mirrors before to good effect? If that's true I'd love to hear it from someone experienced like yourself.
I'm not really convinced by the argument that mirrors absorb the usable wavelength of light that the plants need, if mirrors absorbed certain wavelenghts of light then I'd see myself in the mirror with missing colours (i.e very weak red or blue)