Get 100% of your light to your plant -- an eliptical, CFL grow space

I gots and idear.

I'm not really sure about any of this, it's a probe into the public knowledge to see if this has been done.

I've been thinking a lot about high-wattage CFL growing... The 200w, full spectrum 5000k bulbs cost $57 bucks, and with the rule of thumb of 150w per plant, that's more than plenty of light.



OK, so who payed attention in geometry class? What's one practical use of a parabola? To focus light into a direct beam. a hyperbola? To distribute light evenly. An ellipse? To send all light from one focus to the other.

Using that thought about the ellipse, and a vertical 200w 5000k CFL (or two for a bigger plant?) you should be able to get 100% of your light from your bulb to your plants. Could you make a grow room or box that looks like an ellipse from above? A beautiful drawing to illustrate is attached.

Maybe hang a mylar curtain in an elliptical way(lots of staples?) from the cieling or top of your cabinet and around your vertical light and plant?

I think it would be really cool and i like the idea of light affordability.

edit: possible drawback is that ventilation might be a problem, though you could probably just pull air in the bottom and out the top...

wow thats not that bad of an idea... but this could prolly be used for single plants.. like a mini station for growing. i dont think a whole grow room.

why not use the same method with hps???

CALIGROWN said:

why not use the same method with hps???

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You could, actually. You'd just need more distance between the bulb and your plants.

A 1000w hps bulb vertical (or two, one right next to the other) could make for a nice setup

you could do more than one plant, you'd just have to turn them daily and make sure that the little ones get enough light.

i had the same idea instead with 2 50 gallon drums cut into 2 walls with a slight angle, you stick them semi together and use chicken wite to hold dixe cups with a drip feed rockwool setup.
maybe that could be improved upon for a grow room?

i thought of making something similar with cut and fitted 50 gallon barrel walls and chicken wire to hold cups of rockwool and a drio system to feed plants.

i passed the thread up too high to post that
then i saw this and had to come back. lol

*Vertical* 2,000watts = 6lbs!!

a duel wing, parabolic relector is what you are describing and want. it basically keeps any light from being reflected back into the bulb. look it up for purchase thru any hydroponic shop and copy the shape of the reflector with your mylar.

closet.cult said:

a duel wing, parabolic relector is what you are describing and want. it basically keeps any light from being reflected back into the bulb. look it up for purchase thru any hydroponic shop and copy the shape of the reflector with your mylar.

Click to expand...

Excellent. The concept moves forward. What the ellipse will do is make sure that every single little bit of light that reflects off the mylar is reflected directly onto the plants. In a square room lined with mylar, the light isn't necessarily going to bounce onto the plants...

I wish i had the room and resources to try this (attached)

why not try around room and mount rows of plants on the wall with 2 air cooled bulbs in the middle????

would it be beneficial to put the light on a mover going around the perimeter of the ellipse

kochab said:

would it be beneficial to put the light on a mover going around the perimeter of the ellipse

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The reason to use an ellipse at all is that if light originates at one of the foci (there are two in an ellipse) ALL of it will reflect to the other focus. By placing the plants and the light at each focus, you're making sure that actually happens.

jimmyytheweed said:

why not try around room and mount rows of plants on the wall with 2 air cooled bulbs in the middle????

Click to expand...

See https://www.rollitup.org/grow-room-design-setup/41222-vertical-2-000watts-6lbs.html



Sure, it's unnecessarily complicated. But i was high and iwas thinking... it's what i do