I was thinking about that … Was going to make a cone out of cardboard and use foil. I am still going to have to save so I can get the splitters and a few more bulbs. I was thinking I was all good with having the 5000k bulbs. Not knowing the lumens are only 800 and I need at least 2000 lumens !!!..My budget is really tight being retired, lol . ( No job, no office , no time-clock , no money ) Im not worried about electric cost . ( 1 of the few things I dont have to worry about , lol ) We have a plan with FPL that just charges us a flat rate for our electric bill… … Yep
Personally I feel you’ll do better with horizontal. That’s based on having to reflect 2/3 of the light instead of all of the light. They don’t emit hardly anything out of end of the bulbs. But however you do it will be step in the right direction.
Going horizontal , should the CFL lights still be placed above the leaves ?? Im figuring because you say they dont emit much out of the bottom , the sides will give off more.
They will, but you still don’t need them more than a few inches away.
The only bad thing about that is the inverse square law says if the plants get 80000 lux from 2 inches, then they get 40000 lux from 4 inches, etc. So once you get 12 inches away from the light they don’t get much at all. So the tops can be on the verge of getting fried and a foot down you get wispy buds. A SCROG like in the picture is a very good idea if your light is going to be real close.
So is a reflector. A good reflector actually defeats the inverse square law and makes the lux levels more even as you get farther away.
No - mirrors don’t reflect the necessary spectrum’s with those big wattage any were from 4 to 8 inches, use back-of-hand test for checking light intensity
the glass in the mirror absorbs light that makes it less useful, you are better off with a white white paint
Made this mistake -early on in my cultivation !
it seems like it makes sense. a mirror reflects so much light that ones reflection can be seen, but unfortunately it does eork well for plants
I was growing in a fiberglass bathtub enclosure, sort of off-white. I put in flat white painted cardboard sheets and my LUX meter said it doubled the light coming in from the sides! Dirt cheap, since the cardboard was just to be recycled and the white paint was a leftover. I used a 29 cent foam paintbrush!
@1BigFella sounds like ur grow is dialed in. wanna join the grow off starting Jan 1? just a little competition to see who is the best grower. winner takes bragging rights
Just an fyi about cfls. They DO have a higher lux reading on the ends of the bulb, sides have lower lux. I have a lux meter(just cheapy) and have tried it. A diff of 1000-2000 lux give or take at about 2inches. If i can find time later i will try set up a demo and take pics to show difference.
Sorry basementstealth, I have to start a grow now because my wife needs the waste heat. She’s sensitive to cold and the heat coming off my LEDs keeps the bedroom warm all winter.
cool man! rock on. keep in the loop for ur grow. ull hop the next one sure. and watching is going to be just as fun except for the opporunity to trash talk if ur grow is going really well. 
Not much on trash talk! I’m more of a “rising tide lift all boats”, kind of guy. The more we share, the better we all do.
lol i couldnt agree more, but it can be fun to tease esch other
That’s a good one. I grew in my wife’s old wardrobe lol. I put textured paint to create reflecting facets then painted over it with gloss paint I don’t know if it helped reflect a higher percentage of light or not but it sure drew the ire of my woman when she found it lol