Grow Light germination ?

I've now ordered that Lightwave T5 Four Bulb Unit I posted about above..

Another question - as I already have some Mylar sheet, would that be better than white (painted?) sides to a lightbox?



P.S. HarryS - I'm also looking forward to getting my chillies going much earlier this year. I've got some thin expanded polystyrene for cutting up and putting under trays/pots with seeds that don't require so much heat as other seeds so they can all go in the propagator together.

 

Scrungee by Mylar is this similar to acrylic safety mirror material ? Actually I think a white painted sides are the best , as mirror surfaces actually absorb some light. Whether the difference amounts to anything I don't know. I need a small light box that can assemble and knock down in 10 minutes, so I will be using space foil blanket material tie wrapped to a plastic tube frame. This is what the cannabis grower videos on Youtube show , I think 99% of light boxes are used for this :D
I also use polystyrene under some trays in my prop so I can vary the temperature. This give me roughly 3 temperature areas around 20°c room temp 26°c full prop temp and then an inbetween temperature. Hopefully all this faffing about makes a difference

 

It's this stuff (I've got some left over from making a UFO style kite for flying at night with flashing LED lights attached, perhaps not what most people seem to use it for these days):

I gave up looking on youtube because I kept getting somebody called Frank trying to give me advice irrelevant to growing onions, chillies, tomatoes, etc.

 

I would agree with HarryS that white painted sides are as good as or better than Mylar. When I made my box I originally wanted to get the best light insulation (ie the equivalent of heat insulation in a house). And a mirror sprang to mind as an almost perfect reflector of light. However when I did my research people were suggesting white painted sides as being as good or better.

I first got hold of some Mylar and noticed that you can see partly through it. This means that it doesn't reflect all the light. But what clinched it for me was that B&Q sold 2 feet by 4 feet pieces of hardboard that had a white plastic coating on one side. This was so much more convenient to use that I ditched the Mylar and designed my box to be exactly 2 feet high and used the white hardboard. An additional advantage of a white surface is that it scatters light in all directions, as against a mirror that reflects the full force of the light in one direction only.

But at the end of the day, convenience is be more important than 100% efficiency.

 

I'd checked out that hardboard with with white plastic coating one side, but what I was really after was the stuff that was used as bath panels which had a white coating one side and black the other side as I thought it would be more aesthetically pleasing on the exterior, but nowhere seems to sell it these days.

Anyway, got my new acquisition this morning:



The lights were really dazzling when turned on, made me bright and cheerful in a few minutes. Got to make that box now.

 

Looks impressive Scrungee When you have made your light box , what do you plan to put in it, and for how long , to get an early start?
I'll order the bits for my Heath Robinson affair at the end of the month , it will be just big enough for 4 1/4size seed trays.

 

If the younger members haven't a clue who Heath Robinson was , he drew madcap inventions held together with string and straps. He died at the end of WWII .Can't Wiki it no Wiki today !

heath robinson - Google Search

 

I've got onions & chillies germinating in a propagator to go under the light first.

 

Lash up of light box made using the back panel from the sink unit from when I put my fitted kitchen in (left it out to make the pipework behind more accessible). It's in my study at the moment and I may change to a Mylar lining when it gets transferred to the greenhouse when the heating goes on in a couple of weeks or so:




Looks like onion & leek sowing again on Boxing Day this year now (must get some white paint on those battens!).

 

Thats brill Scrunge, well done

 

Looks good Scrungee , keep us in touch of how it goes.

 

That looks excellent Scrungee.

 

Looks good Scrungee
Do you not need more support for the lighting rig as sink backboard is only about 1/8" card so may warp / collapse with the heat ?

Jack McH