tin foil

hey guys, I just started my first grow and i am currently useing a white styraphome cooler. I wanted to switch to a cardboard box though because i need more room. Can i line the sides with tin foil or will that make it too hot? thanks.

The tin foil will reflect light, light turns to heat when it is NOT reflected. However the problem you will hit with tin foil is hot spots. Little bends, crinkles, etc will create hot spots in your box and can burn sections of your plant. I would paint the inside of the box with flat white paint before I put tin foil in it.

not sure how good cardboard would be light turning to heat +paper= fire at least thats imho

regardless of whatever material the light is hitting, absorption = heat. Its a physical law, there's no way around it. I'm assuming he's using CFLs which should be okay as long as they're not directly on the cardboard given they're cooler. Kush, if you're planning on putting an HID anywhere near this box, you're gonna burn your house down.

GrizzlyAdams said:

regardless of whatever material the light is hitting, absorption = heat. Its a physical law, there's no way around it. I'm assuming he's using CFLs which should be okay as long as they're not directly on the cardboard given they're cooler. Kush, if you're planning on putting an HID anywhere near this box, you're gonna burn your house down.

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Nice 1 grizz i just wanted him to be aware that he could potentially burn his house down .

i am using cfls. max i will be using is two 42 watts and two 23 watts. Do you guys think i should stick with the white styraphome or change to the cardboard box?

what are your space restrictions....... how many plants are you growing .......there are all kinds of specs on different grow boxes on this site personally i would put them into a box that you wont have to move them to many times . it might be difficult to controll the temperature inside a cooler and if you wanted to go with a box make sure you can install a fan for air flow

Use as big a box as you can. Preferably 3x3. Your def. gonna have to lst it, or flower it quickly to keep it small.

You should use emergency blankets! You can get them in the camping section at walmart! Its better then tin foil! I would use the cardboard box! The cooler will be like an insulator and make it really hot!

hey i use a cardboard box too... do it! it works great!!

make sure you ventilate the air well to get the temps low (mine keep at a steady 78-80 degrees, ideally it would be slightly cooler but it's fine), line up the inside with emergency blankets from walmart and get to growing!!!....

i've left my box here for 5 days, with a timer, and no fire. mine is aabout 1.3 square feet, fits one, maybe two plants. if you want to use a bigger one go ahead. i've seen a couple of people using cardboard boxes with HID lighting and no issues like fire or anything, just don't overload the breaker with a bunch of stuff, just to be safe...


if you want to use a HPS or something like that make sure about the ventilation and you should be fine.

cardboard boxes tend to be short, like 3 feet, so if yu want to use two, one on top of the other do that... mine is 3 feet tall, and i "domed" the top part, that added an extra couple inches, PM me if you want to see what i mean.....

i personally love my cardboard box because i can have it in my bathroom (I leave the extractor that goes out the top of my building on to help with the stench, i use carbon sheets, haven't built a carbon filter yet) and move it when i have visitors over into the room and outta sight in about 1 min.... it's perfect for my purpose, small, lightweight, portable, and it works.

the problem is to completely seal the light out is kinda tricky, so tricky i even move the plant into the closet for the dark period just in case.....

so go ahead and use one!!!!!!good luck