The Best Reflective Materials for Your Grow Room

Exposing your plants to sufficient light is one of the main battles in growing healthy and potent cannabis at home. While naturally the plants will crave strong sunlight, growing outdoors will oftentimes create more headaches due to inclement weather, bug infestation, or intrusion from animal life.

This has resulted in most home cannabis growth taking place indoors, either in a specified grow room or standalone tent or container (such as a spacebucket.)

While powerful lighting will be a key component, especially if you are working with limited space or a smaller budget, finding clever workarounds to increasing light exposure will prove to benefit both your plant growth and your bottom dollar. One of the most popular methods is to implement highly reflective materials around your plants.

While this light source will be slightly diffused, not carrying the same power as direct lighting from an LED or HID lamp, it will increase the overall efficiency of electrical costs while also improving plant exposure.

Below we will touch on a few of the most popular reflective materials used for cannabis growth and the various pros and cons between the materials.

VIVOSUN 6 Mil Mylar Film

The VIVOSUN 4 x 50 foot mylar film roll comes in at 6 millimeters thick while featuring a diamond pattern design. With the reflectivity ranging between 92-97% efficiency, it seals 100% of light for increased exposure for your plants.

Waterproof, anti-corrosive, and resistant to high temperatures, this is a great material to line the walls of a grow tent or shed.

Pros

• Highly reflective rating with zero translucency
• Durable material, resistant against the harsh conditions inside a grow tent or room
• Contains heat to enclosures
• Affordable method for providing extra lighting to your plants

Cons

• Has a distinct and unpleasant smell that doesn’t seem to go away with time

VIVOSUN 6 Mil Mylar Film Roll, 4 ft. x 50 ft. Diamond Film Foil Roll, Heavy-Duty Reflective Film for Grow Tent, Warm House, and Grow Room (50 ft.)

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VIVOSUN Horticulture Highly Reflective Mylar Film

Another mylar film from VIVOSUN, this 4 x 100 foot material is 2 millimeters thick featuring a highly reflective finish. Similar to the above mentioned material, this also reflects 92-97% of light with a strong and durable build quality.

Withstanding temperatures up to 190 degrees Celsius, it is also puncture and tear resistant. An excellent lining for a grow tent, it will stand the test of time with its top tier durability.

Pros

• Extremely durable, featuring a puncture, heat, and tear resistant build quality
• Increases efficiency of lights, lowering electrical costs
• Thin and light material, easily fitting most builds

Cons

• Not easily cleaned

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VIVOSUN Highly Reflective Mylar Film Roll 4FT x 100FT for Outdoor Grow Room Indoor Decoration Aluminum Paint Coated 2 Mil Silver

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Earth Start Reflective Mylar Roll

Released from Earth Start, this is a similar mylar roll to the previous materials. 25 feet in length, this is 2 millimeters thick and is 100% light tight. Highly durable and featuring a metal finish on both sides of the roll, this material is also puncture and tear resistant.

Pros

• Easy to maintain and clean
• High reflectivity on both sides of the mylar
• Very durable, offering puncture and tear resistance

Cons

• There are debates as to whether or not both sides are completely “metalized”

Mylar Reflective Material, 4 Feet x 25 Feet, 2 Mil

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NAVADEAL Silver Reflective Mylar Film

Slightly different to the above mylar reflective materials, the NAVADEAL mylar film comes in a set of two 82 x 47 inch sheets. Boasting 100% environmentally safe materials, it is also highly reflective while maintaining the puncture and tear resistant durability.

With 95% reflectivity on both sides of the film, it also diminishes ‘hot spots’ while allowing for even light distribution.

Pros

• 95% light reflectivity
• Highly durable, being both puncture and tear proof
• 100% environmentally safe material for outdoor and indoor use

Cons

• Thinner than some of the other options, making it more difficult to work with

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NAVADEAL 2 Pack Silver Highly Reflective Mylar Films, 82x 47Inch, Metallized Foil Covering Sheet, Garden Greenhouse Farming, Increase Plant Growth Save Power, Reduce Uneven Heat Environment Safe

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Orca Grow Film

Released from ORCA, this is a plastic microfiber material with a 94% reflectivity with their patent pending crystalline design. Coming in at 54 inches by 100 feet, this roll is slightly more expensive than the other entrants on this list due to its unique design.

Pros

• Built with high quality materials
• Easy to clean without worry of damage
• Full spectrum light deflection

Cons

• Considerably more expensive than the other options

Orca Grow Film 54 in x 100 ft Roll

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Why is Light Reflection Important While Growing Cannabis?

The healthy growth of cannabis comes down to a few key components of which you are probably already well aware of. Proper watering, the addition of nutrients and fertilizers, and adequate light are all necessary steps to perfect when attempting to grow your own weed.

Obviously, if you are growing your own cannabis you have already considered the economic aspect in contrast to simply purchasing over the counter. Logically you are going to attempt to minimize material and overhead costs while growing your plants, allowing you to have larger amounts of weed for considerably less cost.

This is why implementing reflective materials in your grow tent or room is so important.

How Light Reflection Saves You Money

While it may seem counter intuitive, treating the light produced by your high powered lamps as if it were a finite resource will help illustrate the importance of including reflective materials. Reflective materials such as mylar will help distribute otherwise wasted light exposure, allowing you to expose your plants without the need for additional bulbs.

This not only saves on the cost of purchasing bulbs and lighting fixtures, both for the initial setup and the cost of replacement, but it also severely cuts the electricity costs incurred on a monthly basis. The types of reflective materials to consider are:

• Mylar
• Black and White (Panda) Foil
• White latex paint

Materials to NOT use

• Aluminum foil
• Mirrors

More Light Will Result In Bigger Yields

While it may seem obvious, the reason we want to provide our plants with as much light as possible comes down to the overall production and yield. Not only will your plants be healthier and grow as expected, but you will produce more potent weed with bigger buds if the plants are lit properly.

Tips for Maintaining Your Reflective Materials

Although many of the materials are extremely durable, as we mentioned with many of the products above, there are some methods to maintain their ability to remain reflective over time and retain as much light efficiency as possible.

• Ensure the mylar (or other reflective material) remains clean as this will ensure the highest amount of reflection
• If possible, attach your materials to a flat wall for uniform light coverage of your plants
• Ensure there are no wrinkles in your material, as this will create ‘hot spots’ which will prevent even light distribution and carries the potential to harm your plants

Final Tips

Keep in mind they key tenants of healthy plant growth when you are attempting to grow your own cannabis indoors. A consistent lighting and watering schedule depending on your strain, even and high powered light distribution through your lamps and reflective materials, and proactive monitoring of the health and growth of your plant throughout the various stages of flowering.

If you are vigilant about the care and health of your plant you will not only ensure a return on the financial investment, but a stronger and more potent yield when it comes time to harvest your plants.