One of many shelving units I have around. Many of these plants were just transplanted before the picture and look it. Others are recovering rescues from stores. All in all I'm satisfied for today.
this post was submitted on 06 Jun 2024
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Do you find the reflective wrap makes a big difference, and what do you use? It almost looks like emergency blankets?
I've got a few shelves I use to start seeds and thought of doing the same to maximize light...
It's a space blanket/emergency blanket/mylar sheeting, yes. FWIW they are fairly transparent, that's why I use them on the back of the shelves. Up against a wall they do a great job of reflecting back wasted light. It definitely isn't a requirement but for a couple dollars or less per sheet it was worth it to me.
On the front I usually just use a shower curtain. There are multiple people and pets in my household so the transparent sheeting does double duty as a hair and animal barrier, but also gives a window into the grow spaces that let everyone know when something is ready to eat or harvest.
Omg the shower curtain thing is genius!
Our shelves are in the living room and my partner turns off the lights when he plays video games because of the glare. I think the curtains would diffuse the light a lot!
I'm using clear shower curtains because the shelving units are in an area of the house where the light bleed isn't a problem. I'm sure you could achieve quite a bit of light diffusion with something like the frosted curtains without losing complete visibility of your plants. There's nothing stopping you from putting a blackout curtain on the shelf that only gets hung up during gaming sessions or something either.
The sky is the limit, it just takes a little bit of tinkering to figure out the setup that works best for you.