Maximize Your Indoor Growing Lights to Maximize Crop Yield
Indoor grow lights are only partly responsible for the amount of light your indoor plants receive. The reflectivity of your surfaces can also dramatically affect the quantity of grow lighting in your Grow Room, your greens or cannabis crop yields, and your energy and maintenance costs.
Reflective wall coatings on the InPlant Wall Panels redirect light back onto your medical marijuana plants, therefore increasing your yield while reducing your energy costs. High-performance reflective wall surfaces can increase the amount of light your plants receive by as much as 30%. Not all surfaces exhibit the same reflective properties, however.
Visible Reflectance
Visible reflectance refers to the amount of usable light that is reflected from a wall surface when illuminated by your grow lights. Choosing a wall surface with high visible reflectance will direct more of your grow lighting back onto your plants.
Solar Reflectance
Solar reflectance is a measure of how much heat is absorbed by the surface versus how much is reflected back into your Grow Room. Along with your light output, ventilation system and other factors, solar reflectance affects the temperature inside your Grow Room and in the surrounding facility.
Solar reflectance is measured using the Solar Reflectance Index (SRI). A totally black surface has an SRI of 0 while a totally white surface has an SRI of 100. Exact SRI is calculated according to ASTM E 1980 using values for reflectance and emissivity.
Reflective Wall Panel Options
In addition to the visible and solar reflectivity of your wall surface, you should also consider durability needs and ease of maintenance when choosing Wall Panels for your Grow Rooms.
Flat White Paint Over Cement Board
Approximate Visible Reflectance: 75-85%
Flat white paint is a cost-effective, low-maintenance reflective surface that does not create hot spots and can be easily washed down. You can directly add fungicide or anti-mildew agents to the paint to reduce growth of unwanted pathogens. Note that glossy and eggshell finishes are less reflective than flat paint.
Brushed Aluminum Wall Panels
Approximate Visible Reflectance: 50-58%
Brushed aluminum is a lightweight, low-maintenance option that is easy to wash down. Aluminum Faced Wall Panels are among the most durable InPlant offers.
Smooth FRP (Fiberglass Reinforced Plastic)
Approximate Visible Reflectance: 30-70%
Because smooth FRP is low-maintenance and water-resistant, it is an excellent choice for the grow room environment. InPlant can laminate FRP directly to the foam core. We can also add a moisture-resistant gypsum into the layering if code requires.
Textured FRP
Approximate Visible Reflectance: 30-70%
Textured FRP provides all the advantages of smooth FRP as well as more diffuse coverage with less risk of hot spots.
Custom-faced Wall Panels
InPlant can easily laminate panels with any reflective covering that you require. We can also laminate sheets of your desired material, which can hang in your Grow Boxes using hook-and-loop fasteners or other mounting hardware.
Film Hook System for Mylar or Film Sheets
Your InPlant Grow Room can also feature a system of Film Hooks for hanging Sheets of Mylar or films. While Mylar offers high visible reflectance (up to 97%), it is prone to nicks, scratches and creases that decrease reflectivity and result in frequent maintenance. It must be replaced often, as it is difficult to clean, which leads to increased growth of bacteria and fungi that could damage your crop. The Film Hook System makes sheets of old, damaged Mylar easy to replace.