Mylar Panels for the Farm/Farm+

[nick]

With three more Farm units (supposedly) on the way, I had a small concern about the amount of light that would be in and coming from our dining room. Even though I mostly time my lights to go off as the sun goes down, I realized that dinners could be a lot more bright if I didn’t do something.

I decided to buy some foam core boards, cut them to size, line one side with Mylar, and then use Velcro to hang them on the long sides of the Farms. I figured the Mylar may be a small help to the plants and the Velcro will let me easily remove/replace them as necessary.





After I cut them I had to wait a bit to get my Velcro. That arrived on Wednesday so I hung the first four panels on the existing Farm Plus on Wednesday night.




Sometime in the 36 hours since I hung them my toms sprouted. Not sure if the extra warmth/light from the Mylar helped that happen so quickly, but I’ll let myself think that so that the effort feels worth it. 🙂

[Shawn]

I should send you measurements and have you make me some for my machines lol

Nice job!

[nick]

Thanks!

It was a cheap and easy project. I'm really just trying to occupy my time with something productive and related to the gardening until my new gardens get here. Which reminds me... I need to call customer service. I was told those would ship this week. 

[Rialle]

Sept 21, 2018 12:21:11 GMT -5 nick said:

Thanks!

It was a cheap and easy project. I'm really just trying to occupy my time with something productive and related to the gardening until my new gardens get here. Which reminds me... I need to call customer service. I was told those would ship this week. 

I emailed them the other day... they said they were very backlogged with these units and expected to ship after 9/25 (or as fast as they come in).

[nick]

Sept 21, 2018 12:34:00 GMT -5 Rialle said:

Sept 21, 2018 12:21:11 GMT -5 nick said:

Thanks!

It was a cheap and easy project. I'm really just trying to occupy my time with something productive and related to the gardening until my new gardens get here. Which reminds me... I need to call customer service. I was told those would ship this week. 

I emailed them the other day... they said they were very backlogged with these units and expected to ship after 9/25 (or as fast as they come in).

Yeah, last I had called they told me they expected them to ship the week of 9/17. Sooooo. 

Just got off the phone with them. They said mine should ship today or Monday.

[Rialle]

Yeah I was originally told 9/17 as well xD
Hopefully mine comes in sooner rather than later. 

[nick]

Sept 21, 2018 12:42:37 GMT -5 Rialle said:

Yeah I was originally told 9/17 as well xD
Hopefully mine comes in sooner rather than later. 

I finally received shipment notifications for my new units at 1:13am EST today. 😁

[MaryL]

Very sharp looking, Nick!  And very exacting!  So impressive.  I do hope you and Rialle receive your new machines soon. It’s so hard to wait!!!

[Rialle]

Sept 22, 2018 5:16:33 GMT -5 nick said:

Sept 21, 2018 12:42:37 GMT -5 Rialle said:

Yeah I was originally told 9/17 as well xD
Hopefully mine comes in sooner rather than later. 

I finally received shipment notifications for my new units at 1:13am EST today. 😁

Apparently I got a notification a while ago. 

It’s coming the 26th. Naturally, I won’t be here. 

Gonna ask a family member to grab it for me since they live close and I don’t like the idea of it sitting for 5 days in front of my door. 

Update: I was able to change this to 10/02 by giving Fedex ~$5. 

[brenwren]

Where do you buy the Mylar sheets or does it come in rolls?

[Shawn]

Oct 8, 2019 12:29:12 GMT -5 brenwren said:

Where do you buy the Mylar sheets or does it come in rolls?

They do sell it on Amazon.  I have never bought any.  I have used foil on cardboard and placed them beyond my machines.  Then again I do not have any farms.   

[thegrindre]

So, you guys don't allow for expansion or contraction of the lights? Looks like everything is fully extended? Is that OK for the plants???

The book says to lower the lights then expand as they grow?

[Shawn]

Oct 8, 2019 17:26:23 GMT -5 thegrindre said:

So, you guys don't allow for expansion or contraction of the lights? Looks like everything is fully extended? Is that OK for the plants???

The book says to lower the lights then expand as they grow?

I start off with the lights low and I do lift the hood as they grow.  But using the "panels" I made does not effect that as they either lean on the wall or backing I have or the wrap around the plant.

Here is something I made years ago but since threw it out as it was getting too wrinkly from me moving it around

It came in handy at night as a light shield too.  I placed it in front of the garden so it would not light up the room until they shut off.

[thegrindre]

OK, although I thot someone was talking about Velcroing something.

Looks like something that large would need some kind of support. Do you use wooden doweling rods?

[Shawn]

Oct 9, 2019 7:11:42 GMT -5 thegrindre said:

OK, although I thot someone was talking about Velcroing something.

Looks like something that large would need some kind of support. Do you use wooden doweling rods?

It I remember correctly without reading the thread over.  I believe nick was going to velcro these to the Farm outer base so they can go on or be taken off no matter the height of the lights.

[nick]

If you look closely at the fourth picture in my original post stat the top you can see the Velcro at the top of the panels on the front of my Farm. I just use it to hang it there.

I don’t keep the panels on anymore because of heat/plant growth but I do use them from time to time to block the lights temporarily. My AeroGardens are in our dining room which faces our living room. Whenever we have friends over to watch a movie I find them helpful in keeping things dark enough to let the movie be enjoyable. No one likes being blinded from left by miniature suns during a good movie. 😂

[Shawn]

Great to see nick. We miss your posts.

[jewellea]

I am just setting up my farm xl and found this post. I modified my panels slightly because I didn’t want them to go all the way to the top. I just used free standing 1” styrofoam board covered in 6ml Mylar sheets (from Amazon). I taped the Mylar to the foam board with 3m 3” sheathing tape. I also taped the 3 boards together using the same tape. For the front board I embedded earth magnets in the foam board before covering it with Mylar and it just magnets to the frame of the Aerogarden. It moves up or down on the front frame depending on where I need it to be. I’m a newbie, so this is an experiment in blocking the draft from the window and blocking the light when necessary. The heat seems to vent through the open top. I just planted today so now I am just waiting patiently.
www.flickr.com/photos/191167536@N05/shares/585Hev

[Sher]

jewellea  it looks like it gets plenty of air circulation.

The magnets are ingenious!

[Shawn]

Very nice jewellea.  I may have to try that instead of my curtains.  I should post a picture.  I have a fan inside to circulate air but I like your idea.