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Lots of people use fluorescents, or CFLs to grow their crops. i have also seen people use LEDs to grow their plants. The main problem with these types of lights is their low penetration. These lights arent intense enough to penetrate very far. This leads to people training(tying down, SCROG, or LST) their plants to recieve as much light to the budsites as possible. These lights also need to be placed much closer to the plant than traditional HIDs. THis is ok because they create much less heat also.
LEDs show the ability to create the most focused PAR lighting of any type of lighting. But, these have yet to be made commercially available. And they are the weakest in terms of penetration. I beleive NASA is working with LEDs. Still seems like their are in their infancy in terms of sophistication and need more time.
There are grow threads on The City that use CFLs or fluoros, and even a LED grow. It works, but with the caveats ive mentioned. Do some searching the LED grow is pretty kool to check out. The problem is the low wattages used leading to smaller yeilds than HPS or MH lighting can produce.
Sunlight Supply manufactures a lighting system that utilizes both a 400w MH and a 400 or 600w HPS bulb under one hood. Its called the Sunsystem 7. My question about this product is does it have the penetration of a 1000w system(ie. does 400w plus 600w equal to a single 1000w bulb). Not sure myself. Once i had the cash to buy my grow equipment i was gonna ask for oppinions on this system, but i havent gotten there yet.
And dont be so quick to discount UV lighting. It may(does) have an indirect beneficial effect on potency.
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