I just came accross some 60 watt equivalent 10 watt 3000k LED bulbs at Walmart for about $2.25. They take apart into an easy to mount metal plate with two wires. You could build very nice array for very cheap, no need for light sockets. 100 watt draw array would cost about $25 or a 200...
Question: Other than Punto Rojo (which is very hard to get these days) ...what would be your one stranded on a desert island strain? You can only pick one.
Others feel free to chime in.
Great Value LED Light Bulb, 9W (60W Equivalent) A19 General Purpose Lamp E26 Medium Base, Non-dimmable, Soft White, 4-Pack - Walmart.com
That's $1.23 per bulb at 8.5 watts... so you could do a 170 watt array on a spare piece of plywood for $25, if you have some screws and a bit of wire...
You can build the most incredible arrays of LEDs by hacking retail off the shelf bulbs from most any hardware store
This is another person's, 20 9w store bought household bulbs in a 2x4 tent for 22.5w /sq ft. You want to take it up to 40 - 50 watts per square foot to see the method work really...
Canada is getting very interesting as we move toward legalization on October 17. I think all sorts of hidden product may bubble up to the surface. I just came across this which sounds very interesting:
Jamaican Sess
An old favorite here in the GTA, Jamaican Sess has long been a staple of West...
But it's a different kind of winter. I would be going from highs of - 20C, low of -30 C to a high of + 15 C, low of + 5 C.
It's the weeks below -20 C that I want to escape.
Try hacking some common screw in LED bulbs, much lower heat plus better penetration.
I am thinking about a trip to Rome in somewhere between December to March to get a break from the cold. Is that a good time to visit Italy?
Maybe this is part of the reason people are having good success with the super high intensity homebrew LED set ups?
Once you get up to 50-60 watts per square foot...maybe the bugs don't like that while the plants will thrive on it?