At the equator, the sun’s intensity gives us a Photosynthetic Photon Flux (PPF) of 2000 µmol/m 2 /sec of light, which is roughly equivalent to 10,200 foot candles or 108,000 lux.
IMHO, the limiting factor, for indoor gardening, especially in a tent, is fresh air exchange. Outside, the PPM of Co2 aint that high vs supplementation, indoors of 1000+ PPM. Outside is what?? 420 PPM?
Thing is, outside, there is a never ending, constant Fresh Air/Oxygen/CO2 exchange, of which the plants will never be able to utilize all of it. Indoors, the air exchange is really hard to equal outside conditions, but is simple, to have huge amounts of PPF available, because of the light tech. Either LED, or HID.
I also agree, some strains may not do well, with high amounts of PPF. But, at the same time, they may do well with higher amounts of UVA/B supplementation, as many broad leaf afghanis may not be from the Equator, but they are mostly from higher altitude, which I believe there is a 10% increase in UVA/B, for every 1000ft in altitude.
Normal UVA/B reading that the weather forecasts give, have a rating of 1-10. At 20,000ft altitude, in Ecuador, a UVA reading was given a 42-43 rating!!! Higher than on Mars!!! Of course nothing grows there, but goes to show you, higher altitudes, have a huge influence on UVA/B. I also believe. some plants may also not do well with higher UVA/B either. If the genes didnt originate from areas with high UVA/B. And, if one uses hybrids, such as possibly one parent not having a need for high PPF, and the other loving high light levels. Then, you will have some plants that thrive on lower light conditions, and others, one the other end of the scale, and others in the middle. So in a pack of seeds, you may burn some plats up with high PPF, and others may not like lower PPF. And those in the middle. Including males of course.
I do believe narrow leaf, long flowering varieties-12-25 weeks, do much better under really high light levels.
I also start seedlings under high light levels. Ive used 1000w HID, since 1977, when they first came out, to start seeds. I figure, Outside, they get blasted, from day one, so it just makes sense, to me, to do the same, inside. I also like grow temps, in the mid 80s. 83f-87f.
To me, its as simple as, if one has really high amounts of light, one must also have really high amounts of fresh air exchange. They go hand in hand, and there is no compromise.