Quote Originally Posted by Prodaytrader
Just a clarification, What I meant by not "touching the leaves" is whether or not to trim them. The question I posed on another thread was whether or not I should trim back the middle plant to allow the light to reach the one on the far left. The picture doesn't fully show the far left plant and the fact that its nearly half the size of the middle one and right one. I was in a rather lively debate, between those that trim and those that don't, and it left me more confused. Long story short it was suggested that I should not trim or harm the leaves in any way and should instead use supplemental lighting. Given my space, I think T5's hanging in a vertical fashion would work best. Which T5 to use is more the issue.

Are all T5 light's created equal? I know the wattage varies depending on the length, but after that, are all the option available, pretty much the same? Do they all put out the same lummens, use the same wattage and so on? Do you think 1 or 2 lights is all I would need or should I be looking at a 8 or 12 bulb systems? I was thinking a couple of 24" T5's with 2 bulbs each would be all I need. I could hang one on the left side and another on the ride side. Maybe one more on the back wall. Would that be enough or should I think about lining the inside of my grow room with vertical T5's? I could easily wrap dozens of 24" T5's around the space but is that overkill? Would I be better off with CFL's?
i bend mine out of the way unless it's covering up alot of the plant.i'll cut a couple here and there to bring in alil more light to the bottom.acouple of fans won't hurt anything.think of this if your plant was out in the wild do you think it keeps all it's leaves through it's whole cycle?do you think that if a few were eaten off by the wildlife that the plant would be doomed?

if you don't need to cut then don't but if it's covering up alot of the other leaves then it would be ok.don't butcher the plant but acouple won't hurt.