I'm an expat who's recently moved to Argentina after spending a decade in Peru and before that a lot of time in Mexico/C. America. Pacific N.W. winters and their grey skies got to me.
I'm happy to see that there are grow stores here and unlike the rules for medicinal in Peru where you can possess, here you can actually legally cultivate as well. So I'm planning on getting back into it after 10 years of not growing anything but houseplants. Last grow in '11, leds weren't any kind of serious option for a medium to large sized grow. We used 1000w HPS in converted garages and warehouses, and would get in an outdoor crop every year. I'm now going to be confined to using only part of a bedroom, but since it's just for personal use and making tinctures, salves, and edibles for my wife (she's got some health issues) I'm okay with that. I was originally thinking of sticking a 600w HPS in a 1.5m² tent for a 1.2m² grow (roughly a 4x4 grow in a 5x5 tent), but once I got past the blurple offerings and saw how far leds have come I decided to ditch HIDs.
As expected, things are a bit different here. One of the biggest differences is the government's encouragement to buy "Industria Argentina" by placing 50% duties on imports. Throw in corruption and the usual bureaucracy and incompetence and it's entirely possible anything purchased from abroad is subject to be held for ransom (bribes on top of the duties) or never make it to where you live. Making it kind of challenging as far as purchasing lights, as I'm not entirely satisfied with the offerings, or figure I could do better DIY for half the cost of what options are decent. Not exactly thrilled with the source material for a DIY build either. I can envision coming up with some creative solutions, or borrowing from the creativity of others who've already figured it out or are in a similar situation. I'll be asking about my options and showing the lights that are available either as strips, cobs, or fully built for opinions from the more experienced and better educated and just to share what's going on in this corner of the world.
I've spent a week or so diving into the subject and reading articles/forum posts here and elsewhere. IMHO, this is one of the cooler spots on the internet on the subject. Great information and reviews. You guys rock.
