if I can't switch lights during the grow I can't participate. My flowering spaces are 90% full at all times. no way to mix in a seedling amongst the rest of the plants without adding a light for the juvenile period.I dunno where you get that a seedling can't survive under 200 watts led. Ive started seedlings under more thana 200 watts of led. Its not light that will kill them its heat and potential to bleach them. Its fairly easy to fix by just raising the lights height, shouldnt be that close to plants to start seedling anyway. Or dimm them if able.
It's a rule because there is no vegging allowed, meaning so you can use a blue spectrum veg light and switch it under a more suitable flowering red spectrum. You need to do it under one, usually being flowering light since its 12/12 from seed.
Its also a rule so that someone cant use say a 300 watt hid and then switch over to 600 or 1000 watt hps. To keep playing field as level as possible by everyone having to use whatever lights they start with all the way through, thats what makes up part of the challenge. Without leveling playing completely by forcing everyone use same exact light/brand/watts etc. Which would be extremely hard to do not to mention no one would compete if they had to go out buy lights specially for this comp.
Sure there are other reasons as well, maybe frozen will chime in as well. Its always been a rule.
Have fun y'all, but I'll bow out now.