Is there any difference in bulbs purchased from a big box store (Lowes, Walmart etc) and those sold by Hydro Stores etc if the specs match up? It appears that Walmart in Canada sells decent CFL's for $15... ?
IMO Walmarts cfls are just as good as any other cfls. Im using some now. Only thing about Walmart and hardware stores is that they only sell small to medium size cfls. People use grow shops to get larger cfls mostly.
walmart doesn't sell crappy CFLs, it's just that CFLs do a crappy job in comparison to HID lighting
any setup small enough to require CFL lighting (and coincidently also make full use of the CFL because no light is being wasted in such a small space) is not going to produce enough bud to be worth the effort
just my two cents, since it's already been pointed out that you won't go too wrong with walmart CFLs
walmart doesn't sell crappy CFLs, it's just that CFLs do a crappy job in comparison to HID lighting
any setup small enough to require CFL lighting (and coincidently also make full use of the CFL because no light is being wasted in such a small space) is not going to produce enough bud to be worth the effort
just my two cents, since it's already been pointed out that you won't go too wrong with walmart CFLs
My 250w HPS puts out less heat then my 265 watts in cfl's. I grew one decent plant with 265 watts, but with 250 watts hps I can get 2-3 good plants.
I'm not putting down cfl's at all. That's just what I learned lately.