Quote Originally Posted by psteve
Once again, I will step in here and clear up a couple misconceptions.
Misconception #1 "If you use fluorescents for flower, you must use the expensive 'red' grow bulbs from the hydro store"...
Bullshit. You can grow just as well using compact fluorescent bulbs from MallWart or Home DePot.
OK, OK, you are technically right. When yield is concerned, you can get whatever yield you want (to the plant's capability) on whatever light you want, provided you use enough of them. You would need a shitload of the cheapo bulbs to equal the yield of a couple of the expensive bulbs. As far as total cost after considering electricity for both the bulbs and the ventilation required for each, I don't know for sure which is better, but I have to assume it would be the one with the fewer bulbs.

Is watts watts? Does 400 watts of the good bulbs equal 400 watts of the cheapo ones? Not sure, but I think the good ones are geared to flowering and have more of the proper light spectrums.

Not sure, not sure. I'm an HID guy, especially for flowering.