I was wondering if this would be ok? Or is there any possibility of them getting hot and bursting? Ive heard bad things about whats inside a CFL. These are all 26w ea. There touching ea other.
There is always a possibility of bursting, but it's more likely from physical or temperature shock. They are designed to withstand much higher temperatures than what you might get with this configuration. But you definitely don't want to use plants that have mercury and other nasty stuff sprayed on them from a bulb.
I wouldn't recommend having the bulbs touch, but if they are all lit at once, there shouldn't be much problem with temperature differences.
There is a good point about the desire to spread out CFL bulbs to get the best light transfer and coverage, since CFLs are diffuse and produce light asymmetrically.
Anyway, it's not as efficient as it could be, but the design should be fine.