Alright brotha let me see what i can do for yah bmh.
First off what type of soil growing medium are you using. it looks like its a heavy coco with a little perlite but thats just me guessing from the pics. If this is true you might want to think about making your next transplant a little bit different soil(but if you think from your own personal use that its good for you than go right ahead) But if youd like help understanding what it is im trying to tell you than let me know and i can help you with that...its just that down the road you might run into problems with the coco or just a soil that doesnt drain that well. The coco likes to keep salt on your roots and flushing is a must and more often than normal.
Second you said you wanted them to grow up tall because you dont have outward space. If this is true and you are going to be using the cfl on the sides you could trim the sides and bottom leaves so it concentrates its growth upward and to the main cola. I would recomend just punning off leaves that aren't getting light. Ive seen lots of guys do what you do and the plants tend to keep themselves in a sea of green state to maxamize their own space.
Third you said that you would be using cfl through this process and getting more as it goes into flower. You might want to look into T5 they are similar to aquarium lighting and they produce almost as much light as hps and use the same amount of wattage as the long tubes. Problem with this is it could get more pricey and if this is just a see if i can do it for a minumum amount than go for it with the tubes, but your buds aren't going to be that great. You have some time to think about this because your plants have a little ways to go before flowering stage.
Fourth you wanted to know when to flower. This is all up to you i recomend at about 8 to 9 inch the plant might start to show signs of sex and it is at this point you will want to flower( usually about 4-5 weeks from planting if you are lucky) sometimes its about 12 inch but dont let it go much further than that or you will be regretting it later with your space issues.
All and all they look good so far, enough light to get them through the veg stage, but if I were you (because i once was) id be looking into the bbd(bigger better deal). When i had a space that size i went out and got a 150 hps and still used like 4 28watt cfl with the daylight (1800)lumens a peice and the 150 puttin out 16,000 lumens. It did the trick and wasnt hefty on the ol bill.
Let me know peace!!!
rocweiler thanks for the info i'll read up on that method soon.
milehighclub: thanks alot for the help man. thats alot of quality input. i really do think im going to stick with the cfl's..money limitation is a big thing for me and i wont be able to spend more than another 100 bucks or so on this whole operation.
as for the soil thanks but im quite confident im using the perfect soil. bought this "tropical soil" with humus and stuff from the grocery store..i think the plants love it
and yeah im think im going to trim lots of the lower leaves/leaves that add to the "bushiness", but still run cfls down the length as well. i think, judging by my space, it'd be good to have plants that are mostly cola.
also, im about to post new pics from today. in a couple of the pics you can see little leaves growing out from the stem just above the primary leaves/other leaves. i found that funny cuz i really dont see the point in leaves growing there..they wont get like any light. any comments about these little guys that are starting to sprout?
