How much more light will be beneficial for my girls?

So it's my first grow, and I've got four Big Bud automatics (feminized), growing in 3.5 gallon pots.

They are about 24 days in and coming along real nice. A whole heap (and I mean a lot, more than I can count) of buds have been appearing. These started appearing roughly a week ago.

They're all sharing a 600W HPS light, on an 18/6 light cycle. They have a decent natural ventilation, temperature averages between 20-28 degrees celsius majority of the time, but gets a bit colder some nights down to maybe 16. They are also completely surrounded in reflective sheeting so are getting lots of that quality photosynthesising.

The HPS gives off a lot of heat so I try to keep it at a distance which prevents to much heat stress, but still fairly close (about a foot, maybe a little more if they look stressed). Because of the heat that can sometimes reach about 30 degrees celsius I water them every 3-4 days (maybe 5, depending on weather).

So! My question is (with all my circumstances taken into consideration); would it be beneficial to add in a few more CFL lights around the lower parts of the plants to target and develop all of the lower, and more light neglected buds (as obviously the crown bud is the largest, but I would like to get the other buds to a similar size). They are still developing nicely but I have a feeling they could probably use more light. Or maybe the 600W HPS is more than enough? I am just unsure if there is a limit to the light they can intake, and if more CFL's would just be wasted.

I have also noticed that there are root tips coming out of the bottom of the pot, even though the pots are quite large. I was wondering if there where any major advantages to upgrading them to larger pots because their root base must be pretty impressive already and could probably get better if they had more room.

I will try and get some photo's up if anyone wants to have a peek of the set up and how they're coming along

Thanks

try going 24/0 instead of adding more lights if you want faster growth

1000 watt HPS or MH. Total wattage or more. It's effective coverage you're after. If possible switch to a single 1000 or two 600-watt to finish with not only big buds but big firm buds with a lot of resin. Go big to grow big. Run with the big dogs or stay on the porch.

jesburger said:

try going 24/0 instead of adding more lights if you want faster growth

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His plants are already budding. Try adding more lights.

It's not necessarily faster growth that I'm after, kinda of just a more even spread in the sizes of the buds (as opposed to the big crown, and lots of littler ones I'd like to get the others as much attention as the crown bud).

Also with adding another 600W it wouldn't really be practical as it's hanging from the ceiling. So I was thinking of getting about 4 CFL's on stands and placing them kind of in between all of the plants to get the sides a lot more light and the top 600W light still providing majority for the top.

I've had almost the same experience (but not autos strain) and I acted the same, a couple of cfl next to darker areas and everything got much better. cfl will not increase heat that much, 400 to 600 hps will be too much in my opinion. with cfl you'll be able to put the lights exactly where needed!