Cfl spektrum

What wattage hps bulb do I have to use for 4 plants? Also when do I know when to flower?

you can flower pretty much whenever you want, generally, the longer you veg the more flowers you will get
the cfl/hps 'war' will likely go on forever, but you can flower with cfl's and get good results
now matching a larger wattage HPS with cfl's is going to be tough
much depends on the grow setup, the smaller the setup, the better cfl's will perform relative to smaller HPS wattages

Thanks, I just didn't know if there was a height requirement or age of when you should start flowering. I think I will wait til they are a month old at least. And I think sooner than later I will get a Hps ballast and bulb and I will try it on my next grow.

you may find that a plant that was started from seed may take a bit more time to enter flower as opposed to a clone
some require a bit more maturity, but they just won't flower until they are good and ready
there's a thread title '12/12 from seed' or some such title, grows that start a plant into flower right from sprouting

After all the threads and posts I honestly thought that once you put them to 12/12, they start to flower. I didn't know that it could take awhile, and would have to wait until they are ready? This kinda sucks, my plants are growing a good two inches a day and I'm gonna run out of room.lol what can I do to keep them shorter? Can I top it now, or what else can I do to keep the height down?

2 inches a day is a bit much, sounds like some extra stretching going on, keeps cfl's as close as possible, they will stretch less
again, flower can be started at any time, how long before you see sex signs is generally from 1-3 weeks
for height control, many choices, topping is one choice, LST is another, super cropping is yet another

I know that two inches a day seems like alot, and it is. I will post pictures to show you that the plants are very bushy/thick, and I've had the lights very close through out the entire grow. I bet after talking about the height problems people think that my plants are tall and skinny when in actuality my plants are the complete oposite. I'm very surprised in how well cfl's work for vegging. I will post some pictures soon.

strangely enough, i've just had the same situation, bushy plant(it was LST'd) stretching quickly
found out why today, it's a male
male plants can throw on some height very quickly
but yeah, it's possible to see 2 inches a day with the right strain
and i agree that cfl's can be excellent for vegging

I know I have a 50% chance of them being male, but I guess we will find out in a couple more weeks. I ran out of room in my grow box so I threw a couple plants outside, and those plants are very stretched out compared to the cfl lights.