few questions first time grower

my plant is about at 12" now but the stem is verrrry little i had to put it on a brace to keep it from falling over is this normal or is there a reason for it?
what kind of soil should i transplant to?
why do i see plants with branches practically mine just goes stright up with 3 sets of leaves?

this grow started 4/16/12 so its a little over a month old tryed using the plant problems forum to find my issues but no luck

thanks for any help ill try and figure out a way to post some pics as long as everyone promises not to laugh

Pics would be a great help. I promise not to laugh....?
Got a fan going in there?

It is more than likely stretched, how far away are your lights? As mentioned above a fan blowing a breeze on it can help strengthen it up over time. Let's see the pics!

plant is a little over 10insmall fan proped up always had it thoughlight is 28 inches off the ground

rocpilefsj said:

It is more than likely stretched, how far away are your lights?

Click to expand...

- what kind of lights, and wattage?

the top of the bulb read k11h reveal reader GE 150w 120v a friend of mine gave me like 4 of em and said they would work until i wanted the plant to bud then i will need new ones i started out with all 4 but it was way too hot so i took them away till the room was about 77-83 degrees which only left one light with the metal cover

any help is appreciated

Incandescent bulbs give off more heat than light, switch to CFLs, plants typically need 5000-8000 lumens for optimal growth. I'm sure the lumen output of your bulbs, but I doubt you're getting anything near that. Lights are also too far away, with anything besides HID lights you want the lights to be pretty close. I know for CFLs you want them to be 1-3 inches away. CFLs are basically the new incandescent. More light, lower wattage. Your temps are fine 75-85F is ok.

For a month old your plants are really small.

i thought so too how many cfl bulbs do i need for the one plant and about how much money is that?

I bought a 6 pack of 26w GE CFLs from amazon for like 12-13 bucks. The rule of thumb is 100 actual watts per plant and 50 per additional plant for CFLs. I can't find anything like that for 6500k, which is what you want for vegging. Keep in mind that lumens are more important than watts. Just because something is 26w doesn't mean it gives enough light. Plants don't care how much energy a bulb uses only how much light it gives off. In you buy the bulbs in store they are going to be more.