Im new, looking for some experienced advice

Ok, so I have two plants growing right now. One is a Big Bud strain (not sure the sex yet) and the other is a Top 69 (feminized) The B.B. is about 30 days old now, roughly 10'' tall. It has lots of compact leave development but no sign of bud growth. Also on the B.B. the lower larger leaves are dying, I know that naturally, plants will kill off lower limbs to grow better at the tops, even so, i transplanted it into a larger pot, and added more nutritions. They still are turning a faint yellow though, and when the lights are on for a while, the leaves near the bottom droop down, while the leaves at the top grow towards the light and when theyre off for a while, the bottom leaves spruce up while the tops droop. Whats that all about? As for my T69, it looks very healthy, but its almost a month old and shows no signs of buds yet either. I see pictures of others grows with the same plant showing signs of budding at the 35day mark but not mine.. I have my plants under two sets of lights, 2x 100watt equivalent CFLs (soft) and 2x 120watt CFLs (warm) with reflective material surrounding the entire area, its very bright no shortage of light or lumens. Ill be getting a 150watt HPS this week as well. Am i just impatient or should i be doing something different? Please help a rookie out guys.

The reason the leaves are doing as you described with lights on is they are desperate for light and photosynthesis. You may think you have enough lumens but soft and warm white bulbs will not provide enough of the correct spectrum. those are both in the 2500/3000kelvin mark, while vegging, plants prefer light in the 6500 range (Often called daylight bulbs, look for bulbs rated for SAD) For your plants to be "budding" at 30 days, they would have to be auto's. If yours are auto's, they have probably failed to auto. FYI, while vegging, plants need a min of 3,000 lumens per sq ft of canopy in the 6500kelvin range, Flowering is 5,000 lumens per sq ft min in the 2500 kelvin range. LIghting can be on 24/7 while vegging and 12/12 is preferred for flowering. Anything other than this will deminish your results. Oh, this is FACT, not my opinion though lots of dudes around here do things differently. W

yep, couldnt have put it better myself, Big bud and t69 are not autos so just let them go a bit longer and enjoy the veg stage

just looked at my bulbs packaging and did some more research and my 2-100watt (equivalent) cfls are "daylight compact fluorescent" with 1750 output in lumens each. (3500 lumen) and rated at 5000kelvin. and my 2 - 120watt (equivalent) cfls are "natural light compact fluorescent" and 2100 lumen each. (4200 lumen) rated at 6500kelvin.. its in a 3' x 3' x 4' space currently 27square.

i dont know if that changes anything, but since ive switched my plant into a larger pot, the leaves arent doing it anymore, they have a little yellow near the bottom but its going away since ive increased the nutes. Still no sign of "budding" from the big bud strain, but the t69 is starting a little bit on the top. im still gonna get a 150watt hps soon anyways to help out.
what do you think would be the best light cycle? ive been told 12/12 but theyre still only veggin so i didnt think that was appropriate, currently theyre under 17/7.

And they won't really show any bud growth until you put them into bud

how long do i veg before i put into budding? and is that the 12/12 cycle?
lol damn it.. i need to read a book or something.

I'd veg for at least 35 days or until the plant is about 18 inches tall then switch to 12 12 for flowering.

Yep, there's plenty of information here and all over the net..just gotta read it lol. I would guess that everything you need to know for a few months anyway can be found right here on RIU. Start with the stickies.

thanks dudes. if you read my situation, do you think i need more lighting?
and theres lots of useful info ive found so far so im glad i found this site! :)