lighting issues

i am using a 2 foot 20 watts florescent for right now need cheap light suggestions should i keep my lights on 24/7

How old are your plants? If they are the veg stage the general consensus is to run the lights 18-24hrs per day. Personally I do 24, i think more because I do not feel like buying a new timer for my veg lights. If you can run the lights anywhere in that range you will be fine.

For lights how much cash are you working with? A HID setup is excellent choice but I little higher priced. I use CFL's, they seem to work just fine. If you are still new at this I would probably steer you toward CFL's. They are cheap, safe, and easy to modify your setup depending on what the plants need.

my plants are not even a week old, how much would a nice CFL cost me im not lookin to spend a whole lot

you can get a 42 watt at wallmart for 9 bucks or smaller lights 3 pack of 26 watts for like 8 GL. i use all cfls have a mixture of all sizes seem to be doing good for my first grow but if u got the money an hps or hid will grow better but for first time might wanna invest in a few cfls.

can i use soft white fluorescent light threw my entire grow

im using cfls for the first time and my plants are doing great and i'm budding right now under 2 27k warm white and 2 65k daylights. my crown nuggets ate the size of a large pine cone. lovin it

about how long have you been growing these plants? i dont have long, mine aren't quit a week but almost 2 inches you think ill be able to have buds by Christmas?

You should be fine for some christmas green. Estimate your grow cycle to be around 90 days. For cfl's you want to use 6500k bulbs for the stage your plants are in now. When you induce flower with the 12/12 light cycle you will want to change out the lights with 2700k bulbs.