Newbie with questions on his setup

i've used 5500k with good results
5000k is down a bit from this, the sun's kelvin is around 5700k(that's at noon at some location)
i've seen some growers that say they were able to veg with 2700k cfl's, and they worked fine
i'm still learning, so the more opinions the better

Okay, started the 12 hour cycle a few days ain, not sure, but i put in in a previous post. But my plant is growing leaves at all the places where the branches meet the main stem instead of buds. Is this normal? If so, when will it start budding?

that's normal, this is where the buds form, on these branches
going to take a week or to to see the sex signs, fine hairs for females, big balls for males
so we'll hope for the best, going to be a little while yet to see what you've got

okay, here's the update. 12 days in, new photos... but no new growth except for these freakin leaves. it's all leaves where the buds should be. but here's some pics, do they at least look like they have recovered?

bah.. i started reading but ur post are so damn long.. Might get more responses if you shorten it up and get to the point faster.. Reading so much kills my high lol.

sometimes it takes up to two weeks maybe even three just to show pistils. once you see pistils she will start to show buds all over this place. i wouldnt worry now, as long as you dont see balls its all good. females generally take longer to show their sex also

they look good to me, don't get all nervous about the leaves
leaves are the 'power plants' that provide the energy for bud growth
it's tough to make a call from the pics, but to me, looks on the femme side, no balls showing as prior poster mentioned is a very good thing

Its all good, 3 to 1, removed the lone male today, so sittin pretty good i guess... I was only expecting one, 3 makes it a little crammed in there, but they seem to be doing fine. What a christmas gift. 5 original sprouts, 4 survived to transplant, 3 females budding, 2 months til harvest, and a very happy stoner with his trees, Haha! the 5 sprouts of crystal-mas. okay ya, that's kinda dumb, but whatever. it's working out well... thanks to all that have helped... will keep posting...

okay, here's another question. I've done some research before asking this, and everywhere i look seems to say something different. Should I trim the leaves back to focus energy on bud production? Each of the 3 plants has about 10 buds on them, and i intend on keeping it this way, meaning i don't want just one main top cola. But because of the close proximity of the plants, the leaves of the bigger plants are starting to cover the smaller one. Should i trim SOME of the leaves back, or just half of each finger, or leave it be? I'm completely ignorant on this one.

trimming leaves is bad, if you need to make some space, tie them back with some string
i haven't ever trimmed, but all the grows where they did seemed to regret it

Okay, well thanks. But unfortunately that advice won't be necessary... I got good news and bad. The bad... I was wrong. Not 3 females. I've let these 2 males sit in there for days cuz i couldn't see cuz of the leaves i wanted to trim. So that really sucks. I covered each with a bag before cutting them out. The balls weren't open, so hopefully i got to it in time. I really don't think they were showing before today, cuz i looked pretty thoroughly. And to think, i almost didn't check on them today... Okay, now the good news... I re-arranged the lights yesterday, and today, the one ACTUAL female had leaves pointed upwards! Instead of all slouchy and droopy. And because of the removal of the other 2 plants, that's 200+W and 80000+ lumens per square meter, absorbed by one plant, and it makes it easier to position it under the light. I said earlier i was expecting one, and as a newbie, i'm kinda glad, this makes things a lot more simple, and makes it so i can focus on this one plant. So in the end, the bad news KINDA is good news, in an ironic way. I'd rather have half an ounce of chronic than half a pound of crap. But i have a question... How long will it take before i know if those males pollenated my female, and what should i be looking for. Cuz i'll seriously drop the whole grow and clone this female out if it ends up she was pollenated. Good weed here is hard to come by, and i don't smoke unless its good. And if she's pollenated, will cloning her still produce all females?

well, condolences and congratulations at the same time
may be a while before you know, the bag idea was good
you can take your crop to harvest with the seeds(maybe), that is still worth while, just not as nice as seedless
or you can set the girl back to revegging, which is a bit of a risk
if it's bagseed, i think i remember that it is, there is a chance of hermie from revegging
but even the 'store bought' seed has that issue, you're never completely safe
but you can do cuttings and start cloning too, really just a reveg on smaller scale, just turn your light schedule back to 18/6(or 24)
best of luck either way

okay. i wish i could send you some of this when its done grow one, haha. you've been so helpful thru all of this. got another issue. It kinda stems from the leaf problem i had before. They never fully recovered. But leaves were droopy, thought i was underwatering, so i gave it some significant water, and it turns out i was wrong... problem may have been overwatering, then i drowned her... So i haven't watered in 3 days, but the leaves are still droopy, and some of them have spots of yellow on them. See the pics. Also, i'm not sure what burnt leaves look like, i think the yellow spots may be burnt, but not sure. Need some help tho, cuz the top of the soil is dry as dirt, literally. So i'm unsure of whether or not to water her today or tomorrow. these pics were taken yesterday. Any advice as to what it could be would be greatly appreciated. First set of pics are the good ones... second set are the problem pics.

And the pictures of the problems... droopy, yellow leaves...

nice bud pics, you should get a decent result
now your troubles, you're right, there's some issue with your fan leaves
it does sound like you over watered, it's one of those deadly temptations
eventually you need to water, best way to tell is by weight of pot, takes practice
nute burn is usually at the tips, has a pretty classic look with what's called 'the claw'
doesn't look like nute burn, try posting a thread over on plant problems, many a miracle has been worked there

I've used 4 26watt CFL's before with good results. 2 2700k and 2 5500k. I had two plants in a 10 gallon bubble system in the corner of my bathroom. I ended up with about 1/2 oz per plant of dry bud all said and done. The funniest shit was, the guy at my local Hydro shop told me I would only end up with a lolly pop for a bud, and it would be a wast of time. Boy did I prove him wrong.. And I bet you do the same or even better ( that was my first grow ever )LOL Good luck!!