Timer Problem..?

Okay, so heres my problem.. I want to flower my plant, Its 37days old, about 5 1/2 in tall and im trying to keep this grow kinda small cause of limited space.. I'm using cfls.. Anyways, I set my timer to go on at 6:30PM and off at 6:30AM but when i turned on my power and set the timer to 'Auto' the lights turned on, and obviously its not working..
I'm not understanding this.
It makes absolutely no sense..
I doubt anyone will be able to help me with this, but I need to post my problem anyways

if its auto, and it's on. it will work. leave it on auto, and leave it alone and see what happens.

Alright, Guess I'll try it. The only reason I'm skeptical is I have had my lights on for the last 14 hours or so, guess they'll run till the light shuts off..? Heh.
Thanks.

Good luck on timer problem. how many sets of leaves does ur plant have?