I am definitely a beginner when it comes to growing and this is actually my first grow.... I have been working indoors with 3 of the long tube grow lights that I picked up at the store...using some regular old soil, and watering with some superthrive that I have been putting in the water.

Okay now to my point... I had started these lil bastards way back in about march/april and we're into November now and these guys are taking forever to bud. I know I'm not using any advanced techniques based on the fact that I'm just doing it in a small amount of room. Anyone have any ideas???

Edit: Also, another thing to add would be that I am currently using 12/12 lighting as well

if your using long tube lights do you mean those regular tube fluorescents like they have in schools and offices? that may be alright for vegging, but it won't work out too well during flowering stage. I'm pretty new to this as well but i'm pretty sure thats your problem, get a few hundred watt hps they should start flowering

I don't knowwhat you mean by the schools and offices thing but they are long florescents that I picked up and wal mart I got like 3 of em... I'm kind of working in limited space and I am a beginner so I'm not really sure which lights I would be able to buy without causing a fire hazard or take up too much room.

Welcome to the site! It has a lot of friendly and helpful people that visit often. I usually pick up a tip or bit of useful information daily.

Did you have a chance to look through the FAQs?
http://www.rollitup.org/view.php?pg=faq

They are worth a look cause they will:
1) Answer your questions
2) Make you more knowledgeable about growing which could save you time, money, aggravation, plant trouble, etc...
3) It will answer questions you didn't even know to ask!

yeah, definitely check out the faq that will answer a lot of questions, but when I say office and school lights i mean the long thick tube lights, I think they range from 2' and up. They are poor for lighting. Here is what the grow bible says about the lights I am referring to:

"Flourescent Tube Lights
These lights are the long, tube-shaped, lights commonly used in industrial and commercial buildings. They come in a variety of lengths and sizes but 2 to 10 foot-long bulbs are most common. They also range from between 10 and 300 watts. These lights are okay for growing but they provide a low light intensity and are difficult to set up properly. they are also not the best light spectrum the growth of cannabis plants because, like domestic lights, fluorescent tubes have poor CRI ratings."

if you are really worried about a fire hazard, maybe try the compact fluorescent lights (CFLs). I am on my first grow and so far have only used a High Pressure Sodium lamp (HPS) but I am not too worried about anything dangerous happening. As long as you take care of it and use it properly you should be ok. I would recommend one of those if you can.

Lights like the 4 foot shop lights I am assuming.Those wont be enough really to flower.You might get some hairs and tiny little buds starting but not enough to smoke. The issue you have is this.Not enough light,no food or nutes so they are starving and slowing down to conserve food and energy and if you use crap dirt you get well crap plants.Sorry if its coming across bad but just trying to help.You ll wanna prepare to grow before you try next time. If they are female pull some clones and get ready for a new round. You can get a simple 400 watt digital switcahble light for $99 at Maryland Hydroponics sometimes they are out of stock but they always have 600 watter for $119.These work awesome are reasonable and dont add much to an electric bill maybe 30 a month when running a 600 watter 24/7.

So apparently I am using the crappy lights, and no I'm not taking anything personally I really appreciate the help. My thing is that like I said before, I am a first timer just trying to get some homegrown smoke. Do you think that I could possibly get buds by using these lights? I got 3 of them and I am using soem timers to give them 12/12...they do have the little hairs and looks like a little bit of buds are coming.

My main problem when trying to figure out if I should upgrade to better lights is that #1 I don't want to spend lots of money because I only work part time and go to college. I am working in limited space (definitely not an official grow room or anything like that) in my bedroom. The parents know about the plants so it's not an issue of trying to keep it a secret. With that said, can I still get some buds using hte system I have right now? If not would anyone suggest some lights etc that would be good for my situation? I have saved soem high quality seeds from some haze and some dro for my next round.

Thanks for the help, it is definitely appreciated. I am trying to learn little by little until someday I can produce some high quality stuff . But my question is, the light you are suggesting for $99-$119 do you think that this would be enough for a couple plants or would I have ot buy a couple of the lights you suggested. Sorry if I am giving you a headache with all the questions lol I hope someone can reply to this

Those lights you have wont be worth it it will cost you more to run them thenit would to just go buy a quarter from someone. The lights I suggested the 400 and the 600 watter you can do easy 10-12 under the 400 watter and can squeeze 18 under a 600 pretty easy.

How much space do they need though? I'm not familiar with what they look like or how big they are and I am doing it in a relatively small area.