CFL closet grow assistance

[messejesse]

Hello everybody, I recently decided I would try a little experiment and try to grow a little plant with a bag of seeds I had acquired a few months ago. I was initially surprised to see that my seed germinated within a few days. I did hastily did as much research as I could as i anticipated the seed to sprout. I had initially started it growing in a windowsill underneath a little plastic "greenhouse" from the local dollar store. I wasn't really planning on taking it seriously more as just a little experiment to see how weed plants react compared to other plants. As I did more research I got more serious with what I was doing and decided that even if the plant A.) dies or B.) ends up male it would be a great opportunity to learn for future years to come.

with my limited income and ability to acquire adequate supplies i decided I would jsut try my luck with the strongest CFL light I could get from the hardware store, a little fan I have had for the last few years and just let it go from there.

My current set up right now is one 40 watt CFL, I have a second light available to use once I get another fixture but am just running with the one for now. As for care of the plant i have been sticking my finger into the soil to check if its moist just like any other time you water a plant, but have been only watering it when it gets close to being dry, usually ends up being every 2-3 days I find. For light time I have been going 24 hours on since it has been moved underneath the light (it has been about a week and a half to 2 weeks) and I have already noticed a bit of difference in the plant, it seems to be growing a bit easier and healthier. I guess what I have come here for is to just seek a little bit of guidance, and get some constructive critisicm on what I am doing because like I said I have never tried to do this before and am doing this more as an experiment so I am open to anything you have to say!

Thanks,
messejesse

 

[messejesse]

Just wanted to add a few close up photos of the plant quality may not be the best all I have is my phone

 

[Rodrigo]

Seems to be growing well.
The first thing I noticed was the wattage of your light, you mentioned 40w, however this is not the output but rather how much energy the bulb consumes/uses, my guess is that you're getting 150-200w output, which is low, but still usable.
Since you appear to be on a very limited budget, try maximizing what you already have. You can use aluminum foil as a reflective material and cover the inside of the space you're using, the sooner you get more light in there the better.
Keep the light very close (about 1") to the top of the plant, this will slow its vertical growth so you'll get more bud sites eventually. You're gonna have to keep it under an 18/6 schedule, not 24/7 for longer than usual (because of the amount of light you're using)
Don't wait until the soil is dry, water anyway every other day. If you allow the soil to get too dry the plant uses too much energy expanding the roots looking for water instead of using the energy to grow taller/stronger/better/faster.
Try using some sort of mild nutrient when watering.

I think that's all I got for now, hope it helps.

Good luck and happy growing!