a little confused!!

ok so im growing under 2 18 watt bulbs and i have a fan on it constantly
im doing 24 hours light on and 2 hours lights off.
and i put the lights super close but not touching
i water it when its dry
the plant is just about 4 inches right now
and is looking pretty healthy
i am having some concerns tho- seems like its not getting any taller just bushyer?
- and it seems as if all the growth is cramped at the top? the leaves are starting to twist a little because they are so close
there are these two yelowish hairs at the top too.. im not sure if those are baby leaves? any advice would be greatly apprieciated.
oh and when should i start flowering? or whats the minumum?
i dont really care about the yield i get this is just for practice
- and another thing- the top set of leaves have 7 if you look close
i thought it was suppost to have 5? all the other leaves have 5




pic# 1 - about a week ago
pic#2 - now
pic#3- baby leaves or hairs?
pic#4- top of the plant growth

your plants looks good, the "hairs" on top are just tiny leaves there will soon be alot of these growths "colas". the biggest will be the one on top. as for the leaves. it starts off as 1 leaf, 3 leaves, 5 leaves, 7 leaves, 9, leaves and ive even seen some big leaves with 11. And the bushier the better. small bushy plants just means its not having to strech for light and instead would rather use that energy for creating more veg. which in the long run will hopefully yeild more bud. Your doing great and doesnt look like any problems right now thou i would look into better lighting. 2 18 watt bulbs will soon ( few weeks) be very inadequate. Good luck and gods speed!!

thanks for your advice (:

now as for topping and pruning?
how should i know when to do this?
i know alot of people top their plants
just wondering if i should or not?
and anyone think the pot is too small?
im thinkin maybe thats why its not getting taller.
idk maybe im impatient
lol

and flowering?! i want to know if i can do this with like 5 or 6 inches?

Yes you can switch to 12/12 lighting now to induce flowering but it might not flower for a little while longer, just stretch. The plants generally flower when they are genetically programmed to do so (maturity), & you will see preflowers when they are mature. These will be little pods where the stem has the leaves/branches growing out & the female flowers will have little white or cream hairs coming out of these pods.

You want to have at least two sets of fully extended leaves and a growing top (that will be cut) before you top. If your plant is getting bushy there's no real need to top, that's mainly to encourage the branches to grow and to keep the plant shorter by delaying growth.

Yes the pot is getting too small for your plant, but no it's not why it's short. Genetics and lighting are the reason, like canni13is said it's nice and short because the lights are close. You want the plant to be short right now because it allows you to use less lights & also when you induce flowering it will stretch a bunch so you're saving space by starting with a compact plant.

You're off to a good start girl, keep it up! And keep asking questions if you're unsure of anything.

Oh, & I've had plants with up to 13 fingers on the leaves. They start with 1, then 3, maybe a couple 5's after that, then 7's (should be mature once these are fully out) and so on until you flower. It seems like when flowered the number goes in reverse.