I'm not sure how you plan on those clones, but NO, you cannot just stick them in soil. You'll have to use some sort of rooting hormone.

As for lighting, I've heard to shoot for 5000 lumens per square foot or more. for three plants, most people will say you want at least 15,000 lumens. I personally have a total of about 12,000 on four plants right now and they are doing great... then again I'm growing them smaller (2 feet or so) for several reasons.

I also successfully grew two plants under ONE crappy cfl last winter. (they were small, and the yield was laughable, but IT WORKED. and the plants were pretty healthy.

Play around with your equipment, definitely invest in some really good reflective material (space blankets work great) but as a general rule with cfl's: more is always better.

I'm still a newbie at this too, so i can tell you you'll find yourself freaking out about every little thing that happens to your plants. What Ive figured out is that relaxing and taking it easy is the best way to go. If your plants start to look distressed, don't start flooding it with nutes and water. Oh and you'll probably over water... it's soooo easy to do, so just take it easy on watering too.

That's all I've got for now, good luck on your first grow... It probably wont be your last. It's really really fun. :jointsmile: