I'm finding when my plants are sprouting they get about an inch high then just decide to stop and open up. Then really don't get much taller I have a plant about a month old that is only 5-6"'s and my new ones are maybe an inch should I have my cfl's farther away at this stage until they get a bit of a stem on them? Here's how they look now
Those plants are a month old?! There's something seriously wrong bro, they should be way bigger at that age. What soil are you using?
So how far away are your lights? Cfls should be 1-3 inches or its really not doing much. You also need 100w real power not rated.
They said they had a plant that was a month old at 5-6 inches. Those aren't five or six tall so I'm guessing those aren't the one they were talking about. That being said that does seem a little slow. I haven't done a soil grow in years though, so I can't really comment. The answer to how close ANY light should be is as close as you can get without burning them. This is only true to an extent though. In the end you are balancing a few factors to get the best possible result. Those factors are heat, coverage, intensity, and efficiency. To answer you question more directly with CFLs to depends on wattage a 35w 2-3 inches 65w 4-5 inches 100w 6-10 inches worked for me with no burns. Seedling like warm humid environments so a little extra heat is good. Emphasis on little.
dont ever make indoor plants stretch intentionally, its always counter-productive. I think your plants would grow better if you just watered less frequently.
I keep the light within 1 - 3 inches away I'm using a Scott's soil And the ones in the pictures are my new sprouts that are about a week old This is my month old I had another guy tell me that there was a ph problem witch there was so now I'm balancing my ph out to a 5.8 - 6 I raised the lights earlier today to about 6" trying to get them to stretch I'm really stumped with this whole thing