With my luck my girls just sprouted this morning, and my ballast goes at the same time. I put 3 14 watt cfl's in there for the mean time. I just ordered a 400W digital ballast, with agrosun bulbs(HPS and MH). Will my plants survive the week its going to take for my parts to come in.
Just make sure to keep those cfl's as close as you can without burning them, this will minimize stretch. Bigger cfl's 23watt or bigger wouldn't hurt either.
As long as your babies are getting more than 16 hours of light per day they'll remain in Veg. You'll notice growth will be a little slower with the CFL's because they don't compare to the MH but once your new setup comes in you'll be right back on track. It won't harm them at all. Just like previous poster mentioned, just try to move the CFL's as close as possible to reduce stretching from the weaker light. Good luck and heavy yields!
Buying bigger cfl's isnt a option im done spending money on this grow. I have them as close as possible, i would show you a picture however it is nighttime for them.
You don't need bigger CFL's. This is just temporarily keeping them alive and in veg until you yet your HID. No need to spend any more money, especially on bullshit CFL's, they're weak and won't produce shit. Stick to the HIDs.