Slow seedling growth

So this is my first time growing from seed, last year I had a store bought clone outside for about two months before my dog ate it. So this year I figured I'd start over and grow indoors. I germinated in a cup of water and kinda forgot about them for a few days and a few of the seeds had grown massive roots, like four inches long, and sank the bottom of the cup. So I planted 15 seeds in three pots, and had them under a 14w cfl but they started stretching really bad after about a week and a half, they only had two small leaves but super long stems so I transplanted them in bigger pots so I could bury them most of the way and put them in a 20 gallon tote under the cfl. They started to grow wider but still kinda slowly so I switched them to two 23w cfls, 5700k and they pretty much stopped growing at that point. Temp is between 78 and 82 and I've been watering once every 5 or 6 days and they're about 3 weeks old now from when I originally planted them, and none of them have grown their second set of leaves, a couple of them were yellowing and drooping hardcore so I watered with a super low dose of superthrive and brought the bulb up to try and encourage some vertical growth. My seedlings look like they should have in a week and it's been near a month I don't have a PH meter but I'm using reliable soil maybe I stunted their growth when I transplanted and reburied them?

 

It's organic soil, my family has used it for pot for years so I don't think it's PH unless it's my water, I'll be getting a meter and some new lights in a few weeks will they survive until then? And does anyone have any suggestions on LED lights for around $100? I was looking at MarsHydro 300w but like I've said I've never grown indoor before thanks for the input guys.

 

Here's some pics of what I'm talking about, I know I shouldn't have buried multiple in one pot but because they were so long I didn't have any small containers I could use. First one is a seedling that popped really late, second one is the worst it looks really yellow and sad, I tried moving the bulb away from it cause I thought it was light burn but it's still drooping. I was gonna water later today if they feel light cause the top soil looks dry.

 

So upon further examination I noticed bark chips in the soil, so I think it's too hot. I'll get a ph meter ASAP and check it out but I'm just hoping they live long enough for me to transplant them into new soil when I can afford it. Luckily I live in an area where clones are cheap and abundant and it's still really early in the season in case these die I'm not at a big loss. I hate starting from seed this is the third and only successful attempt at germinating I've had and of course I put them in acidic soil lol I'm surprised they were so stretchy in the beginning, my first transplant a few of them were almost root bound in the smaller pots I had, and I know that pot has been grown in this soil before, but last year I remember seeing perlite in it and no bark chips, so I think someone may have added foreign soil into it at some point.

 

Update! Just in case I'm not yelling to the wind lol, I got new organic soil and transplanted each baby into it's own home, and I should be getting an LED within the week to supplement more light, it's been about four days since transplant and they've really taken to it. The previous soil was definitely a little too hot and I think they were crowded because when I transplanted a few of them had really nice roots but they were tangled in each other. Since the transplant they've stopped drooping and turned a lot greener so I think they're happy in the new soil. Still small for their age but I think once I get a new light they should sprout up. If they do well I might start a grow journal

 

Pics of the new setup. Should they be bigger for how old they are?

 

Is this yellowing normal for recently topping? It started about two days after I topped and has progressively gotten worse, gave her some nutes today but none of the other plants are yellowing like that so I thought maybe it's because I topped. I'm growing in Black Gold natural organic

 

definitely a nute deficiency, here's some pics one day after feeding

 

Alright so here's an update, I'm running out of room in my grow closet cause these plants won't stop growing. All of the large plants are confirmed females, and all but the one in the big pot are showing signs of root bound. I just switched the light cycle back to veg, I'll probably do 18/6 so I don't shock them with the switch. I can't stick any of them outside because of the cold weather, and I can't fit any bigger pots in my grow closet at the moment. I suppose I could kill off the small plants but that would still only give me enough room to transplant one plant. There's about four that needed to be transplanted a week ago. Hopefully they'll hold out they've been pretty tough ladies so far. Whatever I do I'll probably start a grow journal soon since that's pretty much what I've done here anyway.

 

so I dont know if anyone is paying attention to this thread, but I just want to point out the uselessness of CFL's. One month after putting in an LED that cost me $100 on Amazon, my plants have exploded. I started a new batch of seeds and they grew exponentially faster and healthier. CFL's are useless for growing weed, unless maybe like a T5 or T8 for seedlings or clones, but I can't speak for that. I know some people have had mediocre results with CFL but it seems to me like you're going to need to buy at least 6 bulbs per plant, plus splitters, not to mention a power strip for all those plugs, they're a fucking fire hazard at that i had a couple bulbs short circuit and smell like smoke, and in the end you spend the same amount growing one plant with a fuckload of normal light bulbs as you would growing four plants with a half decent LED.

 

Hey Buzzer thanks! I wasn't bashing on any grower that uses CFLs, hell more power too them if they can manage to get a good harvest with those little things haha I definitely couldn't even get close. I've actually had to move my plants outside because I've run out of room in my closet so I put them outside in the daytime and bring them in at night, my question is will they start to flower under a regular ceiling bulb? Like can I keep them in veg even if they aren't getting enough light to grow at those hours because they're used to a 24 he light cycle so the small plants I stuck outside instead of culling started flowering under 13.5 hers of sunlight. I started flowering the one in the front left, (Her name is Judy) so I can put at least one other plant in there with her while the lights are on in the box I'm just worried I started to early and have to worry about revegging all my big ladies in like a month.

 

I was foolishly thinking that strains other than autoflower needed at least 12 hours of dark period to flower. As soon as my little babies outside popped little buds I immediately assumed it was because of the stark adjustment in light cycles, the only time these plants ever experienced darkness was when I sexed them under 12/12 so as soon as they got that long dark period outside they knew right what to do haha can provide pics if that helps.