Advice on if I should switch my girls over to flower, worried about stretch. Please

[Howard Stern]

Hey guys this is my problem. I have a grow rom that is 4X3X6. My plants are a foot tall and I am worried about them stretching out too much. Here are the specs on everything. And by the way this is my first grow.

Type: Nirvana Northern lights feminized. Has anyone grown this one? I would love your advice big time!!!!
Media: FFOF in five gallon buckets.
Light: 600w MH/HPS switchable balast
Desired hight around 2-3 feet
Nutes: are fox farm big bloom and grow big right now every other wattering.
Fan is 400 cfm
These ladies are 38 days old from germination.
Here is my lil grow room.

Here are some pics of my girls. I fim'd three of them and topped 3 of them. I will do a compairison here in the forums on what produced more later. I was also wondering if the ones I fimed have grown back enough to form their tops.



Here are my extra plants that I am giving away today. they couldn't grow in my room and I don't want my neighbors seeing them. I am legal I just don't want the hassel!


My other question is will they still grow branches/tops if I throw them into flowering? Cus my fimed plants haven't grown complete tops yet. ANY suggestions are welcome!

 

[Howard Stern]

Oh and hey guys I have looked on the internet and around here for the answer to this. But couldn't find a difinitive answer. Sorry if this is an answered question already.

 

[7davie7]

i have the same space and lights. i flower when they r 12inch for indica and 10 inch for sativa got some good results.hope this helps mate

 

[Howard Stern]

How tall do yours get switching at a 12 inches? Ball park? Northern lights is Indica dominant. Thanks for the advice Davie

 

[Bonzi Lighthouse]

Your plantslook good and healthy.
Here is "My" rule of thumb. Measure the distance between the dirt and the the bottom of your light (where it will be at at it's highest). Divide this number by 3 and that gives you your plant height when you should switch to flower.

Now they won't stretch as much if you wait till they are sexually mature when you put them into flower but obv they will continue to grow and you are in a catch 22. If you take clones (which could already be mature) you will not get as much stretch. you could lst to keep them short and thus let them mature more B4 flower.

 

[friendlyfarmer]

if that were my grow i would start now or after a few more inches. that will keep them short enough. NL is a good strain if you have height restrictions either way. you probably aren't going to get a 3x stretch out of NL so do it soon and you'll be fine.

 

[Crypnotic]

Hey whats up Howard. I'm growing Northern Lights Fem Autoflower. I'm only at day 5 from seed. I added you as a friend. I need to dig my camera outta the box so I can start taking pictures. I wish I could help on your flowering question, but its my first grow as well and I dont have any specific knowledge on it. They say you should flower sometime between week four and six but I'm sure you know that too. Good luck on your grow, I'll be watching to see how it all turns out.

 

[Pipe Dream]

I agree with friendly farmer here. I would let them grow a little bit more since they are NL I would let it grow a little more say 1 and a 1/2 feet total. Sounds like you have the room and a strong enough light to support the bigger plants and judging from the pics I say that you could probably lower it down a little to prevent them from stretching. Also you are using very big containers especially for hydro it seems, you could either support bigger plants or consolidate them and get some extra room instead of wasted pot space. Overall they look great though.

 

[TheGreenBiologist]

Veg veg veg! For at least another month. You have a very nice set-up for vegging, the plants look nice n' healthy. But taking all factors into consideration (size of room, size of light, size of pots, age of plants) you have the means to produce a Very Bountiful crop. The only catch is that you have to have patience (I know...it's the worst part for me too ). If you veg for at least another month, your final yield will go up exponentially, I promise. If you're worried about height, try topping, fimming, or trying some Low Stress Training. I personally do not top, but I've had great results from both fimming and LST. Let those roots n' shoots keep growing!

 

[Howard Stern]

Your plantslook good and healthy.
Here is "My" rule of thumb. Measure the distance between the dirt and the the bottom of your light (where it will be at at it's highest). Divide this number by 3 and that gives you your plant height when you should switch to flower.

Now they won't stretch as much if you wait till they are sexually mature when you put them into flower but obv they will continue to grow and you are in a catch 22. If you take clones (which could already be mature) you will not get as much stretch. you could lst to keep them short and thus let them mature more B4 flower.

This is why I love this site! Thanks for the advice, I will do these calculations tomorrow cus I am fucked up right now! LOL thanks bonzi!!!

 

[Howard Stern]

if that were my grow i would start now or after a few more inches. that will keep them short enough. NL is a good strain if you have height restrictions either way. you probably aren't going to get a 3x stretch out of NL so do it soon and you'll be fine.

Yeah I read that NL stayed short and stocky but I started to get scared after I topped and fim'd them and now they are taking off again! LOL I love Nirvana seeds! These gals are making me proud! Thanks for the advice much appriciated Farmer!

 

[Howard Stern]

I agree with friendly farmer here. I would let them grow a little bit more since they are NL I would let it grow a little more say 1 and a 1/2 feet total. Sounds like you have the room and a strong enough light to support the bigger plants and judging from the pics I say that you could probably lower it down a little to prevent them from stretching. Also you are using very big containers especially for hydro it seems, you could either support bigger plants or consolidate them and get some extra room instead of wasted pot space. Overall they look great though.

I was thinking about 18 inches when I started! But I wanted some of your guys expert experiance on this issue. It is my first grow so I am leary as hell cus I want to make a little noob mistakes as I can! I can't wait to show you guys what I come out with! More just to brag! I hope one day I will be hleping a noob like me with advice! Much thanks.

 

[Howard Stern]

Veg veg veg! For at least another month. You have a very nice set-up for vegging, the plants look nice n' healthy. But taking all factors into consideration (size of room, size of light, size of pots, age of plants) you have the means to produce a Very Bountiful crop. The only catch is that you have to have patience (I know...it's the worst part for me too ). If you veg for at least another month, your final yield will go up exponentially, I promise. If you're worried about height, try topping, fimming, or trying some Low Stress Training. I personally do not top, but I've had great results from both fimming and LST. Let those roots n' shoots keep growing!

Yeah I topped 3 and fim'd 3 just as a test to see what produces more yeild. I will veg for as long as possible, I was just worried about the height. I haven't even thought about LST yet. I need to get a couple of grows under my belt before I try that. I don't want to get ahead of myself on gorowing. I would like to learn the basics first before I start f'n with my plants! Thanks for the advice and I will let you guys know how it all turns out with pic's! I hope to have some great pictures for you all! Thanks again TGB.

 

[fdd2blk]

i let mine get 12 to 16 inches tall, then i switch over to 12/12.

 

[Howard Stern]

i let mine get 12 to 16 inches tall, then i switch over to 12/12.

Much apriciated thanks bro!

 

[Howard Stern]

Hey guys. Well as you can see in the pictures I switched them to flower! I gave them a 24 hr dark period then the lights kicked on this morning, 12/12 600w HPS. The plants were between 14 and 16 inches when I made the switch. I was wondering if I should go spend $100 on a hortilux bulb? The bulb that is in there now is just some made in china bulb that came with my setup. Is it really worth the 100 bones for the hortilux? I have the money just wondering if I will see a better yeild.

 

[jonny2009]

Hey whats up Howard. I'm growing Northern Lights Fem Autoflower. I'm only at day 5 from seed. I added you as a friend. I need to dig my camera outta the box so I can start taking pictures. I wish I could help on your flowering question, but its my first grow as well and I dont have any specific knowledge on it. They say you should flower sometime between week four and six but I'm sure you know that too. Good luck on your grow, I'll be watching to see how it all turns out.

YOU have autoflowering NL mate so no need to go 12/12 id keep them on 19/5 all the way good luck