a few questions about size change in flower

Suuuuup. So everything I'm reading about how much size the plant will gain in flower is basically really general and just says "about twice as big". I mean, is this width, height? Just extra mass in general from the buds being most of the difference, and like half of the plants height added on as the rest? Is there a difference between how indicas add size during flower compared to how sativas do it? I would assume sativas would add more height in flower.

Its probably getting time for me to put one of my plants in flower. I have plants at all different ages, the oldest being about 6 or 7 weeks and its probably about a foot and a half tall. I topped him once kind of late, but I was originally just wanting to get a plant into flower asap so that I could get a harvest under my belt. Now that I'm into it, I would like a decent yield my first time around. I don't have super high hopes but my two biggest plants are doing well and so I'd like to let the tops get as long as I can stand to veg them for, lol. I at least would like to let the Tops get big enough for some decent sized colas. The older plant is more of an indica sativa hybrid, the younger one is pure indica. Both are bag seed from a buddy, and honestly the indica is doing better than any of the seeds I've popped from attitude so far.

The hybrid is about 16-18 inches tall, with two tops that are probably 6-8 inches. Its lower branches started catching up to the tops so I super cropped. Keep in mind that I thought I might have been going too long in between waterings, so I watered earlier than normal and the plants got droopy as shit. Plus, they kind of "go to sleep" at night when the light is off and droop down, but never like this.


The indica is a couple weeks younger, its about 10 inches but nice and bushy with big healthy leaves, almost like maple leaves. I topped it around the 7th node, and then topped each of those so it would have four tops. The side branches caught up with the tops on this one too, and was actually kind of passing them so I super cropped to try and get the four tops to pass them back up again.


You can tell in that last pic how the branch would've easily passed the top before it was bent down from the super crop.

But I figured the tall one had big enough tops to go ahead and start flowering, I just wasn't sure how much size they would gain, and how much height. With his two tops being about 7 inches now, does that mean they will be 14" at the end of flower?

I know the indica definitely needs more time. I'm basically gauging it based on how big the tops are, BC all of my plants have branches below the split on the tops that will produce at least some bud.

As always, I appreciate any insight from all of you guys who have experience and don't mind lending some knowledge to the new guy.

For starts plant can triple in size when entering flowering, I originally had 4 1-2 feet tall plants before flower and now they reach almost 4 feet each, depending on the plant will depend on the mass and leaf spred, the more the plant gets light the more it will fan out, no way to tell yield only at harvest will u know what to expect but if u weight before u cure expect 65 % of the weight to be lost. Also the plants look alright maybe a little over watered, I didn't see perlite in the soil so maybe try adding that to help roots spred and water drain better, I'm assuming u have holes in the bottom of those totes. If the plant is an auto it will flower when ready if it isn't then u can make it flower by controlling the light u give it to a 12-12 ratio. The colas can get bigger yells by using nutes like bid buster or dyna grow pro

Potolota said:

For starts plant can triple in size when entering flowering, I originally had 4 1-2 feet tall plants before flower and now they reach almost 4 feet each, depending on the plant will depend on the mass and leaf spred, the more the plant gets light the more it will fan out, no way to tell yield only at harvest will u know what to expect but if u weight before u cure expect 65 % of the weight to be lost. Also the plants look alright maybe a little over watered, I didn't see perlite in the soil so maybe try adding that to help roots spred and water drain better, I'm assuming u have holes in the bottom of those totes. If the plant is an auto it will flower when ready if it isn't then u can make it flower by controlling the light u give it to a 12-12 ratio. The colas can get bigger yells by using nutes like bid buster or dyna grow pro

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Not trying to hijack the thread, but wanted to ask if this is the stuff you're talking about. It's from walmart. http://www.walmart.com/ip/19684914?wmlspartner=wlpa&adid=22222222227000000000&wl0=&wl1=g&wl2=c&wl3=21486607510&wl4=&wl5=pla&wl6=19880599990&veh=sem

Oh shit man, good find!

that stuff isn't sold by walmart its sold by wayfair through walmart. anything from them is a ripoff. I can get the gallon size at my local hydro store for 26$ and on ebay for cheaper than the link you posted.

Potolota said:

For starts plant can triple in size when entering flowering, I originally had 4 1-2 feet tall plants before flower and now they reach almost 4 feet each, depending on the plant will depend on the mass and leaf spred, the more the plant gets light the more it will fan out, no way to tell yield only at harvest will u know what to expect but if u weight before u cure expect 65 % of the weight to be lost. Also the plants look alright maybe a little over watered, I didn't see perlite in the soil so maybe try adding that to help roots spred and water drain better, I'm assuming u have holes in the bottom of those totes. If the plant is an auto it will flower when ready if it isn't then u can make it flower by controlling the light u give it to a 12-12 ratio. The colas can get bigger yells by using nutes like bid buster or dyna grow pro

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Yeah, I just found an article that said the same thing about how it can double or even triple, especially if its a sativa. The plant I'm wanting to put in is definitely getting close to flower time BC I have a lot of plants not too far behind it and I don't want to wind up with plants too big for my space.

BTW, yeah I'm growing in ffof which is a pretty airy soil anyways, but I do add a little bit of perlite (not as much as I used to) and I have a layer about 1-2" deep on the pot of every pot. Those are smart pots, which drain really freely without any holes (actually sometimes a little too much, if the soil is really dry it can drain out from the top of the sides of the pot before soaking the dirt at the bottom. I'm gonna pick up a wetting agent today I think it'll help). I like the smart pots tho, I've had good growth since using them and the dirt stays nice and fluffy just from picking them up and moving them and whatnot. I'm also using auroras roots organics line, I got the master pack and so I'm on the 5 mil feeding schedule.

The reason why the size of plants are so general is because each plant is different.

You can grow out 10 of the exact same strain and have 10 different sized plants.

Found a great read for anyone else with this question:

Dammit! Mobile browser doesn't let me paste in this stupid box. Lemme see if I can throw it in in an edit

That stuff from Walmart will work fine

Damn, I've got some plants about 4ft tall right now and they still got at least another 4 to 6 weeks of veg left. That means something like 10 to 15ft tall? I hope not, it's a residential backyard grow. I'm legal but those will be monsters. Don't know if I'm ready for that! And yes I've trained some and topped them all several times.

BWG707 said:

Damn, I've got some plants about 4ft tall right now and they still got at least another 4 to 6 weeks of veg left. That means something like 10 to 15ft tall? I hope not, it's a residential backyard grow. I'm legal but those will be monsters. Don't know if I'm ready for that! And yes I've trained some and topped them all several times.

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Unless u are growing in the ground it's self or have like a 10 gal or 15 gal bucket your plants won't get that huge, root balls determine plants hight, the more room they have to speed the bigger the plant

Four plants are in the ground, one in a 10gal Smartpot, and the others are in 5 to 7gal plastic and clay pots.