Flowering stretch with many colas

I have a question about the growth spurt that occurs during the first few weeks of flowering.

I know that one should expect an increase of height of anywhere between 50% and 100% or more, depending on the strain, growing conditions, etc.

For the purpose of discussion, let's say you have a single plant that you carefully scrogged for about two months before flipping the lights to 12/12. Due to the SCROG, you ended up with 13 "primary" colas and perhaps a dozen more "secondary" bud sites. At the time of flip, all branches / stems were at or just under the SCROG net.

Fast forward four weeks later (day 30 of flowering). The 13 primary colas have only grown about 5 inches, on average, above the net. The dozen other bud sites have grown between 1 and 2 inches above the net. The plant is quite bushy and healthy for the most part. All of the flowers are beginning to bulk up.

Now my question: Normally, I would have expected a great deal more growth during the initial weeks after the flip to 12/12 but as I mentioned above, the plant only gained about five inches overall on average.

Is the relatively little height increase due to the number of colas this single plant is trying to feed? In other words, is it correct to assume that a single plant with one, two, or four colas is going to stretch a lot more than one with 13 colas?

that is my experience... a plant not topped will reach like crazy
the more colas the less reach
like i said that has been my observation over the past few years

what`s your light set up dude ?

good place to start if your using hid could be time for a new bulb ?

How about container size? Is it adequate for the size plant you have? Ones ive grown in the past that were too packed didnt stretch as much

Strain: Jack Diesel
Lights: G8LED 240 watt full spectrum LED light supplemented with a 90-watt UFO LED light.
Soil: FFOF (66%), Perlite (33%)
Container Size: 4 gallons
Humidity: < 40%
Temperature: ~ 68 degrees (constant, day and night)
Nutrients: FF soil liquid trio at half-strength
PH: ~ 6.6 - 6.8

I figure that's about right, more branches divide up how much it stretches.

Some strains barely stretch.

give it a something with more gibberics in it and it will stretch more or hit it with more deep red spectrum

Most people complain about stretching plants but your set up sounds good

Some led set ups with a good blue to red ratio get a lot less stretch then most people seem to get with hps

I would suggest that: 1) after such a long veg in 4 gal pots they got stifled from being root bound 2) some strains just dont stretch much; 3) LED light is said to keep stretch minimal; 4) the BIG ONE... your temp differential being 0 snuffed out the stretch FOR SURE!! (68 constant temp between lights on and off!!??) I bet your leaves are discolouring like mad and you can't figure out why?

I SCROG so I like stretch. The key to that is having a temp differential of 10f - 15f degrees between day and night.

The key to getting tight internode space is keeping the temp differential minimal, but you can only do that for a limited time before the plants have an adverse reaction, shown by discolouration. Google it...

1 plant at a 2 month veg in a 4 gal pot may be root bound by now, if youre gonna scrog a simgle plant i would recommend a doubling in your pot size atleast, of its not that it could be the combo of the led and the strain itself

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Also, 68 degrees is pretty cool. I would bet that is slowing growth down quite a bit too...

Gquebed -Thanks very much for the information you provided. Just based on the little bit of reading I've done since your post, I've learned quite a bit about DIF and effects of the temperature difference during lights-on (day time) as compared to lights-off (night time).

Since this particular grow is using LED lighting, and because it's an indoor grow, the DIF is minimal, probably no more than two or three degrees at most. As a result, growth has been slow and I've been dealing with moderate chlorosis, which I mistook for a PH imbalance or nutrient deficiency, even though I've been very careful to keep my watering PH between 6.5 and 6.7 while using half-strength nutes.

Shoot, I've been scratching my head this whole time, wondering where this PH / nute problem was coming from when all along the chlorosis was probably due to the near-zero DIF throughout the entire grow.

So at this point (day 51 of flower), the 13 primary colas are about 6 inches (on average) above the scrog net. The secondary colas are anywhere between 2 and 4 inches above the net.

This strain is supposed to complete somewhere around 70 to 80 days. My leaf canopy is yellowing significantly. However, there is also a considerable amount of new green growth in the branches below the canopy. Being that I am this far into flower, I think it's too late to try and change things, and possibly introduce more stress to an already-stressed plant.

Should I try and do anything to address the chlorosis at this point or should I just let the plant finish flowering (in three to four weeks) ?

If it were me...i would get a heater in there and warm up your lights on temp. 68 is perfect for lights off. You should warm it up to 75-77 if you can during lights on...and then steady as she goes.

I learned this lesson the hard way too...but i caught it earlier. So im not sure how they will finish...

Anyway, glad to help.