How can I promote vertical growth?

Okay, so first of all, my plants are 38 days old, so I'm guessing I'm 4 weeks into vege growth. I've got them going under a 600w HPS (I understand that vegetative growth is better stimulated under an MH light, but for now, I'm using what I have) in coco fiber using Canna Coco A & B and some rhizotonic. I'm concerned that at this point, the secondary branching is really taking off, but the plant is still pretty short. I've got three nodes on my oldest secondary branches, but the frickin things are only 6 inches tall! I've read about using pruning to get the plant to grow upwards, but I think they're still to young for pruning. Is there something I can do to get them to grow up more than out? Do I have reason to be concerned about this, or am I just overreacting? Comments and advice much appreciated.

i think that if its not growing vertically but horizontally theres nothing wrong with that.most people are trying to figure out how to turn tall skinny stick weed plants into bushes.mabe raise your light but really your plant looks great keep that mofo green + rep

your good man. you gotta let it mature...... have no worries. Pe@ce...

BenasaurusRex said:

Okay, so first of all, my plants are 38 days old, so I'm guessing I'm 4 weeks into vege growth. I've got them going under a 600w HPS (I understand that vegetative growth is better stimulated under an MH light, but for now, I'm using what I have) in coco fiber using Canna Coco A & B and some rhizotonic. I'm concerned that at this point, the secondary branching is really taking off, but the plant is still pretty short. I've got three nodes on my oldest secondary branches, but the frickin things are only 6 inches tall! I've read about using pruning to get the plant to grow upwards, but I think they're still to young for pruning. Is there something I can do to get them to grow up more than out? Do I have reason to be concerned about this, or am I just overreacting? Comments and advice much appreciated.

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your over reacting they look fine they are fromm seed 3-4 weeks growth look about right to me. you top plants to make them bush out not grow up.

your doing o.k m8 keep it up

many people would kill for plants like that in so little time. good job don't trip keep it up

edit: that must be one heavy indica!

Controling stretch is an art. Sometimes you want those little stubby plants with crazy close nodes but some times you want them to grow with larger internodal length so that buds can fill out and develop more such as your case. Light intensity decreases exponentially as the distance between plant and light becomes larger. This could play in yor favour..


Article On Controling Stretch

Alot of people would love to have plants like the ones you have. They are real nice. But If you really would like to make it taller, i suppose you could raise the light alot higher, like a foot or something above the plant. the plant reaches for the light, and the higher the light the more the plant stretches. hope that helps

Okay, so I moved the light to about a foot over the plants, hopefully they'll stretch. It's good to receive all your positive feedback, I tend to worry, so hearing that the plants are doing well is a big reassurance. Also how much longer should I wait before I take clones?

BenasaurusRex said:

Okay, so I moved the light to about a foot over the plants, hopefully they'll stretch. It's good to receive all your positive feedback, I tend to worry, so hearing that the plants are doing well is a big reassurance. Also how much longer should I wait before I take clones?

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probably within a month tops

They'll stretch like crazy the first 2 weeks of flowering.

1 foot over the plants is good for a HPS, make sure there is no heat at the top canopy. If so, it could be moved up farther.

Looking great though. Good Luck!

Sheepdog

your plant looks awsome. they are exatly what they should be. and you obviously are growing an indica starin by the looks of those leafs. dont forget indicas dont grow tall, they stay short and work very well as bushes. by the way im not sure getting height is what you want. having a tall plant does not automatically mean a lot of buds. i never go for tall. i go for wide. i topp em so i have multiple main stems and i keep em bushy. all youll get with a tall tall plant is a good bud right on the top. i found that the farther away from the plant the light goes the worse off the plant is as a whole. heres some pics

another reason i topp my plants is so that i can take clones. im just learning to clone i took 44 clones off these 2 plants and you cant tell the difference except that they are way bigger now. dont forget when you chop the tiop of a branch for a clone your plant needs time to go through a little shock then get back to growing again. when you take clones you will automatiocaly top the branch and it needs time to grow back into 2 branches. if you want clones go for topped and chopped low bushy plants. i could take 100 more clones if i wanted.