My plant is getting too big

AdReNaLiNeRuSh said:

Please, oh please, don't cut it in half! Let me tell you a story...

I once was growing a strain called PGP. I had a mother plant, from which I took clones. One day, I was getting a batch of the PGP clones ready for flower by trimming off all the growth under the main canopy. However, being the stoner I am, I left one plant untouched because it was getting late and I was tired. Anywho, about 3 weeks later (into flowering), the PGP plants were all relatively the same size, except the one that I hadn't trimmed. It was extremely bushy. So I decided to trim off the undergrowth. As time progressed, I watched as the plant that I had just trimmed struggle to keep up with the others. When it came time to harvest, all the buds on the plant were wispy, underdeveoped, and the plant was lacking in resin production.

The moral of this story is DO NOT TRIM PLANTS THAT ARE IN FLOWER. This will stress them out to the point where your harvest will be affected. Like people have been mentioning, train the plant. Start with some hemp string and tie the plant over. Do not put so much stress on it that the stem becomes in danger of snapping. Instead, start small, and every day, pull it a little more. Hope this helps.


-AR

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AdReNaLiNeRuSh said:

Please, oh please, don't cut it in half! Let me tell you a story...

I once was growing a strain called PGP. I had a mother plant, from which I took clones. One day, I was getting a batch of the PGP clones ready for flower by trimming off all the growth under the main canopy. However, being the stoner I am, I left one plant untouched because it was getting late and I was tired. Anywho, about 3 weeks later (into flowering), the PGP plants were all relatively the same size, except the one that I hadn't trimmed. It was extremely bushy. So I decided to trim off the undergrowth. As time progressed, I watched as the plant that I had just trimmed struggle to keep up with the others. When it came time to harvest, all the buds on the plant were wispy, underdeveoped, and the plant was lacking in resin production.

The moral of this story is DO NOT TRIM PLANTS THAT ARE IN FLOWER. This will stress them out to the point where your harvest will be affected. Like people have been mentioning, train the plant. Start with some hemp string and tie the plant over. Do not put so much stress on it that the stem becomes in danger of snapping. Instead, start small, and every day, pull it a little more. Hope this helps.


-AR

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irishstaff said:

you can flower from seed but your yeild will be limeted . So yes you can flower your plants now if you wanted too . I normally veg for 6-8 weeks then change the lighting times from 18/6 to 12/12

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Bagz said:

It is definitely not to late to start training it down. Although the plant is very stretched so you may have your work cut out for you. If you do decide to train it give it a water first.
It is an amazing looking plant. Entirely different to what I am doing in my small stealth space but if you are concerned with height my grow might be able to give you some ideas.
Check it out if interested.

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Brick Top said:

Sound advice but something I would add for new or newer growers is first accurately figure out your actual total amount of usable growing height. Then always assume at least slightly greater growth in flower than breeder claims, that is unless you are familiar with the strain which likely means you are not new or fairly new to growing.

When growing a real true sativa, or even a cross that is predominantly sativa, as in say 75% sativa or more, do one of two things. Follow Uncle Ben's topping technique and then be prepared half early to begin to do a little tying down if things appear not to be remaining as short as had hoped at that point. The other is skip vegging completely and begin your plants on a 12/12 flowering light cycle, and also be prepared half early to begin to do a little tying down if things appear not to be remaining as short as had hoped at that point.

There are a few tricks or variations that can be used when tying down plants. I prefer to use plant tape, thin non-sticky plastic rolled up like a roll of tape. Tear or cut off a piece, staple a loop in one end. Run the tape around the location of the plant where you want to pull down and through the loop pulling it through until secure but not actually tight and then tie off the other end to a lower portion of the main stem that is hardened off or to a stake in the pot if one is being used. The plant tape when used like that never restricts plant growth in any way and if there is a circulating fan operating and the plants are gently swaying the plant tape will not rub against the plant and damage it. Yarn is another good option for the same reasons is used similarly.

A half-keen option to achieve the same results is to use small weights. It sounds odd but someone I knew years ago would use small plastic hooks he formed from something plastic and he would attach light fishing weights to each formed plastic hook. He would hang one from the upper portions of the softer growth he wanted to pull down, varying the amount of weight as needed. Before long the bent soft growth would harden off into the shape it had been bent into and the weights could be removed and used elsewhere if and when needed. It was sort of like hanging a Christmas tree ornament that is to heavy on a thin branch, it just pulls it down. The difference is that you do it as needed, where needed and you can, just as in when tying, do it in a way to maintain a decent plant balance and not overstress any portion of the plant(s) and also in a way to better utilize your lighting.

Another way to plan ahead is to make some sort of trellis or form to tie the plant to as it grows so you can achieve maximum overall growth in a minimum of height by further utilizing width. Take a thin metal rod, something like a metal coat hanger but longer if possible so you might not need resort to making more than one per plant. You start it with a straight piece roughly 6 inches long and then make a curving bend to one side running roughly 6 inches off center of the plant. Then you make a similar bend going back the opposite direction but running for roughly 12 inches and keep repeating the roughly 12 inch length after the upward bend after that point unless/until you reach the top of your form and you do not need more height and then have it end, or where it might connect to a second form, so it is back in the center of the plant again.

Once using the full width of the form you will be able to gain roughly 24 inches of overall growth in roughly 8 or 9 inches of actual height used, less if you are very diligent about tying very often. You can alter the direction of each cross-plant run so as to not block off as much light as could happen if each cross-plant run would be directly over each other, but some effort should be make to retain as much plant balance as possible or else it could be DANGER WILL ROBINSON time as something might severely split/crack/break due to additional weight stress.

Once you are ready to begin to train/form your plant(s) you use something like plant tape to attach the wire form to a section of the main stem that has already hardened off. After that it is just do what was mentioned above, as new soft growth pushes out you just tie it to the form so it grows back and forth much more than it grows up.

Another trick is growing from pot to pot, one I am not all that fond of since at times plants do have problems and problems can spread. But if say you had maybe 6 or 8 pots in two rows you begin your grow but you use a wire form of some type to force your plant to grow into something of an arch over to the pot beside the pot it began in. When there is enough growth you dig a small shallow trench in the second pot and insert a section of stem/plant so the end of the newest growth remains above the soil and mound up the soil over the newly buried section of plant stem. Stripping or at least lightly scoring the surface of the buried section of plant stem and using some rooting compound is a good idea.

Normally something like a 'U' shaped piece of something, plastic, wire, even wood, is used to hold the stem down securely in the soil until it roots. Once rooted you repeat the same thing, with all of your plants and basically grow them around in something of a box shape for a fair bit of their lives. At each budsite each bud grows upwards regardless of how the stem is positioned. As long as you carry it out for as long as you can it is somewhat like a screen-less SCROG differing in that the additional root system is what holds down the majority of upwards stem growth instead of a screen while still allowing the buds and colas free vertical growth.

It is not the most practical way of achieving the desired final results indoors, but it can be done. Its primary value is really outside stealth growing, growing among other plants that would shield/hide your plants from easily being spotted by keeping most of them as low to the ground as possible and in an overall form that is not as easily recognized as being a pot plant as an average pot plant would be. They can blend in fairly well if next to or mixed with various types of vegetables people often times grow in their gardens. Unless your garden area is high traffic or you have super nosy/curious/suspicious neighbors who like to check out what everyone around them is always doing you can safely hide your plants in open sight growing outdoors like that. It can even be done in flower gardens if the right types of flowers are there so things blend in more than they stand out.

There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy and there is more than one way to skin a cat. If you do not believe that to be true just ask anyone who has ever worked at a Chinese restaurant.

Then again you could just net/SCROG it and not monkey around with any of the above, but knowing various options can be helpful at times even if only because while considering one it might cause you to think of something else that would work best for your specific individual situation.

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CyberSecks said:

tie that sucka down lol
i had the same problem got some 6 footers tied down in the storage room

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earlysummer84 said:

Wow, u're good at fertilizing plant. So now the only thing u have to do is just cut it off and reduce feeding it.

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