Over vegged and need an opinion?? Asap

So what the title says... I over vegged and my plants are ginormous and I dont have a whole lot of head room for the stretch. I will say that I have been growing for years, indoors and out and always have to work with short head space. But this time it stepped out of the league, of what I am usually experienced with. Had some family emergencies come up over the last few weeks and it had really set me behind.

So this morning I spent a couple hours "semi-lollipoping" me gals... I also went through and topped every single plant as I had no other choice, I am running multiple strains so I know every plant is not gonna like that as much as it's neighbor will but I really dont have a choice... I usually incorporate LST, a bit of supercropping, etc, but in this case that's not really even an option either as the plants are already over crowded and way too bushy to be "opened up and spread out". So this time I am focusing on as much head growth as possible and eliminating all of the lowers.

The lights in my room are attached directly to the ceiling, they cannot be raised anymore than what they are. I have about 6.5 foot headroom running 4 1000 watt HPS and no reason to try and change that because I cant help it, I have what I have and that is all I can do. So that is not an option. I will say I have had this flower room with many successful grows for the last 4 years after transferring to my new home and finally dropping multiple grow tent runs. I am currently running a combo of 2 to 7 gallon pots in promix and fixing to install a top fed automated system. Like I said, I have had many successful grows in this room and no issues with height till now because i am usually flipping the plants at 3 ft tall.

So here is what I am needing to know as I really dont have any experience with it. Would my best option be to pre-top prior to flowering? Maybe prune back a half foot down on the plants to knock some height off and throw them directly into 12/12 immediately after? I feel like I have no other choice, unless cutting/pruning the plants down and then giving it a few days to kinda recoverand then and then flip? I read an nteresting article about topping right before flower but and according to my reading, it is absolutely fine and will not hurt yield. But at the same time I have also read different on the forums.

What would you do?



This photo was taken prior to removing lower growth and thinning out the vegetation a bit. So it doesnt look as crowded now but still not a whole lot of difference...

It's best to wait at least 2 weeks after topping before going into flower.

Top them if you want. You have 2 weeks of stretch before they start to flower. No big deal.

I'm assuming this has been ruled out already, but have you a veg room you may be able to hold back a handful until next run in?

If you top them right before sending into 12/12 it will slow down their stretch as they pop the nodes into branches.

A defoliation would slow them down as well and let some light down to the bottoms.

@3rd Monkey @Renfro have either of you guys did this before? Topping as little as 3 days days before flipping? If so, how were the results? Did it hurt your yield any?

psychadelibud said:

@3rd Monkey @Renfro have either of you guys did this before? Topping as little as 3 days days before flipping? If so, how were the results? Did it hurt your yield any?

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Hurt the yield? Well less than if they got too tall and burned up against the lights.

psychadelibud said:

@3rd Monkey @Renfro have either of you guys did this before? Topping as little as 3 days days before flipping? If so, how were the results? Did it hurt your yield any?

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Done it lots of times. Topped during the stretch.

Worked fine. Can't say on the yields, since I could only do it one way or the other lol. I imagine it probably hurt them since there was less plant, but it beats having airy buds because you couldn't get light where you needed it.

Renfro said:

Hurt the yield? Well less than if they got too tall and burned up against the lights.

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I agree with that 100%.. Maybe I will cut them all down around 8 or so inches and give them at least 4 to 5 days to kinda get over it. I know people recommend 2 weeks after topping etc, but honestly in my experience anytime I top, I see new shoots growing within 2 days.

3rd Monkey said:

Done it lots of times. Topped during the stretch.

Worked fine. Can't say on the yields, since I could only do it one way or the other lol. I imagine it probably hurt them since there was less plant, but it beats having airy buds because you couldn't get light where you needed it.

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Yeah I'm just gonna top them back a bit, give it 2 or 3 days and flip em. The quantity of plants and overgrowth should more than enough make up for any lost yields. I removed the glasses from my air cooled hoods this run, so I definitely dont want them getting up that close to the light.

Other than that, gonna get my shit together on the next run and not go overboard with so many plants and such a long veg lol.

psychadelibud said:

I agree with that 100%.. Maybe I will cut them all down around 8 or so inches and give them at least 4 to 5 days to kinda get over it. I know people recommend 2 weeks after topping etc, but honestly in my experience anytime I top, I see new shoots growing within 2 days.

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Thing is, shoot stem size is directly proportional to bud size so the buds are smaller if they don't get time to make a bigger stem. Does that make sense?

3rd Monkey said:

Can't say on the yields, since I could only do it one way or the other lol.

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Exactly, so many things are like that, can't say what woulda happened if you did nothing. Like defoliation.

Renfro said:

Thing is, shoot stem size is directly proportional to bud size so the buds are smaller if they don't get time to make a bigger stem. Does that make sense?

Exactly, so many things are like that, can't say what woulda happened if you did nothing. Like defoliation.

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Yes that makes sense renfro, but if I gave them a few days and then flipped, there will be continued growth at least 2 weeks into 12/12 though correct? So really I would get 2 weeks and a few days for the new growth to come on out. My growth is extremely fast as I am vegging all plants beneath 1000 watt lights.

I did defoliation and trimmed all lowers out a couple of days ago. Made a huge difference in light shining through the canopies and now the floor is lit up.

One other thing I have thought about doing is buying some gravity from greenleaf nutrients. Same people who make megacrop. It contains paclo and although I have never used it, I have read that it slows stretch dramatically. Figured maybe I could hit them once or twice in the beginning of 12/12 to reduce stretch?? Thoughts? And yes, I know the pros and cons of PGR's, including the health risks but this would be applied 60 days before harvest.

I wouldn't use anything with a pgr, I never have so I can't say what it would do. If you wanna slow em down can you dim the lights during stretch?

Renfro said:

I wouldn't use anything with a pgr, I never have so I can't say what it would do. If you wanna slow em down can you dim the lights during stretch?

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Yeah I am kinda against them too...

I think I will dim the lights down, just top and give it a few days and flip. I have to do something and that's really my only choice and best choice. I think I will be okay, I have a good feeling about it!

Hey, at least it will be a great learning experience and I am a hands on fanatic. I like going with my gut and trying new things. I will update after stretch and then again around harvest for the results...

As long as you keep them healthy you will get a lot of bud. Put the shorter plants directly under lights and taller ones off center.

I've topped the day I flipped to 12/12 and had some of my best harvests that way. I honestly see no problem with it at all.

I am going to work tomato cages down on the plant and start training them down shorter instead, weaving the branches through the cages and tying the tops of plants, onto the tops of the cages kinda LST'ing the upper canopy... It's hard as hell to do once they get big like they are now, but I have done it and I just have sooo many plants and the room is sooo crowded I was just dreading doing all that work. But I'm gonna do it, always had good results with it, it's just better if ya start training the plants through the cages at a much younger age.