Running Out of Headroom

Flash4211

Flash4211

Active Member
Hey, y'all -
This is my first grow, so I'm pretty much hitting all the bases for newbie mistakes:dunce:.

Problem: I have six G13 Haze that were in veg for 2 months, about 18" when I transplanted them to the bloom tent. They are in a 2X4 flood table, in 4" Grodan cubes set into Hydroton. They were top-fed in veg, flood/drain now. The tent is 4'X4'X76" (a little over six feet tall) as shown here, with one 1000W HPS cool tube and lots of ventilation - it's cool to the touch. GH flora/micro/bloom nutes. It's now only 10 days into bloom, and they are already banging their heads on the cool tube:roll:. I supercropped them pretty aggressively, and there are many, many buds showing up already. The light is as high as it will go, and the flood tray is on a platform 16" above the floor, keeping it just above the reservoir.

I'm completely out of usable vertical growth space.:wall:

When I first realized where things were going, one of the RIU brethren suggested cutting the bottom out of the tent and raising the whole thing. Since the ceiling is 10', that would buy an extra 3 feet of vert grow space, but I really don't want to tear up a brand new, light-tight tent.

These are robust, bushy plants, covered with buds and looking like they will be great producers, so I really don't want to give up on a possible bountiful yield.

So:

1. Transplanting to pots - how dangerous is that to the ladies' health? I suspect that their roots are all inter-tangled by now, but if they were in separate pots the options open up a little bit.

2. Cobble together a quick-and-dirty grow room using foam board and furring strips? There's floor space (it's an attached 2-car garage) - there are lots of how-to forum posts and YouTube videos out there, but I have no experience to help me evaluate their merits. Can someone suggest the best DIY options to build a quick and cheap grow room?

3. Other options, that don't involve tearing up the tent and/or serious construction? I'm sure others have encountered this problem, and there are other potential solutions.

Thanks, RIU!:peace:
 
jyermum

jyermum

Active Member
Keep super cropping the crap out of them. Some of your buds will be growing at right angles but potency won't be changed. I've never grown that strain but your stretch should be close to done so you should be able to avoid butchering your new tent.
 
Ganjalee

Ganjalee

Active Member
I would do as jyermum says, Supercrop them, Just squish that stem somewhere under the main bud and roll it under your fingers then bend the stem without breaking it. the buds will grow horizontally and be just as happy.
 
Warlock1369

Warlock1369

Well-Known Member
Pull the tops to the side. Or hst. You don't realy want to supercrop you main stocks in flower. Hst is when you tye your tips down bending them. I go from the thick stock under the cola down to the bottom of the stock. Making her almost 90 degrees. You must becareful not to go to far it will snap. So go as far as you feel safe the stop. 2 days later you can try some more. If it dose snap quickly add cloning solution and support the break.
 
jyermum

jyermum

Active Member
If supercropped correctly he's got no worries in the 2nd week of bloom. With a haze he's got another 6 weeks to run and plenty of flower time. The knuckles will form within a day and the plant won't miss a beat. If he had 2 weeks to finish it might be different but 10 days in is a green light to pinch the shit out of those girls.
 
Flash4211

Flash4211

Active Member
Well, I supercropped the tallest of the bunch a couple of days ago, hit 5 or 6 branches, and like y'all said, she doesn't seem to mind it. The supercropped branches are turning back up at the bud ends and looking healthy. So tonight I'll go at it more aggressively, see if I can't buy enough head-space to finish up the grow. I'll get some before & after pics.

What's the best time in the light cycle to supercrop? Just after lights-on? Just before lights-off, or does it matter?

Thanks much for the help, guys. I would've killed these ladies 10 times over without the help of the brethren:D
 
jyermum

jyermum

Active Member
I don't think it matters when during your lights on time. Within an hour or so the leaves will be turning up to soak up the light. You said that everything is cool to the touch so that's good. Your biggest worry is heat and it sounds like you are pushing enough air to keep everything from burning.

It doesn't sound like you're doing too bad for your first time. Post up some pic's!
 
H

HurricanOday

Member
Seems like you could get some 4ft bamboo sticks and pull the tops down and to the side. That way they can still grow, they should start hooking like an S or growing like a Y. Hard to tell without pictures. Prolly should have topped them before flower, I had the same problem even with topping mine

They are only in the 4 in cubes? Seems like you need to put them in something bigger
 
Flash4211

Flash4211

Active Member
HurricanOday said:
Seems like you could get some 4ft bamboo sticks and pull the tops down and to the side. That way they can still grow, they should start hooking like an S or growing like a Y. Hard to tell without pictures. Prolly should have topped them before flower, I had the same problem even with topping mine

They are only in the 4 in cubes? Seems like you need to put them in something bigger
Click to expand...
I'm trying to picture this bamboo setup. Are you talking about a sort of scrog?

They are in 4" cubes, plastic removed and buried in Hydroton - the flood table is 2X4 filled with Hydroton, and they vegged in a top-feed setup, also in a tray filled with Hydroton. The roots looked great and had grown well out of the cube when I transplanted them.

Thanks much for the help. I'll get some pics up today.

Ciao!:peace:
 
Flash4211

Flash4211

Active Member
jyermum said:
I don't think it matters when during your lights on time. Within an hour or so the leaves will be turning up to soak up the light. You said that everything is cool to the touch so that's good. Your biggest worry is heat and it sounds like you are pushing enough air to keep everything from burning.

It doesn't sound like you're doing too bad for your first time. Post up some pic's!
Click to expand...
Thanks, Jyer, pics to follow shortly. I'm heading out there now, will probably do a combination of supercropping and LST.

And thanks for the kind words. This project has been both humbling and rewarding.

Ciao!:peace:
 
J

Jar Man

Active Member
My experience with any sort of cutting back or supercropping once the plants are even close to showing flowers significantly reduces the overall yield at harvest. The growth that supports large buds is past and any subsequent bud formation leaves far smaller buds and not necessarily a corresponding increase that's significant on remaining lower brances. Bending the tops as others have described works far better and you don't then lose those tops that will turn out to be your most potent real monsters at harvest. When tops are cut back it takes about a week for full speed growth to recover after growth hormones that were focused near the top of the plant are diffused thoughout the plant. G13 and Haze have a lot of sativa in their genetics. Hence tall plants and stretching during flowering are inate characteristics of the strain. But she's a good choice that produces good yields and is highly recomended.
 
T

tremend00oo

Active Member
let me ask you do you have a separate reservoir or is it one of those emily garden flood n drain set ups?.... if you have a separate reservoir i would make a wooden platform the size of your tent but the reservoir under put the tent on top drop the flood table to the floor of your tent or as close as you can run the drain through the floor maybe a small hole or out one of the vent holes or just make a wooden tray stand to lower the flood table .. put reservoir outside and get an inline pump and pump your drain so you will have one pump filling and another draining back to the reservoir.. hopes this helps.. good luck
 
Flash4211

Flash4211

Active Member
Hey, y'all

Here are some pics, 2 taken just before todays supercrop, 3 days after 1st supercrop, and 2 taken just after today's supercrop. And one of a typical bud - there are dozens popping up all over.

I wanted to do LST or HST today, but there just isn't much room to work in there. I'm just crossing my fingers that this isn't too much stress for these ladies. I really want to cross the finish line with a respectable yield.

As to the ladies currently in veg, before they go into bloom I'm either going to buy a much bigger tent or hit Home Depot for some foam board and furring strips and build a bloom room.

The flood/drain setup is pretty basic - the reservoir surface level is just below the bottom of the table, allowing gravity to return everything to the res by way of the pump when the flood cycle finishes.

Anything else I can do to get this grow done successfully? Thanks!

Ciao!:peace:
 

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nick17gar

nick17gar

Well-Known Member
Flash4211 said:
Hey, y'all -
This is my first grow, so I'm pretty much hitting all the bases for newbie mistakes:dunce:.

Problem: I have six G13 Haze that were in veg for 2 months, about 18" when I transplanted them to the bloom tent. They are in a 2X4 flood table, in 4" Grodan cubes set into Hydroton. They were top-fed in veg, flood/drain now. The tent is 4'X4'X76" (a little over six feet tall) as shown here, with one 1000W HPS cool tube and lots of ventilation - it's cool to the touch. GH flora/micro/bloom nutes. It's now only 10 days into bloom, and they are already banging their heads on the cool tube:roll:. I supercropped them pretty aggressively, and there are many, many buds showing up already. The light is as high as it will go, and the flood tray is on a platform 16" above the floor, keeping it just above the reservoir.

I'm completely out of usable vertical growth space.:wall:

When I first realized where things were going, one of the RIU brethren suggested cutting the bottom out of the tent and raising the whole thing. Since the ceiling is 10', that would buy an extra 3 feet of vert grow space, but I really don't want to tear up a brand new, light-tight tent.

These are robust, bushy plants, covered with buds and looking like they will be great producers, so I really don't want to give up on a possible bountiful yield.

So:

1. Transplanting to pots - how dangerous is that to the ladies' health? I suspect that their roots are all inter-tangled by now, but if they were in separate pots the options open up a little bit.

2. Cobble together a quick-and-dirty grow room using foam board and furring strips? There's floor space (it's an attached 2-car garage) - there are lots of how-to forum posts and YouTube videos out there, but I have no experience to help me evaluate their merits. Can someone suggest the best DIY options to build a quick and cheap grow room?

3. Other options, that don't involve tearing up the tent and/or serious construction? I'm sure others have encountered this problem, and there are other potential solutions.

Thanks, RIU!:peace:
Click to expand...
well you dont want to transplant during flowering, thats a shock they dont need.
making a new grow room - always good, theres tons of stuff out there to make that happen
and other options? STRING. i dont like topping during bloom either, so i top late into veg, and if they get to tall, break out the string, my first grow i did not top and they quickly reached the max height, so with string, and something heavy, i tied them down so they were growing diagonally from the pots, when you looked at the 5 plants i had, they would cris-cross into an X pattern, giving you a good amount of more room. keep tightening the string so that the new growth stays at the same height (a flat even canopy). once this grow is done, then id look into a new grow room. (i try to break in new set ups with veg grows, so i know everything is functioning properly, and heat is ok, etc etc, you dont wanna wake up and see that your new bad ass grow set up has a temp of 90+ or theres leaks, especially during bloom.)

good luck
 
J

Jar Man

Active Member
Have to say those are going to get much bigger/taller before they're done. And it's clear you'll have to do some tying down of most branches along the way. I wouldn't worry about what's below the main canopy that will fill in far more than what you've got now. Strip off any branches/buds much below where light penetration is minimal. Do this within the next few weeks. Once they're over half way home it's not a good idea to remove anything. The less they're disturbed when they're getting close, the better. Years ago a threw together a quick makeshift 8 X 10 X 8 ft tall grow room with 1 X 2 framing and black visquene plastic stapled to the 1 X 2s, powered by (3) 1000w HPS. I hung el cheapo white plastic painter's drop cloths inside to maximize light reflection, and built the whole thing inside a friend's garage that worked quite well and was cheap and easy to fab up.
 
H

HurricanOday

Member
Flash4211 said:
I'm trying to picture this bamboo setup. Are you talking about a sort of scrog?

They are in 4" cubes, plastic removed and buried in Hydroton - the flood table is 2X4 filled with Hydroton, and they vegged in a top-feed setup, also in a tray filled with Hydroton. The roots looked great and had grown well out of the cube when I transplanted them.

Thanks much for the help. I'll get some pics up today.

Ciao!:peace:
Click to expand...
I was referring to actually sticking the stick in the medium and then using that as a tie point to bend all the branches down. It seems others have said pretty much the same thing. If you are in 2 weeks of flower the plants will still grow, seems like you need to bend the plants in half haha.

I have some pics of my crop if it would help. I topped my plants in veg and they are 2-3 weeks in flower and just as tall/taller now and will be touching the lights soon.
 
Flash4211

Flash4211

Active Member
It is SO cool to have access to the wealth of information at RIU!:clap:

OK, so thanks to y'all now I have a strategy. Sometime in the next week, I'm going to get some LST going. These ladies don't need the stress of a third round of supercropping, so I'll break out the string and manage the canopy that way. I topped these girls pretty aggressively during veg, so there are a lot of individual branches to manage, but string is cheap:lol:

The attached pic shows a typical bud. They're popping up all over - it's two weeks into bloom. Is it still safe to trim the lower branches that are pretty much beyong the light's penetration? Or is it time to put the trimmer away and just stick to LST to keep the tops off of the cool tube?

Thanks, y'all! :peace:
 

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