Innerorbit
Well-Known Member
I've been through a few grows now utilizing a 5'x5' tent and i'm starting to run into the problem of plants getting too top heavy and unable to support themselves. I grow in 2.5 gallon hempy buckets with straight perlite and do a lot of super-cropping to spread the plants out and keep the height down as I have started sort of a perpetual grow and have to veg them for a while before rotating to flowering so growing more, smaller plants is not really an option.
By the time they start getting mid-way into flowering I noticed that a lot of the branches can no longer support themselves under the weight of the buds and the branches begin to flop over and hang down. I've tried bamboo stakes which helped prop them up a little but I still have to worry about the entire plant tipping over since the buckets are not very heavy. I also plan to try using hydroten instead of perlite to make the buckets heavier and hopefully more stable but I'm not sure if that will be enough either.
I've gotten some pretty decent harvests (1.4lbs from the 5x5 with 640 watts of led) but I feel that I'd get better results if I didn't have this concern and didn't have to worry about plants tipping over, laying on one another or flopping over into the side of the tent potentially causing buds to get flattened on one side.
What are my best options? I don't think the stakes will do it so I'm thinking perhaps trying to build a tall scrog net out of pvc to fit in the 5x5 and offer some support to the branches. Could it also be a problem of weak branches due to my aggressive super-cropping or insufficient air movement thought the grow?
By the time they start getting mid-way into flowering I noticed that a lot of the branches can no longer support themselves under the weight of the buds and the branches begin to flop over and hang down. I've tried bamboo stakes which helped prop them up a little but I still have to worry about the entire plant tipping over since the buckets are not very heavy. I also plan to try using hydroten instead of perlite to make the buckets heavier and hopefully more stable but I'm not sure if that will be enough either.
I've gotten some pretty decent harvests (1.4lbs from the 5x5 with 640 watts of led) but I feel that I'd get better results if I didn't have this concern and didn't have to worry about plants tipping over, laying on one another or flopping over into the side of the tent potentially causing buds to get flattened on one side.
What are my best options? I don't think the stakes will do it so I'm thinking perhaps trying to build a tall scrog net out of pvc to fit in the 5x5 and offer some support to the branches. Could it also be a problem of weak branches due to my aggressive super-cropping or insufficient air movement thought the grow?
