Please Evaluate and Advise

Technically, this is my second grow. My first ended in tradgedy for the little schwag seedlings, as they were cursed from the beginning and never really germinated properly. Not to mention I probably didn't know what I was doing at the time.

In any event, as you can see in my pictures I'm doing much better this time. I have a total of three plants in my E&F setup. They begin their 5th week in the setup today. I germinated them for nearly two weeks before I transplanted them into the setup, so that puts them at about 6 weeks going on 7 weeks old, from seed. I got the seeds from HD and the name of strain is Sugar Blossom.

One of the plants has already started showing sex, but the other two have not. There is one that may be about to show, and I think it is a male but it's too early to tell.

Currently I am running about 900 to 950 EC keeping between 6.2 and 5.7 PH. Lights are at 18/6 using 400W MH.

I was going to veg for another week but here's the delima. As you can see the plants are nearly 24" tall, and I don't have a lot of room to play with. I've read that topping them at this height is a bad idea. On the other hand I've read that I can expect them to grow twice as tall as I flower in which case that would put me at 6 feet......which I just don't have to use.

Of the three plants one is absolutely female, the other two are unknown but one may be male and I attached that picture as well. I know someone is going to mention clones but I'm not experienced enough to attempt a clone nor do I have the time to mess with them right now. I still have more seeds and this is more or less a hobby until my wife pops out our first born and we can resume smoking again. Until then, I'll just grow a supply and if I'm any good at it them I'll grow more.

Any advice at this stage of the game to promote a large yield, yet keep the plants within a few feet in height. Additionally, should I up my nutes to 1200EC? Lastly, and I think this is the answer most will agree with, should I go into flower 12/12 HPS mode and get definite sexes and go with what I have?

Thanks in advance for all of the wonderful advice thus far!!

P

I'd especially like for someone to chime in on this today if at all possible as I have to go out of town for a few days tomorrow.

Well if your worried about height restrictions AND you want to know what sex they are, switch to 12/12 asap, Give them 1/2 grow, 1/2 bloom ferts when you do, and then later switch to full bloom ferts.

theres a product to stop the stretch during flower called "bushmaster", although i've never used it.

You should look up "air layering" instead of taking clones. very easy.

The preflower picture appears to be male, but I would still wait it out.

Another dilemma I have is that I am going out of town for 3 days. Obvioulsy if I go into flower I may end up screwing myself if that is a male. If I stay in veg then if it is a male I may get lucky and not get hurt by staying in veg and I may not get contaminated by pollen.....or the chances are better that I will be safe.

How's this as a plan......I top the plants at their height. Go 1/2 gro and 1/2 bloom ferts to start a transitional phase (which I think I should be doing anyway this week but I don't know). The guy at my hydro shop says I don't have to worry about it getting taller in flower......just wider and bushier. If that is so then as you can see from the pics I still have 2 feet to play with. However, can anyone confirm that the plany will not grow more than a foot in height during flower. Any of this making sense? Should I top at all?

Thanks!!

P

why does it seem like people who work at hydro shops always have no idea what they are talking about? does he not know you are talking about cannabis? and maybe he thinks your talking about roses or something?

in flowering indicas will stretch to roughly be 2x the size, sativas are known to quadruple in size (and boy did mine ever.)

Yes. switch to the 1/2 bloom, 1/2 grow asap. Also, judging by that picture I am 99% sure that is a male.

If your only going out of town for 3 days, I highly doubt that at the stage the suspected male is at, that a mature pollen sac will open while your gone.

Also, its not recommended to top your plant if your about to switch in flowering (and never top during flowering). Your plants will need to recover from the stress of the top before you switch to 12/12, and that will only create more shoots, and you look like you have enough bush as it is. (they do look beautiful)

*edit*
also is that 2 feet of space whats left above the light (as in you can only raise the light up 2 more feet?)

I have 20" I can move up safely. If I place the PVC on bricks then I have another 6" to 8" to play with.

The strain is an F2 cross of White Widow and something else from Joey Weed. I'm not sure if WW is indica or sativa I can find out.

P

Stop talking to your hydro guy because he doesn't know what he is talking about. 1st you will get double to triple the height growth in flower. White Widow is predominately Indica (late finisher), although those are some sativa leaves on your plant, so whatever it mixed with was a heavy sativa.

You're gonna need to top these plants. period. So go ahead and just chop them down to about 12". Then let them stay there for a week or so to recover and then switch the lights. You don't have enough light power to support this size plant anyway if you didn't top.

You have a LONG time before any possible male will make pollen so don't stress out about your little vacation. It's gonna take about two weeks into flower to really show its sex and then if it's a male you still have about 10 days before pollen.

So to recap, cut those babies down to 12", wait a week then throw them into flower and enjoy the next the two months, they'll be beautiful and I can already tell you're gonna get a really good load.

FU$K......I didn't have a reply before left so I switched out the lights. I also went half and half on the nutes. One is definitely a girl but the other 2 are undetermined. Too late to top I assume? Been 3 days under 12/12 HPS. 1300EC.

P