skunk too big!

hi all,

i'm currently 2 weeks in flower and one of my babies is getting dangerously close to my light.

i've got 2 x lemon skunk, and 2 x blue cheese under a 400w hps in a 75x75x1600 budbox. 1 of the plants is 12" taller than the others, but they all started at the same time!

i've got 6 weeks of flowering remaining, and about 2' of space for it to grow into.


my question is, if i really have to top it or tie it down, which will cause the least amount of stress to the plant.
and is there another way to slow its growth?

if you can find some Bushmaster it will stop the stretch...but needs to be applied in the first 2 weeks of flower....other than that tying it down would help!:smokin:

If you've got two feet to go, you may not have an issue. I had the same worry a week and a half ago, when my 2.5 footer reached 4.5 feet at 2 weeks of flower.

Luckily, it seems to have stopped at just shy of 4 weeks. Currently the top is 6 inches under the hood glass, and has been there a few days.

Unfortunately it's a strain thing in many cases. So yours could be different.

hi wisright,i'd say bending would be less stressful than topping!!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by wisright

my question is, if i really have to top it or tie it down, which will cause the least amount of stress to the plant.
and is there another way to slow its growth?

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Tying it down is better than topping at this stage. I think you will be fine with those 2 strains though. The lemon should be nearly finished stretching and I've never seen a blue-cheese stretch very much beyond 2 weeks.

One thing I've done before is hang something like a X-mas ornament on the top to weigh it down just a little, once the top starts getting heavy it will start sagging a little bit on its own.

cool, thanks for your replies.

i deliberately picked these strains because of height issues, this one plant is just a monster! lol
i'll see how it goes for a week or two, and i'll tie it down if i need to.

I was going to post a query on the same issue. I have seven PPP that I put into flower about 3 weeks ago when they where 15 to 16 inches tall. The largest one is now 28 inches and still climbing around an inch a day. Although they all look healthy, I am worried that they are getting cramped in their 8 ft space. My lamps have another 2 1/2 feet of upward adjustment to them and I don't know if I should be worried about their height.
I am a first time grower, and was not prepared prepared for how rapidly these things are growing.
Are they going to continue growing at this rate until harvest? Or is this something that generally slows down after an inital burst of growth??
I'll start another thread on this issue as I havent seen it addressed elsewhere, and am curious as to how others have handled this.

Photos attached. In the last photo it shows how I have 7 PPP on the left side of the room and 5 White Widow on the right side.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Randm999

I was going to post a query on the same issue. I have seven PPP that I put into flower about 3 weeks ago when they where 15 to 16 inches tall. The largest one is now 28 inches and still climbing around an inch a day. Although they all look healthy, I am worried that they are getting cramped in their 8 ft space. My lamps have another 2 1/2 feet of upward adjustment to them and I don't know if I should be worried about their height.
I am a first time grower, and was not prepared prepared for how rapidly these things are growing.
Are they going to continue growing at this rate until harvest? Or is this something that generally slows down after an inital burst of growth??
I'll start another thread on this issue as I havent seen it addressed elsewhere, and am curious as to how others have handled this.

Photos attached. In the last photo it shows how I have 7 PPP on the left side of the room and 5 White Widow on the right side.

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Randm999

Those plants look KILLER

I am not an expert by any means, but my experience has been not much upward growth after about 2-3 wks in flower, they will fill out sideways some depending on the strain. I see the most vertical growth about a week into veg - and then some 'stretch' after I flip the lights to flower. I had a weird strain of white widow that went crazy and tripled in size, but yours look like a different strain than mine was- yours look much more bushy. I think you will be fine but I wouldn't leave them vegging too much longer - I try not go more than 18-20 inches in veg, ending up with about 4 footers; my light goes up to about 5 1/2 feet so it usually works out pretty well. Please search around for more answers though - I am kind of a rookie myself.


great job and good luck

As others have stated, topping at this point is a bad idea.
I top 10 days before I put into flower and things always go swimmingly. I've found that if you top 7-10 days before flower, the buds are denser by harvest. The obvious height advantage is always a good thing too.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by DogtowN

Tying it down is better than topping at this stage. I think you will be fine with those 2 strains though. The lemon should be nearly finished stretching and I've never seen a blue-cheese stretch very much beyond 2 weeks.

One thing I've done before is hang something like a X-mas ornament on the top to weigh it down just a little, once the top starts getting heavy it will start sagging a little bit on its own.

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Good idea, I did the same with a 4 oz Ling Cod fishing lure.