HPS Question for flowering... urgent!

I am flowering for the first time. My plants were left in veg state for a long time because I was going to clone to determine sex. My clones died and I decided in my impatience to just flower the plants. By this point, one of them is over 5 feet tall.

They've been flowering for one week (I think they're both female). My problem is, the tall one is almost touching the bulb of my 400W HPS (which is hung as high as it can possibly go). The top parts of the plant are dying off because of being so close, and some light is being blocked and not making it to lower branches.

Anyway, would it be safe to cut off, say, the top foot or so of my plant at the main stem, or should I just trim away the burned parts?

I know I should be keeping the plant about 2.5 feet from the light, but they're just too tall.

Don't trim away the burnt parts, just let your plant repair itself. :D
If you start trimming it'll not only be recovering from a 3rd degree burn, but also amputation (loss of fluid). (at least this is what I would do)

I don't know if it's possible in your setup to tie her down? Even get something small and heavy and wrap a string around it, tie it to her and get her AWAY from the lights!

Pics?

and by repair, I don't mean the burned parts are going to rejuvinate - I just meant to let them fall off at their own pace and pick them up and throw them away.

To answer your intitial cutting about the stem, I wouldn't. Not if you're about to flower. Most of the growth hormones are located in the main cola anyway, and you'll stunt the plant and wait a little while longer before you'll be able to switch them to flower.

I think your best bet would be to start tying the lady down. :dance:

Anyone else chime in?

No, dont cut shit..the plant will use it's energy to repair the cut part of the plant rather than buds, but I have seen people tie their plants down horizontally..you can try this I guess.

Sorry dude but you're fucked.

If they have only been in flower for one week and they are now touching light, wait til about another 3 weeks and see how tall they get.

In other words, the worst is yet to come.

A tie down at this point is indeed the only logical solution, but with so much more stretching to do, I not sure even that will suffice.

You may want to consider radical changes...lie the plant horizontal and let her flower from that position.

The buds will find a way to turn up towards the light...and...being its only one week into flower, they will do quite nicely.

Another option is doable, but takes balls of iron.

Snap the main Kola. Dont break it off, just snap it so it falls over. However, this may not be enuff either as the majority of the stretching is to come still.

Plan on 3/4" a day in height growth, if your plant is healthy and vigorous.

If I were you...

I would lay her on her side, OFF the floor or table. Simply run a series of shoe strings or cushioned twisty ties and suspend her from the ceiling, under the lights. She should be relatively completely horizontal.

Position either the plant or the light so the plant and the filament of the HPS run parallel to each other. Focus the main light on the top 2/3 of the plant and get some CFL really close to the lower 1/3 and keep a fan on the soil container.

Good luck.

sunday tie her down , i had the same problem . bend her and if the stem breaks while your doing it , put some tape around the snapped part . i know what your going through.

never done it before but i read about it.. LST...
not sure if it would work for you, some of the more experienced people already said that tieing her down wouldn't work, so maybe it wont, just wanted to put that thought out there...
if it wont work, anyone know why?
does LST have to start when your vegging?

I've LST'd in flowering though it's not recommended. I probably won't do it again, but just make sure I keep the plant tied down without getting too far.

I've actually DONE what harddon recommends and it works.

In fact when you lay her down horizontally, everything will move towards the light including the stem so you may want to tie her down depending on how close she is when you lay her down.

Keep us posted!

bending your plant during flowering wont hurt the plant, you wouldnt do all the pre work of tieing her down before you know the sex would you. so it is ok to tie down your plant when you find out its a female.

LST (Low Stress Training). I do it during flowering often. Good results.