Hi growers. I am doing an indoor DWC hydro grow with two plants. One of them is a landrace Malawi Gold pure Sativa strain which has grown too tall now being about 6 weeks old. This is my 3rd harvest and the biggest problem I’ve had with my previous 2 harvests is that I wait a little to long to start flowering and my plants outgrow my tent during the flowering stretch.
I got a new tent which measures 48x48x80 inches. My MG plant currently is 32 inches tall from the top of the reservoir to the top of the plant and 47 inches tall including the reservoir. I have topped her twice for 4 main colas. I know that I again waited too long to start flowering, but that being said I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions on what I can do to control its height.
Is there anything wrong with simply topping the 4 colas back down to a more manageable height? I know leaving in the metal halide bulb for the first few days of the 12-12 schedule can help reduce the stretch a bit, but I doubt that would be enough because this girl is growing like a champ. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
So I’ve done some LST along with the topping to create the 4 colas of equal height. The base of the plant has the Y shape from the first topping and the 2nd topping created two additional Y or U shaped stem structures for a total of 4 colas if that makes any sense. By now the main stems are pretty hard and don’t bend so easily. I’m not sure I really understand how you would do LST after topping when the plant is already fairly mature. Would I bend the tops of the stems? That would lead to a very strangely shaped plant. Again, any help is appreciated.
have you turned them 12/12 yet if not you can still bend and break to get desired height squeeze stem between fingers working it back and forth twisting it yes it breaks the tissue but it forms back stronger so long as it doesn’t snap off it can be bent and trained. They are forgiving plants and you can be quite rough with them they will recover they will double in height or close to it in flower so unless you can set your lights super high up bend them down and tie to your pot carefull of you Y’s you may need to tape them first.
Thanks for the tip. I haven’t started the 12/12 yet so I am going to try some more plant training. Hopefully I won’t need to break the tissue as you said (I believe this is a form of HST), but will do so if needed.
I wish I had the pictures for you but LST and breaking actually improves the plants nutrient flow and vascularity where you bend and break the tissue becomes thicker as it heals this is why practices like main lining LST and light movers are so effective also another reason for strong fans the thicker stems support more growth improve nutrient flow and carry heavier buds I break and bend right into 2nd week of flower to keep canopy even
I also topped 3 times and just began some LST. I used a web of pipe cleaners to direct the branches. I am new to this, but am looking forward to a White Tornado shape from this White Widow. Definitely have too much time on my hands. Plant 12 inches tall now.
I break and bend right into 2nd week of flower to keep canopy even