Help! First Time Grower - Girls Stretching Like Crazy During Pre-Flowering.

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deadlysars

deadlysars

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Hello!

I just transitioned to 12/12 light cycle a week ago with 45 days of vegging. These girls are stretching like crazy! They have grown almost 50% in the past week! It's literally at the top of my grow light. I'm worry about burning. Is there anything I can do now to slow stretching or its too late?

I have another DIY (5X4X6) grow tent I made for my second harvest that I can move them there as a last resort but I already have my second harvest all nice and setup there so it'll be a pain in the butt to move everything.

Seeds was given to me by a buddy so unsure of strain but looks like sativa and indica mix.

I had some hiccups thus far. Had some issues with fighting fungus gnats and underwatering my plants for a bit. They seem pretty healthy now though.

Setup:
Unsure Strain of Seeds
Grow Tent -32' X 32 X63'
300W LED Light for the first 20 days. Then upgraded it to TS1000 lighting
Light Cycle Was 18/6 | Now 12/12
Median - Ocean Forest
4" Exhaust Fan
2 Fan
Inside Tent for Airflow
Water with 6.8 As Needed when soil is dry along with Nutrients Feeding Regiment when plants were about 25 days old. 2X A Week w/ regular watering in between
Humidity Average 55%
5 Gallon Bucket With Holes Drilled At Bottom
Help first time grower   girls stretching like crazy during pre flowering
Help first time grower   girls stretching like crazy during pre flowering 2

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Fox Farm
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mysticepipedon

mysticepipedon

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They may continue to stretch for another couple of weeks.

For height, do some super cropping, which is essentially squashing a stem so that it can be bent over. Then bind it down at a 90 degree angle from vertical.

But you may have to do some pruning and you should probably do some defoliating for air circulation. That's a very small tent. I'd also remove all growing points and leaves within about a foot of the soil surface.

Two good things: You'll probably end up with a fair amount of bud and you've learned an important grow lesson about stretch.
 
ComfortablyNumb

ComfortablyNumb

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Did you have your light at the top of the tent the entire time?
The farther away your light is (to a point) the faster they stretch.
for minimal stretching in a short tent, I like to keep the lights around 12-15 inches above the plant tops. Sometimes less. It depends on the plant.
 
deadlysars

deadlysars

44
18
They may continue to stretch for another couple of weeks.

For height, do some super cropping, which is essentially squashing a stem so that it can be bent over. Then bind it down at a 90 degree angle from vertical.

But you may have to do some pruning and you should probably do some defoliating for air circulation. That's a very small tent. I'd also remove all growing points and leaves within about a foot of the soil surface.

Two good things: You'll probably end up with a fair amount of bud and you've learned an important grow lesson about stretch.

You couldn't tell by that picture but I already removed about the bottom 1/3 . I plan on defoliating more in probably about a week so I wont stress them out too much.

Here's a couple more pictures of different angles.
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deadlysars

deadlysars

44
18
Did you have your light at the top of the tent the entire time?
The farther away your light is (to a point) the faster they stretch.
for minimal stretching in a short tent, I like to keep the lights around 12-15 inches above the plant tops. Sometimes less. It depends on the plant.
No, the lights were originally 18 inches away but when they hit pre flowering they just kept stretching!
 
Madmax

Madmax

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313
Your only option is to do what mystic said .supercrop them at the net then tie them to it.it could b risky as i dont know if that strain would throw nanners .that said if the strains stable and plants are healthy you should b okay.but dont do it because i said.im not pushin you haha..checkout Enforcers grow..he supercrops and look like they just been through a twister but you look how they recovered..
 
deadlysars

deadlysars

44
18
Here's an update 4 weeks into flowering.. I ended up moving them to a bigger grow tent but not without issues. The branches started sagging/damage from the move so I had to string the branches up to help with coverage.

Are these girls on track?

Any feedback on this would be greatly appreciate it.
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ComfortablyNumb

ComfortablyNumb

6,099
313
That looks about right for 4 weeks of flower.
I see some light stress, and maybe some over watering. How high from the tops are your lights?
 
deadlysars

deadlysars

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18
That looks about right for 4 weeks of flower.
I see some light stress, and maybe some over watering. How high from the tops are your lights?
Well before I moved them they were trap in a tiny grow tent (32X32X64) with the top hitting the light so that's why a few spots have light stress. When I transitioned these girls to a bigger DIY tent (5X4X6 - LxWxH) I intentionally moved the tallest branches away from directly middle of the light. Currently the center of the tops are about 8" from the light.

I water them usually 3 days apart about 2-3 gallons of 6.5-7 PH with accordance to Fox Farm Big Bloom/Grow Big/Tiger Bloom nutrients feeding chart.
 
ComfortablyNumb

ComfortablyNumb

6,099
313
I would move the light up to 16 inches. If you can not, then turn it down from 100% to 80%
And lolipop the bottom half..

 
deadlysars

deadlysars

44
18
I would move the light up to 16 inches. If you can not, then turn it down from 100% to 80%
And lolipop the bottom half..

Thanks!

I chopped so much off already. Part of me knew I needed to chop even more off since the bottoms are barley getting any light and is sucking the energy away from the top. They are sleeping now... I'll give them a haircut first thing tomorrow morning.
 
deadlysars

deadlysars

44
18
I would move the light up to 16 inches. If you can not, then turn it down from 100% to 80%
And lolipop the bottom half..

Here's after lolipopping. I will probably do more.

Usually the bottom leaves will turn brown/black and die off. I figure it's probably from the lack of light but since I'm here I figure I asked. Is that normal?

Also, I noticed a 3-4 fan leaves turning brown/black as well near the top branches. I figure it's not a lot so not that big of a concern.


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growsince79

growsince79

9,065
313
Here's after lolipopping. I will probably do more.

Usually the bottom leaves will turn brown/black and die off. I figure it's probably from the lack of light but since I'm here I figure I asked. Is that normal?

Also, I noticed a 3-4 fan leaves turning brown/black as well near the top branches. I figure it's not a lot so not that big of a concern.


View attachment 1144753
View attachment 1144764

View attachment 1144765
View attachment 1144763
How old are they?
 
ComfortablyNumb

ComfortablyNumb

6,099
313
How much and what are you feeding and watring?
What is your pH?
What kind of soil?

What do you mean the leaf turned black? Can we see that one?
 
deadlysars

deadlysars

44
18
How much and what are you feeding and watring?
What is your pH?
What kind of soil?

What do you mean the leaf turned black? Can we see that one?
I was using Distilled water but it got too costly so for about 3 weeks I was using just my city water (PPM 180) along with Fox Farm Nutrients (Big Bloom, Grow Big, Tiger Bloom). I just got an RO system a couple weeks ago so I been using that along with Fox farm nutrients and Cal/Mag.

Soil: Fox Farm Ocean Forest
PH - 6.5-7 Usually AFTER mixing nutrients
20210711 121332 Cricled


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Ponky

Ponky

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263
I would mash them down by hand. Bending it to where I want it. Defoliate. Then I would flip sooner next run.
 
deadlysars

deadlysars

44
18
I would mash them down by hand. Bending it to where I want it. Defoliate. Then I would flip sooner next run.
Thanks. I already have my second batch going and I'm definitely am doing a better job of training the branches to be more of an even canopy.
 
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