Plants are STILL stretching in flower...?

[Natural]

Hello, first of all I would like to thank all the great people on this site for all of your knowledge and advice!

Now onto my problem... I've never had this happen in my 8 years of growing (except with 100% sativas)
Here's what is going on; I'm at the start of the 4th week of flowering as of today (April 18 2011) and my plants are STILL stretching. Some more than others, but it's getting to the point were if they don't stop I'm going to have to cut the top 6 inches or so off and just let the bottom growth grow out, which I really do not want to do!
The only thing different I did was I topped 3 of the plants that were taller than the other 2 in hopes of having an even canopy (which I do)

Here's my setup:

• Box size: 5 - 5 1/2 feet tall (can't remember), 3 3/4 feet wide, 3 feet long. Painted white inside.
• 400 watt HPS cooled hood with 172 CFM Vortex fan pulling air through it, no carbon filter. Light stays cool enough that the plants can literally touch the glass and be fine.
• Small fan blowing over the tops of the plants and a small fan that has an ozone generator built in at the bottom of the box blowing to keep air circulating and another ozone generator (smaller one) above my plants sitting on top of the light hood

Pot size/nutrients and soil:

• Each plant is in a 2 gallon square pot from the hydro shop.
• Foxfarm ocean forest soil
• Feed with foxfarm "big blom", liquid karma, molasses, PBP bloom, and the dry foxfarm nutrients (Open seasame, etc) **Following the foxfarm chart for when to use the dry nutrients**, been using this nutrient/soil mix for years with no problems at all.
• They get fed every other day, then a flush once a week on friday and I let the soil dry out for 2 days, then continue feeding (Again, been doing this for years with no problems)

Etc...

• Plants are never more than 6 inches away from the light, as of right now they are 3 inches from the glass and are fine, but still stretching like crazy.
• They get a spray of neem oil (pretty weak solution) about 3 times a week to control any of those pesky little flys. (Just as a precaution since I 've had them before, but none on this grow)

I can't think of anything else to say except for the strains... clones were acquired from a local Medical Marijuana co-op.
Strains are: AFxGP, SFV OGK, Purple Dragon (leans towards the sativa side by the way it grows...), Platinum Kush, and MTF (can't spell it, matathuskan thunder fuck (sp??).
All the plants look great, no yellowing, no light burn/bleaching, nothing. They all seem to be in perfect health except they keep getting taller!!

What can I do to make them stop stretching so much? They are very close to the light and are getting fed enough. I don't have any room to do any LST or anything like that, my box looks like an overgrown jungle as it is right now.

Any advice is more than welcome... techniques I can use, products, etc..
Thank you all very much!!

 

[DocLeaf]

Bend the tops.

 

[forkup]

Start of week 4 of flower? So full 3 weeks have passed by which for most plants is the end of stretch. They should stop now...you're good to go.

 

[fukndenny]

some stretch longer than others. that's the way it goes.

it's not the size that counts! it's how you work it! :O

bend that bitch over and make her yours. (if you want) as DocLeaf said, bend the top over if you're worried about it stretching more. it'll solve the problem.

 

[BongRipkenJR.]

Week 1 flower

Beginning of week 3


Stretch happens!

Here is some plants at week 1 of flower. They stretched over a foot and a half in 3 days.

 

[Yes4Prop215]

bushmaster is used to stop stretch, but use it sparingly.

 

[pinecone]

Supercrop by pinching the tops hard so that the hurd(?) crushes.

Pine

 

[growshopfrank]

Maintaining equal temps day and night reduces stretch

If you use dr nodes,bushmaster or megabud like Prop said very sparingly

 

[farmdalefurr]

BongRipken is right...... stretch happens. this baby in the back corner, stretched about 115% in 2 weeks lol. its almost higher than my 1000w hood. its a lemon skunk, and ive grown it out 2 or 3 times and never had one stretch like this

 

[Natural]

Thanks for all the advice guys!

I have another question...: Does it matter if my growcab looks like a damn jungle? I'm talking like all the plants are touching each other and light isn't getting to the lower half or so of the plant I'd say. If it does turn out to be a problem (IE: lower branches not producing much bud) I'm just going to chop the tops that are finished flowering and let the lower parts of the plant(s) grow out more.

Also, I really don't have the room to bend the plants over because of the 5 big bushy plants being squeezed in the grow box... I did however just pinch the stems as suggested above. Hopefully they will stop stretching soon and I can raise the light all the way up so the plants get a more even lighting pattern.

I believe I'm having these problems because I let my plants veg for way too long... Went on a week and a half vacation and had to rely on my mom to water the plants for me while I was gone. I was going to flip them to flower before I left for vacation but decided to keep them in veg instead...

Anyways, thanks everyone! I'm off to a 420 festival. Happy 420 everyone!
-- Peace... Natural.

 

[zbenjii]

it could be that it's too crowded. you can limit stretch by higher spectrum bulbs or smaller plant containers.

 

[BongRipkenJR.]

Thanks for all the advice guys!

I have another question...: Does it matter if my growcab looks like a damn jungle? I'm talking like all the plants are touching each other and light isn't getting to the lower half or so of the plant I'd say. If it does turn out to be a problem (IE: lower branches not producing much bud) I'm just going to chop the tops that are finished flowering and let the lower parts of the plant(s) grow out more.

Also, I really don't have the room to bend the plants over because of the 5 big bushy plants being squeezed in the grow box... I did however just pinch the stems as suggested above. Hopefully they will stop stretching soon and I can raise the light all the way up so the plants get a more even lighting pattern.

I believe I'm having these problems because I let my plants veg for way too long... Went on a week and a half vacation and had to rely on my mom to water the plants for me while I was gone. I was going to flip them to flower before I left for vacation but decided to keep them in veg instead...

Anyways, thanks everyone! I'm off to a 420 festival. Happy 420 everyone!
-- Peace... Natural.

Take a whole bunch of clones and defoliate. I took a bunch of clones and defoliated at week 2. It stopped stretch for a day and then the leaves blew the fuck up again! I gotta remove almost 60-70% of the leaves to get light to the lower buds. There is a Defoliation thread that has a lot of proof on the fact that it gets you some way bigger yields, but lengthens veg time. Also, some products that actually work were mentioned earlier.

 

[stoney917]

if they outta controle put them bitches inline gently snap there necks....supercrop ir just tie them down like me.

 

[twelsch24]

Does it matter if my growcab looks like a damn jungle?

Yes! Prune that shit. A jungle will not produce maximum yields.

You need to prune away any bud-sites that don't get lots of light. Clear out the jungle, leave only the top of the jungle.

When you know your plants really well (multiple cycles) you'll be able to do this in veg; you don't want your plants putting effort into stuff you're just pruning-off.
T

PS: bending a a rogue top (90 degrees) that is outta-control is also fine/acceptable.

 

[forkup]

I'd clean out all of the lower third of the plants and thin out the middle and bend the tops.