Plants get lanky when I switch to HID from T5 in Veg

noknees said:

around the 315? like vertically? if not, how so?

if you're going straight from all horizontal to all vertical, it could just be the sea-change of the orientation of the light.

maybe some mild to moderate top-lighting (horizontal) with a cool spectrum would help? LED strips with dimming? might help during the stretch in flower too.

playing with some strips might be clever anyways (transition from t5 to LED)

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sbeanonnamellow said:

Under the t5's you can get the lamps right on top of the plants, they don't have much room to grow because the lamps are right there in their face so they stack nodes.

When you switched to the CMH it's assumed that there's more distance from the lamp to the plants now, so they are going to fill that space in and stretch out more. Something to consider. Much love

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f-e said:

The elongation has ties to K but any efforts here are looking for stunting. I wouldn't chase that goal. Maybe a little more N with it's links to foliage and it's suppression of K.. But I don't believe you would get what you want from it.

Just moving a plant can cause it to morph a bit. Moving one and changing the light is a strong combination. You could offer the plant a side salad with it's dinner but there is no way of making it eat it.

It is us that must adapt, rather than the plant. If the stretch is hitting the roof, then flower them smaller or put them on a lower shelf. Give them the room they will take. Ultimately you may find a plant unsuitable for your methods. I have a project within an 80cm ceiling height at the moment. So I can forget my super silver haze beans. I must use things that only stretch 100-150% and flower them when there is space for them to do so(on the net).

Somewhere down the line you could invest in LED lighting. Everything else has had it's day. Using the same light source for the entire process won't lead to so many surprises. Allowing you to better asses the outcome while still in early veg.


Edit: If you want to try something unheard of, then blue leds below the plants could conceivably alter their perception of what a shift to the red across the plant looks like. You can buy a set of decorative blue led lights in Walmart like places for $10 at this time of year. Then cram the bundle under a single tree to see if it does anything for it. I did this with green before stringing them around my room as night lighting.

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