Chilly Willy
Member
Sometimes due to a plant being too tall, you have no choice but to use a screen. The ceiling is only so tall, and you have to fit light hoods, and pots in that space somewhere. If you are using trays, and want the tray elevated so it can be drained into a bucket after feeding those girls, then you just added, or should I say took away two feet from that ceiling height.
So adding a screen will allow you to weave those branches into it, and still keep those lights down close to your canopy. But there is another way, and I used this method to tame 38 girls with out using those 4 ft by 8 ft screens in my grow. Which by the way, spending too much time weaving plants was not what I signed up for when I first began to grow.
In my situation, I had to let all those plants grow tall, because I was sorting males from females, and wanted to go ahead and let the girls mature after removing the males. I picked out the pheno of my choice, and placed the plant in the closet so later I could clone her. It was a mess, all those plants being so tall. So this is how I handled it, using wires instead of screens.
I am sure you all have bought one of those Christmas trees that are artificial, the limbs are made of wire and you can bend them so the tree looks natural. Although I did not think of this at the time, it would be a good way to begin in explaining this idea to all of you now.
Place a thick piece of mechanics wire, not like what you normally buy at the store; much thicker so it holds the plant in place. Place one end into the pot as far as it will go, then cut it so it is the length of the plant.
Use woven string and tie the wire at various places all the way up the length of the plant. Make sure it is loose, you don't want it to cut into the stalk anywhere.
Bend the wire over towards the ground, kinda like how a person would bend over to pick up something from the ground. This will expose one side of the plant to the light. More importantly, the height of this tall plant is no longer an issue so that you may keep the light right on top. You know, a ceiling is only so tall, and this is one way to manage that height.
What is great about this idea is that there is all sorts of flexibility in where you place your plants on the grow tray, now you can bend your plant so that there are no blank places where there is wasted light and now plants are under it.
I person with a plant which has several out of control limbs on that stalk could easily place more than one wire going down into the pot; now when you tie it off as you walk the wire up the stalk, simply branch off with the wire to follow that branch that comes off from the main stem. Tie it down as you would with the main stem and adjust it's placement under the light.
If you want to add Christmas ornaments, you got to post those pictures here so we all can get a good laugh. But seriously, this idea is quick, and does the trick with little or no maintenance. I wish I took pictures of this when I did it that one time, it was amazing to look at. You almost have to bend over to look, because everything is nearly totally upside down.
I don't advise making a habit of growing this way, there is a reason why a plant concentrates all it's efforts through the main stem up to the primary top or bud. But we all know that the world is not perfect, and we got to get these girls through to the end of the eight weeks. Good luck with your grow, and post some pictures while you are doing this for all of us here, it is a sight to be seen.
So adding a screen will allow you to weave those branches into it, and still keep those lights down close to your canopy. But there is another way, and I used this method to tame 38 girls with out using those 4 ft by 8 ft screens in my grow. Which by the way, spending too much time weaving plants was not what I signed up for when I first began to grow.
In my situation, I had to let all those plants grow tall, because I was sorting males from females, and wanted to go ahead and let the girls mature after removing the males. I picked out the pheno of my choice, and placed the plant in the closet so later I could clone her. It was a mess, all those plants being so tall. So this is how I handled it, using wires instead of screens.
I am sure you all have bought one of those Christmas trees that are artificial, the limbs are made of wire and you can bend them so the tree looks natural. Although I did not think of this at the time, it would be a good way to begin in explaining this idea to all of you now.
Place a thick piece of mechanics wire, not like what you normally buy at the store; much thicker so it holds the plant in place. Place one end into the pot as far as it will go, then cut it so it is the length of the plant.
Use woven string and tie the wire at various places all the way up the length of the plant. Make sure it is loose, you don't want it to cut into the stalk anywhere.
Bend the wire over towards the ground, kinda like how a person would bend over to pick up something from the ground. This will expose one side of the plant to the light. More importantly, the height of this tall plant is no longer an issue so that you may keep the light right on top. You know, a ceiling is only so tall, and this is one way to manage that height.
What is great about this idea is that there is all sorts of flexibility in where you place your plants on the grow tray, now you can bend your plant so that there are no blank places where there is wasted light and now plants are under it.
I person with a plant which has several out of control limbs on that stalk could easily place more than one wire going down into the pot; now when you tie it off as you walk the wire up the stalk, simply branch off with the wire to follow that branch that comes off from the main stem. Tie it down as you would with the main stem and adjust it's placement under the light.
If you want to add Christmas ornaments, you got to post those pictures here so we all can get a good laugh. But seriously, this idea is quick, and does the trick with little or no maintenance. I wish I took pictures of this when I did it that one time, it was amazing to look at. You almost have to bend over to look, because everything is nearly totally upside down.
I don't advise making a habit of growing this way, there is a reason why a plant concentrates all it's efforts through the main stem up to the primary top or bud. But we all know that the world is not perfect, and we got to get these girls through to the end of the eight weeks. Good luck with your grow, and post some pictures while you are doing this for all of us here, it is a sight to be seen.
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