additive to stop stretch?

[Marquis de Sod]

guys, i have had my like 6th gen clones of 2 u/k kinds of indica turn into what looks like stinkin sativa. i have had them under a 400W HPS and a 400w MH then went to straight MH and still like nothin changes. they are in 1/2 perlite 1/2 vermic. i water them every 2 days. the lights are on 24/7 so no diff in temps. still i have small node leaves that NEVER SEEM TO GROW. i have like 2" of stretch. i have started topping all of them. that makes the node leaves grow but them i am getting lateral branches that are doing the same thing as the main stem. so now it seems like i have to top it too. i am trying to grow like jrosek's sog if anyone has read that size does matter thread. i had GREAT results at first but since then nothing but one prob after another. it has been months now that i have been trying to deal with this stretching problem. the only stuff i have seen in the store is Dr. Node's growth reducer.
Most of you seem to be talking about reducing stretch in flower. i want to get alot of bud sites going in veg FIRST. i have the pruning directions that came with a Phototron machine. it says that every gen of clone WILL have nodes closer together. i am trying to prune my plants that way and i am not able to because of not just no secondary nodes, but crap first nodes. so many of my plants the fan leave just grows and grows and the node leaves do squat. i have also started just cutting every fan leave off after i feel the node leaves are not going to grow at all. i feel the fan leaves are useless. i have tried letting them grow and see that they are the only thing growing bigger. it is a shame. when budded out my harvest is like nothing because all i get are tine buds except for the top, which pretty much sucks too. my MH is like 8 inches from the tops of the plants. i have burned one or two because they are so close. i have kept my water in the room for a while to get to temp instead of at the 68F from the fish tank. i have had a room fan blowing on them for along time now. i am beginning to think that is the only thing i havent done is just turn off the fan, but as we all know, air circulation is good. it is always75-80F in my room, at night about the same because i open up the bloom room with it's 1KW HPS lamp, which i now added a second 400W MH. i am at my wit's end. i have been avoiding sending for seeds because of The Man, but now i feel like i have no choice other than to punt. do these products listed above in this thread (Dr. Nodes is $55/pint) have the same effect in veg as they do in bloom? ps i have tried supersizing (pinching them) to NO effect. i have tried super nutrients AB formula for veg as well as Sea Grow, which seems to do better, with water at about 6.0. one year ago i was kicking ass. now i have had my own ass handed to me.

Mist, how about supersizing in the lower parts of the main stem as well as the tops, like in 3 places? ever tried that? i did that to a couple, but like a dummass i didn't mark the plants i did it to and dont remember what happened. didnt seem like anything much happened or i would have had a good plant with lots of nodes.

 

[ChaosCatalunya]

Yam, it may not be for you now, but Metal Halides in there will make them stretch less than pure HPS, if you are having the ladies already stretching up near the lights I would train them no question. I am sure you have seen what happens to the tops when they get too hot or even singe, it is way better to get it done now, if you wait, the tops may well go into another burst of growth, done now, they should form a nice canopy and give a nice yield, all in the predicted timeline.

 

[yamaha_1fan]

Interesting idea about room temps. I keep the room at 85 during lights on, then 75 at lights off. I run Co2. Should I keep the room higher during lights off? 80? 85?

 

[Hydro-Soil]

My normal routine is a veg formula for the first 10-14 days, then switch to bloom nutes. This go around, I am going to go straight to bloom nutes

Have you tried switching to bloom nutes a week before you flip? Those veg nutes really help increase stretch, depending on what you're using. I'd also cut veg time if possible. Once the clone has a fist sized root mass, go for it.

Why not try that on one table and one additive on another table. Personally, I'm a medical user and if I know or can tell you're using an additive, I don't want it. (Main reason I'm growing my own.)

 

[Marquis de Sod]

just want to add that i just saw on another forum (420mag) or somesuch in a google search, a post @ dr nodes that one should not re-use the dirt once you have added this stuff to it because it will cause the new plants to be shorter. but i think if it is added in grow, like i want to use it, that by the time 2 months of water goes thru it in bloom, that it will all be washed out. si?

 

[*mistress*]

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[HIGHGROOVE]

im 26 days into flower and have two lambsbread taht want to stretch to the moon it seems not to mention theyll finish a few eeks alter then my other girls.....is it too late to add bushmasters and would that also cut off someof their flowering time as well as the rest of the stretch?

 

[mrred]

i'd us lst and next time use smaller pots

 

[magiccannabus]

Most of you seem to be talking about reducing stretch in flower. i want to get alot of bud sites going in veg FIRST. i have the pruning directions that came with a Phototron machine. it says that every gen of clone WILL have nodes closer together. i am trying to prune my plants that way and i am not able to because of not just no secondary nodes, but crap first nodes. so many of my plants the fan leave just grows and grows and the node leaves do squat. i have also started just cutting every fan leave off after i feel the node leaves are not going to grow at all. i feel the fan leaves are useless. i have tried letting them grow and see that they are the only thing growing bigger. it is a shame. when budded out my harvest is like nothing because all i get are tine buds except for the top, which pretty much sucks too.

You've explained the real problem pretty well here. You can't chop off all the fan leaves in veg and still have big buds. That you're succeeding at all is a product of the sheer mass of light you're dumping on them.

I do a lot of my growing with side lights, and also using more sources of light rather than one big light. I've noticed this helps side branches a great deal. In veg it helps them grow out those secondary branches, and in flower it stops stretch almost completely. It also makes more uniform buds top to bottom(though it still favors the top for genetic reasons), and it helps make up for lack of penetration by overhead lights. I think you'd benefit greatly from adding some T8 shoplights or striplights around the lower edges of your plants, just above the rim of the planters. I say T8 because you can put your plants right against them and they will not burn. I'd also recommend daylight tubes for the veg, and 50/50 mix of red and blue for flower. Lower branches and their leaves fuel upper growth, but fan leaves operate better on the blue light, so I'd say to put the blue tube below the red one.

Light is a food to these plants in a way, and those side branches need to eat to grow. Single point overhead lighting alone won't provide this.

 

[Bababooey]

im 26 days into flower and have two lambsbread taht want to stretch to the moon it seems not to mention theyll finish a few eeks alter then my other girls.....is it too late to add bushmasters and would that also cut off someof their flowering time as well as the rest of the stretch?

I've used phosphoload, and as long as they keep stretching you can use plant growth regulators. I wouldn't use it close to harvest though.