Help New Grower With Square Plants

[Delps8]

Strain - AK-48
Number of Plants? 2
Growth Stage? Veg


How Long? 4 sets of nodes on 7/20/17 = 24 days
Indoor or Outdoor? Indoor
Grow Type - Hydro


Reservoir Size - 35 gals capacity, 28 gals to refill to 1/2" below net pot
Reservoir Temperature - 68º (Active Aqua chiller)
Medium - Started in rockwool


Hydro Setup - RDWC
Size (Wattage) of Light? How Many? 1 "600" watt LED, mfg says it draws 320 watts but KillaWatt reports 400.
Is it Air Cooled? Yes, cooled by internal fans.


Temperature of Room/Cabinet - Average high is 82, average low is 72. Using ice in tent during lights out.
RH - Average high 72%, average low 68%
PH - 5.8, has varied from 5.6 to 6.0


Pests - None known
Type and Strength of Fertilizer - Fox Farm hydro nutes at about 60% recommended strength. Using the 420magazine.com "Wonder Chart" for analysis.
Size - 2' x 4' x 8'


Using an EC + temp + pH monitor and really like it. Active Aqua water chiller is excellent for my needs. The RO unit feeds a 55 gallon cistern in the garage. The cistern temp is about 80 (August in Southern California) and the chiller brings the res down to 68 in < 6 hours.

RO water is 400 PPM before, 120 PPM after treatment


Hydro unit has "top feed" which I shut off after the plants developed a good root system.


Problem:
I am looking for feedback about my grow and seeking advice about the next steps to take.


My plants are "square" - they're pretty much as wide as they are tall. That's a good thing but what are my next steps?


Plant Width
When I started this grow, I wanted to set up a scrog but I didn't top/FIM/train when they were really small. They have been topped in the past few weeks and they're now 22" and 18" tall. The aluminum frame in the picture is 20" above the top of the res.
Per the pictures, it's looking like I'm running out of horizontal room. Is this an issue and, if so, what's the best way to handle it?


Plant Height - The tent is 7' 11" which leaves me with 57" between the top of the reservoir and the bottom of the light at its highest point. Subtract 14" (the minimum distance between the light and the canopy) and I'm down to 43". With my plants at 50% of the available grow height, should I do something to keep the height down?


Advice, comments, and warnings are welcomed.

 

[AnimaSola]

I would get that scrog working and flip em.

 

[Delps8]

Luweedgi:

I appreciate your response and I agree that's the best next step.

This my first grow so I was hesitant to make the big switch already. It seems to be too soon to be forced to flip because of grow height but I guess I can thank RWDC and Fox Farms.


New plan - a little bit of SledgeHammer Flush, start FF week 5 nutes, flip to 12/12, and hope that the day time temps here in SoCal play nice!

Thanks for the feedback – Norah and Nancy start a new phase.

 

[AnimaSola]

I would top it before flip, two tops will grow out where you top it and the tops are the best buds. Plus I think you will need the extra headroom.

 

[Delps8]

Luweedgi:

I have topped the plant on the left ("Norah") recently but didn't make the time to top, FIM, or LST when they were in the early stages. The plant on the left was "picture perfect" for topping - many of the stems had branches coming off at the same node height so it was a piece of cake to trim things up.

The plant on the right, Nancy, is completely different. Instead of the branches coming of the stem at the same height, they're almost always a little bit different heights - ¼" or ½". I did not top/FIM Nancy - should I do that now?

I've thought about topping Norah to try to reclaim some height but, wouldn't you know it, the tallest stems are from sites where I topped and they're the thickest stems on the plant so I my thinking was to not top that stem.

"Advice, comments, and cuss words" are welcome.

 

[AnimaSola]

Luweedgi:

I have topped the plant on the left ("Norah") recently but didn't make the time to top, FIM, or LST when they were in the early stages. The plant on the left was "picture perfect" for topping - many of the stems had branches coming off at the same node height so it was a piece of cake to trim things up.

The plant on the right, Nancy, is completely different. Instead of the branches coming of the stem at the same height, they're almost always a little bit different heights - ¼" or ½". I did not top/FIM Nancy - should I do that now?

I've thought about topping Norah to try to reclaim some height but, wouldn't you know it, the tallest stems are from sites where I topped and they're the thickest stems on the plant so I my thinking was to not top that stem.

"Advice, comments, and cuss words" are welcome.

Most plants (most) will double in height in the first two to three weeks of flowering. You need from 12 to 24 inches between the light and top of plant so before flipping to flower you need to do math if you are growing big plants.

 

[Delps8]

Luweedgi:

Yup - it could be very close. Or, too close.

8' tent but the res is tall because it's 35 gallons (it's a big bloody res for 2 plants…).

I can crank the light up pretty high so I get 60" between the top of the res and the bottom of the light. Back out 14" minimum light to canopy distance and I've got 46". Since they're at 20 - 24" now, I need to flip…yesterday!

The strain is AK-48 from Nirvana where it's listed as Short/Medium. When I checked at that famous site about how easy it is to grow weed (ahem), their advice indicates that it might double. I'm banking on the "might".

Or do I hack off a some of the tops to be on the safe side?

I just hate to cut off that excellent growth but this is my first grow so I've got to listen to "those who have tread this ground before me".

 

[AnimaSola]

Pinch the tallest stems about even height with the lower top as hard as it takes to completely crush the stem where you can bend it down. This will cause the lower tops to take off in growth and the broken part will curve back upwards. Research supercropping videos if you are unsure about it. On the tougher branches I sometimes have to pinch really hard to crush them.

 

[Delps8]

Pinch the tallest stems about even height with the lower top as hard as it takes to completely crush the stem where you can bend it down. This will cause the lower tops to take off in growth and the broken part will curve back upwards. Research supercropping videos if you are unsure about it. On the tougher branches I sometimes have to pinch really hard to crush them.

Good idea.

When I was getting the scrog net set up I bent a couple stems that need to be taped up. Oops.

I've been reluctant to try super cropping because fumble fingers can really cause havoc. In this situation, I can see that it's the right next move – I just woke up the plants and Norah grew at least an inch during lights out.

OK, let's get 'er done!

 

[Delps8]

Good idea.

When I was getting the scrog net set up I bent a couple stems that need to be taped up. Oops.

I've been reluctant to try super cropping because fumble fingers can really cause havoc. In this situation, I can see that it's the right next move – I just woke up the plants and Norah grew at least an inch during lights out.

OK, let's get 'er done!

Well, we'll see how things turn out when I check them in the AM. I only bent over a few of them. Lost my nerve after the big stem I mentioned before.

Competence is a function of training and experience. In this realm, I don't have a lot of either of those. :-(

 

[AnimaSola]

You can completely smash the stem to where its barely hanging on and it will heal up and form a hard knuckle in that spot.

 

[Delps8]

Well, they weren't all dead this morning — "that which does not makes us stronger" — which is incredible. The canopy is slightly canted but amazingly uniform!

I did a bit of "undercarriage clean up" and will lollipop them later today so tomorrow will be the day they go to 12/12.

 

[Delps8]

Cleaned up the cruft this morning. Left some of the undergrowth on Nancy thinking that her stems that are below the net will grow tall enough to get to net height.
Super cropping really helped reduce Nancy's height but there's still a significant difference in height. Different structure between the two plants. Norah has lots of perfect Y-shaped stems vs Nancy whose stems have branches that are at about ½" height offset. D
AK-48 is 7 - 9 weeks of flower so it'll be a mid-October harvest.