how to reduce internodal space

[Holie214]

It's my first grow so I don't have much to compare it to. I'm into my first week a flowing now.

 

[MonkeyPickAss]

It's my first grow so I don't have much to compare it to. I'm into my first week a flowing now.

They look much much better there. Nice grow.

 

[Roscko]

Tie knots in the stems.


calm down, its just a joke.

 

[Roscko]

Looking nice and short with the LED's, and looks like you have the LED's just far away enough to keep them short and not burn them.

 

[Ss-farmer]

Run your lights at night so the temps stay similar to what they are when the lights are off..

 

[vostok]

any tips on how to reduce the gap in between nodes. keeping plants as small bushy as possible. all theory wellcome thanks

The real deal is hormones in the plant dictate the effects to the plant

you the grower manipulate these hormones to suit your own grow style

you can do this with chems (uncool) or with light (cool)

shining a hps/2700k light above ur plant is hormone manipulation

if you are trying to grow weed in say a pc case or shoe box etc ..typical of many

you'd start of post germing with a white 6500k light

avoid using any red light/2700k until the last 2 weeks on the entire grow

favoring/with practice a daylight color of about 4000k

its a test and trial to ur own situation

boost ur weed knowledge read up hormones

good luck

 

[churchhaze]

The real deal is hormones in the plant dictate the effects to the plant

you the grower manipulate these hormones to suit your own grow style

you can do this with chems (uncool) or with light (cool)

shining a hps/2700k light above ur plant is hormone manipulation

if you are trying to grow weed in say a pc case or shoe box etc ..typical of many

you'd start of post germing with a white 6500k light

avoid using any red light/2700k until the last 2 weeks on the entire grow

favoring/with practice a daylight color of about 4000k

its a test and trial to ur own situation

boost ur weed knowledge read up hormones

good luck

I assume you mean avoid far-red. Red inhibits shade avoidance while far-red promotes shade avoidance. Red reduces stretch.

 

[weedhead24]

That's a good summary of some techniques I've tried and validated through testing.

For the stretch period one thing it doesn't mention is managing the difference between veg kelvin and flowering kelvin. That is one of the biggest factors from what I've seen in testing. The greater the difference in colour/kelvin, the greater the stretch. In other words most stretch would be if you were vegging with 6500k and flowering with hps (2300k). So managing the stretch can be managed (greater or less) by choosing or forcing specific light colours during the first couple of weeks. An example to reduce stretch might be running a HID lamp with higher blue ratings during the stretch period, then switching it to hps. imo this is why you'll often hear folks flowering with hps, then switching to LED's for flowering seeing a big difference in reduced stretch under LED's. The most common LED kelvin rating is 3500k for flowering, so without changing veg light kelvin rating, flipping to hps in flowering vs. LED's will produce much more stretch, all other factors being equal. Prior to flowering with 3500k COBs I was using 315w CMH with a 3100k bulb and even with only a 400k difference there was a notable difference in stretch between CMH and COBs.

I can also vouch for negative DIF mentioned in the article suppressing stretch. Ran a couple of rounds last summer running negative DIF temps (higher temps during lights out) and saw a big reduction in stretch. I also noticed significant differences in bud output and density using this technique. It's difficult to run this during winter for me, but I'll go back to running negative DIF as the temps warm up, it was well worth the extra effort to maintain a negative DIF environment. If you want the stretch but want to try negative DIF, you can simply run the first couple of weeks in a traditional environment with say a 10-15F difference between lights-on and lights-off (lower temps), then switch the environment to negative DIF.

In veg, not sure why but those blurple multi-band cheap LED's (e.g. Vipar, or MARS) tend to grow very tight nodes in veg across multiple genetics and you don't have to do anything, they just grow that way under those lamps. I've used them for 4+ years and they go into flowering very tight, then I stretch them to open them up in flowering which gives me a great transition with benefits from both techs.

excuse me question for a small micro grow vipar or mars for overall performance which you feel is suitable for my needs .or just go another led route I want dank dank ass buds

 

[ANC]

CFL light tends to give close cropping, you can also foliar feed with kelp on a regular basis to also help keep it from stretching.
Normally one would only do this once every week or 2 or three, to avoid it not stretching, so just do the opposite.

Don't even think about Mars, or any unit using those shitty LEDs.

 

[MonkeyPickAss]

CFL light tends to give close cropping, you can also foliar feed with kelp on a regular basis to also help keep it from stretching.
Normally one would only do this once every week or 2 or three, to avoid it not stretching, so just do the opposite.

Don't even think about Mars, or any unit using those shitty LEDs.

Fuck mars for sure but there are plenty of nice shitty Let's. Comparing a vipar or Meizhi to cfl is laughable at best.

 

[ANC]

Was not making a comparison, was just talking about using CFL to help keep nodes small, especially during veg.
They are not suitable for proper flowering unless you smoke micrograms.

 

[GroErr]

excuse me question for a small micro grow vipar or mars for overall performance which you feel is suitable for my needs .or just go another led route I want dank dank ass buds

I only use them for veg/clones.seedlings, wouldn't recommend either for flowering, they're a step above cfl's for flowering. If you were to have only one light I'd go the LED COB route, you'll get at least double the weight in flowering.

 

[TheChemist77]

i use the 3100k 315watt cmh for both veg and flower.. in veg the plants stay short and stocky,,every strain is different but it seems more indica= tighter nodes and shorter plants. i then flower under the same lights,, plants do stretch, but much less than they did using 6500k mh in veg and a 3100k hps in flower. my day time and night temps may also play a factor,, my room lights on 76-80 d f and night time temps 68-72 d f ...

 

[weedhead24]

thanks growerr

 

[weedhead24]

I only use them for veg/clones.seedlings, wouldn't recommend either for flowering, they're a step above cfl's for flowering. If you were to have only one light I'd go the LED COB route, you'll get at least double the weight in flowering.

hey groerr how do they use cobs

 

[GroErr]

hey groerr how do they use cobs

It's jus another technology within the family of LED's (Chip On Board). A lot of people b wild them themselves, there are kits available where basically all you do is assembly. There are pre-built off-the-shelf panels, not a lot different than the older techs. There are bar formats like I grabbed that can have anywhere from 2 to 4 COBs per light and output anywhere from 100w to 200w each. in an environment where you only run one light you can grab or build smaller COB fixtures (even one COB per fixture) and mix/match your spectrum to suit a single light for both veg + flower, or go one colour like say 4000k and use it for both. Many options, they do produce 2-3 times the weight that a blurple panel with older tech will in flowering.

Some good info, links and instructions on builds in the LED section here if you want to brush out on options. Lots of folks posting results as well.
https://www.rollitup.org/f/led-and-other-lighting.124/

I'm running about 700w on average over a 3x8' area and pulling somewhere between 1.5-2 lbs. per run depending on what genetics I'm running. I've flowered under Blurples, CMH, and COBs, the COBs converted me not only for their production which is similar to CMH but the quality under the COBs is outstanding, best quality I've ever grown indoor or outdoor. Here's a run I just finished, the COBs run overhead as any light would, that panel on the left is just some testing I'm doing with a diy 660nm board to speed up the harvests.

 

[Moe Flo]

HID lighting all through veg and pinching in first 3 weeks of flip works for me.

 

[Odin88]

So according to this thread it looks like there are four things needed to keep tight nodal spacing: LED Lighting, keeping light as close to the plant as possible without burning the plant, using a kelp product because the cytokinin hormone in kelp helps regulate growth and keeping a consistent temp with a 5 degree temperature differential.

 

[Roger A. Shrubber]

that would be a good start. leds are good but not necessary. a good t5 florescent fixture works fine for veg, you just have to raise the plants up to it till they start to grow the way you want them

 

[Nizza]

reducing nitrogen and phosphorus during the first 2-3 weeks of flower as well as using more blue light in general in veg and during early flowering period can help keep the nodes tight during stretch phase.

also keeping night temps within 5 degrees of day temperatures will reduce stretch