Plant to tall.

I'am growing on my balcony, 2 weeks into flower, two of my plants are just under 6 feet tall, the problem is that now they are so tall, that they are missing the direct sunlight due to my location on the balcony, I was wondering if I top these plants at this stage what the outcome will be for yield, I know that I would be cutting my main cola, but would it push more bud production to other places? Or should I just leave it, and not worry about the direct sunlight to the top of plant, I can already see its starting to become pale at the top of the plant I am assuming from the lack of sunlight its getting.

Topping at this point will hurt your yields. I'd try to tie it down, personally.

homebrewer said:

Topping at this point will hurt your yields. I'd try to tie it down, personally.

Click to expand...

Yes I was thinking of that also, but not sure it would work because of its size already, and the space Iam working with.

.

below I agree with homebrewer, tie it down. You can drill a hole in your bucket rim and tie to the bucket itself. Try to tie your string/wire about 1' to 1.5' down from the top so the cola can turn back up. You could also bent the stem completely horizontal to the floor or train it in a circle around your bucket rim.

My first grow I didn't know that the plants needed 12/12 to flower, they were almost 8' tall. It took me weeks (and a few snapped stems, all repaired) but I got them trained CCOB.

There's a rough pictorial of how I do my LST on this page:

https://www.rollitup.org/smoke-reports/244210-kali-mist-serious-seeds-3.html

.

hmm actually saw something in there that might work good for me.. the tomato cages I could try that maybe to tie them down, the trunk of the plants are so thick at this point I don't think I could train it fast enough for there to be an affect not without snapping it, like you said happened to you. To boot I' am growing them all in the same pot, stupid yes I know but I wasn't excepting 4 females out of 4 seeds. But I think I might be able to do something with those tomato cages thanks for the input.

is there any tricks to making the PLant LIMP that might make this easier or a certain time when the plant can flex better?

.

They bend easier when they need watering, when the root ball is dry and the leaves drooping a bit. Like letting some air out of a balloon. You can water just after bending with no worry of damage.

Go slow, give the plants a week to bend. When training never tighten the tie downs more than once a day, once every two days is safer. If you do I guarantee a snapped stem before you're done.

If you snap a stem use dry branches or stems for a splint and some breathable tape to hold them in place. You can still bend before the break or crease in the stem while the damage is healing. Good luck!

.

I read on an LST thread that you can squeeze the stem with your thumb and finger once one way and again on the other side where you want it to bend, just barely crushing it enough to feel the stem loosen up. This should let you bend it over without risking snapping it. It'll heal into a nice knot where you crushed the stem and shouldn't suffer too much stress. I'll try to find the link for ya.

:EDIT: BAM https://www.rollitup.org/newbie-central/288113-step-step-how-super-crop.html
Turns out it was super cropping but I think this could help you out either way

.

With a hard stem crushing the outside a bit will speed things up but will also give you a weak spot that will crease if too much tension is put on the stem. Still go slow, tightening only once a day at the most. You can bend the woodiest stems in spirals without crushing if you're patient.

.

Another suggestion - re-pot at an angle. If you have a bigger pot to transplant into just score the root ball to stop circling; if you don't have a bigger pot just trim your current root ball and jam it in the bucket at a 45 degree angle, pack with fresh medium. You may want to put a landscape fabric liner in your new pot to promote root branching - link below.

The 45 degree angle transplant has made CCOB incredibly easy, bending from a plant 90 degrees to the floor takes a lot more time.

landscape fabric starts at post #23:

https://www.rollitup.org/grow-room-design-setup/303229-diy-air-pruning-pot-experiment-3.html.

.

"1) You said above that you transplant from a 6" container to a five gallon bucket, and do so "at an angle". What exactly do you mean?"

Instead of the stem growing straight up at a 90 degree angle to the floor I plant the root ball from the 6" pot on a 45 degree angle in the 5 gallon bucket, then pack Pro Mix underneath to support the root ball. The stems are easier to train because they don't have to be bent down as far.



.

"2) You are tying down the stem with trash bag twist ties, but what are you securing them to? Do you drill holes in the side of the bucket to loop the twist ties through?"

Yes, I drill 1/2" holes every inch or so just below the rim, more than I need but it's important to have a tie down where you need it when you need it so I drill holes all around in advance. In this picture you can see the two green twist ties securing each stem to the bucket rim, a small green twist tie holding the base of the stems to the back of the bucket.



.