light manipulation during veg?

[intergalactic_harvester]

bases are pretty much complete here, and its time to let these girls fill out. its a new step for me, and im a little unsure of the most effective way to proceed.
this far, i raised my light (1000w mh) 2" a few weeks ago because i was smashing the center plant. that fixed it without excessive stretch from the others. i raised it again one click when i last cut n defol n lst and the new top growth started bleaching. that was friday. today i woke up to a little bleaching again, so another one click up on the light and more lst. leaves darken back up after an hr or so.
is what im doing the most efficient and effective way to let them get thier vertical growth and keep those nodes tight?
and just a side note on light intensity... im finding that maxing thier nutes has reduced this strains light tolerance threshold by about 5k lumens. found that interesting.
another issue im seeing here is i have one girl who is super aggressive and outpacing the rest no matter how hard i beat on her. i know i said i was done topping but im considering topping just this plant one more time to put her more in line with the others. lst dont slow it down enough, and im afraid shes gonna make a meal outta the rest of them if i dont do something. i see a fine line here with timing... if i cut her... it might balance out my canopy over a week? maybe it will just piss her off and make her bigger and meaner?
thoughts and experienced suggestions, GWE?

[DW2]

Nice looking plants, You must be doing something right.

[intergalactic_harvester]

thanks for the compliment! be assured its this strain, tho, lol. if u can zoom that pic or some of the others ive posted n see those scars...

[DW2]

I went back for a closer look and I see the scars. How did You get the twisting effect on the stems, or is it the genetics of the plant? I like the 'tie-downs' you used, a good idea, I installed small screw eyes on my reservoir top (some are starting to rust after being in for two years). Even close up, the plants have a very good color to them and do look healthy.

[intergalactic_harvester]

wow, thanks again! its been hard for me learning this manifolding and i really appreciate the encouragement from you guys.
that twisting is from the training. when i pull them down i try to turn the tips so light hits em both equally.

[Green75]

I read...looked..read again...looked...how long till you want to flip them

[intergalactic_harvester]

hey green! not trying to rush them, i would like a proper harvest if possible. i was hoping to get about 14 to 16 inches of vertical growth and GUESSING to take around 2 more weeks? i just dont want another month of veg if i can do it without cutting down any chances of a decent yield. this strain isnt a big yielder anyway, lol. but very good practice material!

[intergalactic_harvester]

...or are you thinking i should just flip sooner?

[intergalactic_harvester]

show you what im dealin with, that pic was yesterday. this is right now...
what do i do with her?

[Green75]

Topping her well just make her come back bigger...

A...cull the middle plant hit the flip in two weeks
B...do nothing and hit the flip in a week

The stretch after the flip will get crazy..good crazy

If you are after big bush plants do nothing and hit flip whenever you want...

[intergalactic_harvester]

ok. but why the middle one? shes like my number 2. i got that stunted twisted special needs plant in the corner left... could i safely ditch that one and move the middle one there?

[Green75]

Hell if you can move her..just move her forward...would give added room looks like...

[Green75]

All depends on your needs....all depends on height availability...they will double maybe sometimes triple in height after the flip...

[intergalactic_harvester]

ok. maybe 13 or 14 inches to be safe.
now... can i safely move the plants? im pretty sure i can keep root damage super minimal. do i need to worry about stress or anything?

[intergalactic_harvester]

i think culling might be the best fix. that left front corner plant is just there to see what i get from it. stunted, lots of deformed growth. if i feed her to my dog i can put that center one in her spot and killing all the birds at once because i think the only thing stopping that one from looking like my monster is the light.

[Green75]

You don't have to move her at all....just will get crowded move or not....

You could also install a trellis...net...keep them spread out that way...since you don't pull plants out...can't rather...

[intergalactic_harvester]

trellis net. like a scrog setup? help the tops grow up thru the net?

[gbauto]

That's one of the many mistakes I made during my first indoor grow. I was amazed at how these little 'sticks' turned into a mass of vegetation during bloom. I guess a hard part of growing is the need to cut out growth or pruning. I seem to get better cola formation if I remove all of the interior sucker branches. I don't know if this forces the plant to concentrate on the growth it already has or not but it does seems to help. Also don' t be afraid to make a knuckle on a runaway stem-just squeeze the stem where you want the bend and fold her over. Looks horrible at first but a day later you get new growth and the canopy evens out-making easier to manage your light.

[Green75]

Yes...scrog them girls..spread them wide

[intergalactic_harvester]

the weakest link

[Green75]

For now....they will always impress and surprise you

[NebulaHaze]

Maybe it's a crazy idea, but could you train the vibrant one towards the "empty" spot in the canopy?

[intergalactic_harvester]

wow, hi!
if you are referring to the little runt, i have no idea what to do with it. i was just gonna keep it as opened up as i can and see what happens. i cant seem to get much outward growth, the nodes pile on top of each other, so trying to train her is wierd. some of the growth seems more normal, just really slow.
and thanks for the response and idea ms haze!