Ballroom Blitz: end week 3 of flip to 12/12.
The stretch is on! Defoliated just in time, which was my plan. I won't do it again; just a leaf here and there if something is blocking.
Have been messing around waiting and before I knew it, the whole tent was within 12" of the lights. They've been suspended by an number of carabiners of different sizes, and the cable that came with them. Never used the pulley thing. That sassy little Lemon Skunk auto is 21" tall. Her half-sister is 15" tall and on a riser. Neither got LST or topping; just some random fan-leaf removal that was blocking it's own lower budsites. Want to learn what these autos will do do so I know how to treat them next time. Both are 40 days above ground this fine, foggy October day.
I rummaged my old jewelry-making supplies for chain. Booyah. Fortunately the lights are not heavy. Got the lights up to 20" above the canopy yesterday and there is still about a foot I can raise them. I left the cables intact to prevent an accident should the chain fail before I get proper chain. Like a safety rope.
Today the lights are only 16" from the canopy.
If I seem excited, it's because I
am excited. I made boo-koo boo-boos the first time combined with tomato-cage LST, so I didn't experience The Stretch last time.
At all. the damage was done by the time I learned I needed to be two weeks ahead instead of two weeks behind, lol.
I skipped ahead in the material and I knew they were going to do it and just left them alone. No cages. Moderate LST and more than one FIM'd top, lol. By the time I have to support colas, I should have plenty of jewelry chain to support them because I am going to take care of my light-chain issue before it's a real issue. I have been ready for the plants to get their grow on. If I run out of room, I have a pretty good idea of what to do before it hurts the plants. I have a week before I can get to the purveyor of chain. I woulda used curling ribbon if I had to. Sometimes you gotta McGyver stuff and that's okay!
I'll save the curling ribbon for supporting the rest of the colas when I run out of chain
BTW:
If you ever spray insecticidal soap (or anything else wet) on your indoor plants, you already know to turn off the lights, right?
If you spray your shit with Safer Insecticidal soap with kelp - turn off all the circulation fans, too. I cooked my photo seedlings a little. Fortunately I was here and monitoring the situation and was able to stop the crisping process before the whole plant died. In less than an hour, I had crispy leaves and the lights were off. Figured out quick it was the oscillating fan.
I suggest never treating your grow with
anything and then walking away. I mean check the plants hourly.
I overreacted and then had to over-correct. Yikes.