HELP! Plants too tall- safe to do cut down 6-8" at 6 days into Flowering?

[rangerjake]

I have two large plants growing in a 5x5 under 2 315w LEC.

A long veg has led these things to be bigger than the tent can handle. Almost 1 week into flowering and the tops are about 22" below the lights- which can't go any higher.

I have put in a trellis and worked to space things and even them out, and also defoliated a lot of the lower parts of the plant to reduce humidity and slow growth a bit.

If I wanted to do some aggressive mowing of the tops of these plants to gain another 8" (which may still cut it close in the end) am I exposing my plants to big risks since I switched to 12/12 six days ago?

Or am I being a nervous nellie?

Wish I handled this earlier, but here we are.

 

[kingfish]

Bend the tops of the plants 90 degrees and tie them down.

 

[rangerjake]

Bend the tops of the plants 90 degrees and tie them down.

Been doing a lot of that. Helps, but not sure if it's a game changer. With one predominant sativa and one predominant indica in there I am just a little fearful of stretching measuring in the FEET rather than in the inches.

I know my ideal minimum distance between lights and plant tops is probably 15-18" that means that right now I only have 5-7" to work with. My feeling with where these plants are and the bending is that it'll buy me a few days at a time and some inches overall maybe. Not sure if more aggressive/drastic action is warranted.

 

[kingfish]

Jake, you will be cutting it awefully close. I would say they will grow another foot. But with bending the tops you will be ok. I would advise against mowing any tops at this stage.