Top-heavy plants- need help

I've been through a few grows now utilizing a 5'x5' tent and i'm starting to run into the problem of plants getting too top heavy and unable to support themselves. I grow in 2.5 gallon hempy buckets with straight perlite and do a lot of super-cropping to spread the plants out and keep the height down as I have started sort of a perpetual grow and have to veg them for a while before rotating to flowering so growing more, smaller plants is not really an option.

By the time they start getting mid-way into flowering I noticed that a lot of the branches can no longer support themselves under the weight of the buds and the branches begin to flop over and hang down. I've tried bamboo stakes which helped prop them up a little but I still have to worry about the entire plant tipping over since the buckets are not very heavy. I also plan to try using hydroten instead of perlite to make the buckets heavier and hopefully more stable but I'm not sure if that will be enough either.

I've gotten some pretty decent harvests (1.4lbs from the 5x5 with 640 watts of led) but I feel that I'd get better results if I didn't have this concern and didn't have to worry about plants tipping over, laying on one another or flopping over into the side of the tent potentially causing buds to get flattened on one side.

What are my best options? I don't think the stakes will do it so I'm thinking perhaps trying to build a tall scrog net out of pvc to fit in the 5x5 and offer some support to the branches. Could it also be a problem of weak branches due to my aggressive super-cropping or insufficient air movement thought the grow?

I'm no expert but if it were me I would put a stake somewhere near to the plant and use string to secure each plant to the stake. You could even wrap the plant with the string and attach to the stake. I am having a similar problem but my plants are outside in large utility pails. The other day a wind storm split one main stalk right down the middle and I had to repair it with duct tape. It's fine now but it keeps leaning over when there is some wind. I placed my plants close to the wall on my balcony so they can lean against it when necessary, but I may consider staking and tying them it they continue to get more and more top heavy. The harvest is only a few weeks away now so with a little luck they will be fine. Good luck to you.

By the way, I thought my problem was that I didn't crop the tops on my plants. They are some 6 feet tall and top heavy with few supporting branches nearby. BTW I think all of your ideas seem like reasonable solutions. You just gotta do what works for you.

Not a bad problem to have, you can buy bud/branch supports called yo,yo,s

They work like a tape measure, hook them up and leave them.

Innerorbit said:

I've been through a few grows now utilizing a 5'x5' tent and i'm starting to run into the problem of plants getting too top heavy and unable to support themselves. I grow in 2.5 gallon hempy buckets with straight perlite and do a lot of super-cropping to spread the plants out and keep the height down as I have started sort of a perpetual grow and have to veg them for a while before rotating to flowering so growing more, smaller plants is not really an option.

By the time they start getting mid-way into flowering I noticed that a lot of the branches can no longer support themselves under the weight of the buds and the branches begin to flop over and hang down. I've tried bamboo stakes which helped prop them up a little but I still have to worry about the entire plant tipping over since the buckets are not very heavy. I also plan to try using hydroten instead of perlite to make the buckets heavier and hopefully more stable but I'm not sure if that will be enough either.

I've gotten some pretty decent harvests (1.4lbs from the 5x5 with 640 watts of led) but I feel that I'd get better results if I didn't have this concern and didn't have to worry about plants tipping over, laying on one another or flopping over into the side of the tent potentially causing buds to get flattened on one side.

What are my best options? I don't think the stakes will do it so I'm thinking perhaps trying to build a tall scrog net out of pvc to fit in the 5x5 and offer some support to the branches. Could it also be a problem of weak branches due to my aggressive super-cropping or insufficient air movement thought the grow?

Click to expand...

I have that same problem, but I'm lovin it. I put netting to hold those babies up and in towards the light.

Innerorbit said:

I've been through a few grows now utilizing a 5'x5' tent and i'm starting to run into the problem of plants getting too top heavy and unable to support themselves. I grow in 2.5 gallon hempy buckets with straight perlite and do a lot of super-cropping to spread the plants out and keep the height down as I have started sort of a perpetual grow and have to veg them for a while before rotating to flowering so growing more, smaller plants is not really an option.

By the time they start getting mid-way into flowering I noticed that a lot of the branches can no longer support themselves under the weight of the buds and the branches begin to flop over and hang down. I've tried bamboo stakes which helped prop them up a little but I still have to worry about the entire plant tipping over since the buckets are not very heavy. I also plan to try using hydroten instead of perlite to make the buckets heavier and hopefully more stable but I'm not sure if that will be enough either.

I've gotten some pretty decent harvests (1.4lbs from the 5x5 with 640 watts of led) but I feel that I'd get better results if I didn't have this concern and didn't have to worry about plants tipping over, laying on one another or flopping over into the side of the tent potentially causing buds to get flattened on one side.

What are my best options? I don't think the stakes will do it so I'm thinking perhaps trying to build a tall scrog net out of pvc to fit in the 5x5 and offer some support to the branches. Could it also be a problem of weak branches due to my aggressive super-cropping or insufficient air movement thought the grow?

Click to expand...

If it doesn't sound ridiculous you can tie string and suspend the fallen branches from a center point of the roof in the tent. It helped me til I got my net.

HydroKid239 said:

If it doesn't sound ridiculous you can tie string and suspend the fallen branches from a center point of the roof in the tent. It helped me til I got my net.

Click to expand...

Absolutely, any port in a storm thumbs

Grab a bunch of plant yo-yos from Amazon. Run a string across the top of your tent to hang them from, then use the hooks to support the branches. They work great!