Advice Needed - Is my cabinet too crowded?

I have tried a new grow in my cabinet using Subcool’s Supersoil recipe I found on this site. I can’t rave about this soil enough. The growth and health of my plants have presented me with a problem I have not had since I built this cabinet.

My cabinet size is roughly, 5’ high, 4’ wide, and 2’ deep. The Supersoil requires you to use 7 gallon containers but I ended up using 5 gal buckets instead to save some room. I originally built my cabinet to use containers half the size of the 5 gallon buckets, because I wanted to keep my grows smaller if I could.

I started with 5 - 1 gallon pots, and transplanted them to the 5 gal containers and switched to the flower stage. The cabinet was cramped to say the least. Three of the five turned out to be female so I was able to remove two and thought I would have plenty of room to finish the grow. I was wrong. Once again, the Supersoil has been amazing.

So the dilemma I have is this:

1. Do I remove one of the plants, leaving just two to spread out in the cabinet and ensuring I have plenty of room?

2. Do I leave all three as is and hope for the best, and at least have a spare in case something happens to one of the other plants?

3. Do I keep all three and trim them in some way. (They are tied down, which takes up more room. Or should I untie them and let them just grow up, giving me more room?) And if I do need to trim them, what is the best way? They have already begun to flower.

Note: This is a CFL grow.

Thanks in advance for any help. This site has been a big help.

Any suggestions?

Should this question have been posted in another thread instead of this one? I thought this was the right place for it.

You need a real light, period.
If your going to risk a prison sentance, might as well make it worth it !!!

thats the biggest internodal gap ive ever seen

Not sure if that is good or bad. This is only my third grow. Each has gotten better for me and this is by far the best. My plants are lush and green with no visible signs of problems that I can see.

That spacing may be due to how I topped the plants and when I decided to transplant and switch to the flower stage. I've got to learn to time those things better.

For a CFL grow, the results so far are WAY better than I anticipated. I've no complaints with the size, or spacing for that matter. My problem is I am struggeling for space with those three in one cabinet and want the best advice as to handle it.

New lighting is out for now due to the cost and the fact I would not be able to manage the heat correctl in the grow room.

Any advice for the questions I asked in the original post is geatly appreciated.

you need to get those lamps closer... alot closer. your stretching those plants, there starving for light

no. but you should cut off those lower branches. it will promote more growth in the top. plus they prob wont get much light.

The lights were off and raised for those pics. I try to keep them about two to three inches from the plants. I check on them and adjust them each night. I have 6 100w CFLs in that small cabinet. Not sure if that is enough. I can easily add more. Again the size is 5' hight x 4' wide x 2' deep.

mstrymxer
I have done some trimming on the lower branches some for that very reason. I am still not sure how much I need to trim out of there.

I agree with mstrymxer. Looks like you already into flowering, you will not endager the health of the plants to have them in that amount of space.