ways to minimize stretching?

Hey
can someone help me out here?
if some of my plants are stretching unreasonably, what can I do to prevent or remedy it? Other than the simple things like lower the bulb, cool the whole place down..?
If I tie the tip down, as a kind of LST, do you think that will slow down the stretching at the tip?
thanks

lower the light and get some 40 watt cfl on two sides

top it and lower lights
.....................

Get em more light keep the room cool....

Well as you said, aside from lowering the lights, you could top them, but I wouldn't do that unless you are still vegging them. If your flowering already and they are stretching I would suggest either tieing them down, or whats called supercropping. This is where you pinch the stem 6-8 inchs down from the top, just until you feel it pop, then bend it gently down to a 45-90 degree angle. This will slow vertical growth, and encourage the plants to fill out more.

cool, thanks

I topped a couple of colas even though I am flowering because they were looking ridiculous: a fat bud then a periscope sticking out the top for 4 inches with a little flower hat on the end. Pointless.

I tied some down too, but just tying on its own didn't seem to make a difference.

Never thought of supercropping, which I will certainly try if they give me any more hassle. Earlier in the grow I was afraid to try the technique for the first time because I was worried about how they would recover, but get this...

When I was LSTing them all during veg, I tied a few of the ties a little too tightly where the stem meets the branch...and they sorta supercropped themselves! They pulled so hard against the ties that a few ties snapped [!], and some of the others must have restricted the flow to the branches, because they have developed huge balls of material around those areas like they has been working out. Those branches fattened up real big and shot up through the canopy, becoming some of the largest buds in there, bigger than the main colas!