Which would cause a smaller stretch: changing to 12/12 gradually or suddenly?

What should I go for when my space is under 4' tall and I'm frightened of the stretch? I got one lady in there been vegging for 2 whole months (LST game off the chain, she's just like a penguin in bondage, boy) and three other girls for 1 month (wasn't sure I was gonna get the three other seeds when I had already started to grow the first one . I only got a 2' by 2' floor area, too. Hoping to maximize my humble 250 watt HPS' potential in that humble space of mine)

Hope that helps

It does actually, thanks! But it doesn't mention the gradual vs. abrupt flip, I don't think. Maybe it doesn't matter to the stretch?

I just went no light for 24hrs then 12/12 she didn't stretch much at all, i was expecting her to get at least 50% taller but it was more like 20% and the buds are thanking me now 5 weeks in

This was taken about 3-4 days ago

newbiegreenfinger said:

I just went no light for 24hrs then 12/12 she didn't stretch much at all, i was expecting her to get at least 50% taller but it was more like 20% and the buds are thanking me now 5 weeks in

Click to expand...

No kidding! How long was the veg? How big the pots? Got pics?

Edit: Sexy as hell! Got a pic zoomed out a bit though, showing the whole business?

She was a rescue from a glasshouse that i revegged, lost track of the veg time though. But the last pic is a clone i took from her and vegged for 3 weeks

Gradual stretches more

She's in earth from my garden mixed with rootblast and fed with cheap organic nutes under a 600w light... Nothin fancy

Best thing you can do is to switch to the Gas Lantern Routine in veg

newbiegreenfinger said:

Hope that helps

Click to expand...

Good apart from the "Anti-stretch additive SuperBud" advice.

pinch the stems and keep the light close. led lights help with stretch it seems.

wait until after teh stretch to do the last pruning of smaller branches, lower, and inner larfy type branches.

Gas lantern routine will help...also if you kept veg conditions for the first two weeks...just keep LSTing them through week 3 and let them go

ive found using mh insted of hps for the first 2 weeks after flip reduces stretch...tightens nodes and overall yields are the same, just shorter fuller plants..mh first 2 weeks after flip then hps till finish or both is even better

You should upload a few pics for us

Hey thanks so much for the input, everybody!

I'm gonna go with straight to 12/12. The gas lantern thing scares me a bit; I've been attempting to fool these gullible girls into thinking this is legitimate outdoors wilderness they live in, the gas lantern seems to deviate too much from nature (well the sudden drop from 18 hours of light to 12 might also be something of a dead giveaway, but I've had success with that in the past).

Well, I've already set the timer! It's gonna get real dark real early for the first time today! How exciting!

My main worry is the girl that's been vegging for two months, but I think we'll manage. Worst case scenario, push comes to shove, God forbid, she's only schwag bagseed.

PICS:





This is a pretty tight, strictly personal operation, 2'*2'*4', 250 watt HPS cool-tubed, filled to maximum capacity with 4 1'*1' pots. I got multiple fans running from above the light, keeping the leaves dancing. As I said, one of the girls had like a whole month head start, and she's actually twice as tall as the three other ones, but I got everybody's tops to be roughly the same height using the finest literature available. The other ones (Reserva Privada Tangie [holy crow those leaves smell distinctly of orange peelings, what the heck? Is this possibly a cannabis-orange hybrid?], Female Seeds Sexbud and Female Seeds C99 [I don't know which is which, haha!]) have had 27 days of vegging.

I'll keep y'all posted on my Stretch Situation! Exciting times!

Looks great, im looking forward to seeing your results

In a tragic turn of events, my older lady, the one I've been vegging for two whole months, turned out to be a dude. So she gone.

The other younger ones I've been pretty complacent about, thinking their stretch wouldn't be a problem. Well, it's 9 days later, and it's getting pretty worrisome, although I think it's slowed down a bit. I've been bending them over from side to side, really hoping they won't require more drastic measures.

The stretch is no joke my friends.