Advise for training plants for allowed Grow Box space?

[Seniorweeder]

My homemade Grow Box is 2'x4' x 65" high inside, my plants just got transferred to their final 3 gallon soft pots. That are 3 weeks old at about 5" tall. The strain is "Black Water" which the kind person that donated then to me said they are more Indica and may be a shorter variety, they are growing in Fox Farm Coco-loco under Growstar 600 watt led lighting at 24" away and look VERY good so far. They have very close node spacing with 4 full sets of leaves. That being said I would love some advise on when and where to start topping, how tall before Supercropping and and what height to start my 12/12 for flowering stage to make them fit in my box. The manufacturer of the lights recommends 18" spacing for Flower. Im shooting for 2 or 3 plants total in there. Hope the picture helps. Thanks as always sooooo much for your time and input guys!

 

[Rexer]

Hey @Seniorweeder, nice grow box!

I'd look into scrog training to get the most out of your space!

 

[bobrown14]

Grow em like you grow tomatoes. You'll be fine. Different strains grow differently. Best to grow your strain out to see how she grows, then 2nd run you will have a better idea how to train and when.

You got a long ways to go before you need to do anything with training if at all.

Topping reduces yields.

Flame-suit on.

 

[Pat Puffer]

Nice set up. Any plant at least will double in size after flipping. I have a couple strains that push tripling height.
1) max out your lights potential height.
2) take distance from top of pot to light.
3) subtract 18" for flower height.
4) your total is ___".
5) flip to flower once your plant is at HALF the total of #3 answer.

This is if you don't top or train or use super cropping. There are techniques at our disposal to use if our plant(s) deviate from our expectations. Mainly super cropping.
Outdoors i have a height restriction and when my plants get too tall during flower, i super crop them to keep below the fence line.
When i bend them over, i wrap a sock around the stalk where i want to bend and i gently crimp the stalk with needle nose pliers over the sock until the top wobbles a bit. At that point they easily fall over with a gentle push. I use needle nose pliers outdoors due to the girth of the stalks. They aren't easily squished between fingers. After doing this i usually tie down the top with bread tie. I have seen plants repeatedly stand the "crimped" stalk up again after super cropping. Repeated bending on the same top will crack the stalk. Gentle is key.

 

[Bush Doctor 77]

Do a SCROG. I made my frame from PVC. I used two layers. Use nylon netting , as you can use the elasticity to slowly pull branches down. I use pipe cleaner sections to tie the plants to the lower net.
Once the bottom net is full, turn to bloom, and put in your second tier. Make it 8-10 inches higher than the first. Figure, as a generality 18" of stretch +/- in bloom, depending on strain. Sativas will stretch the most.

 

[HydroponicFireman]

looking good so far!

 

[Seniorweeder]

Grow em like you grow tomatoes. You'll be fine. Different strains grow differently. Best to grow your strain out to see how she grows, then 2nd run you will have a better idea how to train and when.

You got a long ways to go before you need to do anything with training if at all.

Topping reduces yields.

Flame-suit on.

Seriously??? Everything Ive read mentions topping to increase Cola count! I understand that it may slow the growth for a while as it recovers. But was hoping it would give me better Yields in my small space! Im confused now!

 

[Seniorweeder]

Nice set up. Any plant at least will double in size after flipping. I have a couple strains that push tripling height.
1) max out your lights potential height.
2) take distance from top of pot to light.
3) subtract 18" for flower height.
4) your total is ___".
5) flip to flower once your plant is at HALF the total of #3 answer.

This is if you don't top or train or use super cropping. There are techniques at our disposal to use if our plant(s) deviate from our expectations. Mainly super cropping.
Outdoors i have a height restriction and when my plants get too tall during flower, i super crop them to keep below the fence line.
When i bend them over, i wrap a sock around the stalk where i want to bend and i gently crimp the stalk with needle nose pliers over the sock until the top wobbles a bit. At that point they easily fall over with a gentle push. I use needle nose pliers outdoors due to the girth of the stalks. They aren't easily squished between fingers. After doing this i usually tie down the top with bread tie. I have seen plants repeatedly stand the "crimped" stalk up again after super cropping. Repeated bending on the same top will crack the stalk. Gentle is key.

Thank u so much Mr. Patient, u always come thru for me. Im a little mixed up now though, one other guy suggest that topping reduces yield? And based on your formula which is awesome, I now do not know if I should top or not? Would it be feasible to top one and not the other for an experiment?

 

[Seniorweeder]

looking good so far!

Thanks a bunch!

 

[Lime]

Top Or FIM indoor photoperiod plants. I FIM or top at 5th node.

Train em , LST for an even canopy to maximize grow space and light distribution.

Can also do a SCROG

 

[Seniorweeder]

Good advise here, thanks for your time grow friend!

 

[Enjoil]

Grow em like you grow tomatoes. You'll be fine. Different strains grow differently. Best to grow your strain out to see how she grows, then 2nd run you will have a better idea how to train and when.

You got a long ways to go before you need to do anything with training if at all.

Topping reduces yields.

Flame-suit on.

Lol, topping reduced this guys yields? No way bro, topping and training your plant will get you the Best yields... for sure, topping will however slow your plant down a little cuz it has to recover a few days.. I’m not saying do one or the other, try both! You will see first hand..

 

[Seniorweeder]

Now thats the direction im thinking of heading into, thanks a bunch for the encouragement friend! I just up potted to my final 3 gal pots 3 days ago, so for now im waiting on them to get their energy back up and to get the 5th set of nodes to do the plucking! Thanks again!

 

[Enjoil]

Yessir that’s exactly why you want to do! Let them alone like the first 3-4 weeks of life, hopefully (like you said should have 3-4 or 5 nodes, you can “fim” and try to get 4 tops when it heals! Cool stuff, stands for fukk I missed) or just pluck the last couple leaves. I top them cuz fiming makes stuff a little crazy sometimes, lol. But this is what I was getting at, after your plant has split into two tops SUPERCROP that bitch( I say that lovingly!) and then you plant training is almost done. All you have to do is defoliation every once in a while. Hope I helped man!!

 

[bluter]

i'm actually gonna say get a grow under your belt before playing with training.
you can top, but i wouldn't get too far in to training until you get a feel for the plant and how they grow etc.

i train a lot. would never recommend to a first run grower to blindly jump in. there will be other things you want to address.

like that light. i have zero confidence in that thing for flower. you are going to want to upgrade moving forward. maybe not this grow. but likely within 2. you'll need a better light to take advantage of any training you attempt.

 

[Enjoil]

i'm actually gonna say get a grow under your belt before playing with training.
you can top, but i wouldn't get too far in to training until you get a feel for the plant and how they grow etc.

i train a lot. would never recommend to a first run grower to blindly jump in. there will be other things you want to address.

like that light. i have zero confidence in that thing for flower. you are going to want to upgrade moving forward. maybe not this grow. but likely within 2. you'll need a better light to take advantage of any training you attempt.

Come on bro, let’s give Him a hand up, so he don’t have to start at square one and figure it out for himself. Cant you read? He’s old bro. Jk, but yeah that light is fine for two little plants, even for flowering if they are not that big. And bro vegging plants don’t need much light even with heavy training. I veg everything under 2x 42w t5ho and stuff be jumpin!

 

[bluter]

didn't say tear everything down. actually recommend going ahead with what he's got on this grow. then use the info to inform the direction going forward.

i still wouldn't jump right in to training on a first run.

 

[Enjoil]

Yes bro train the plant.. why not? Here is my 2x2 with 20 plants in it. And they all get the same lobbing start...

 

[Enjoil]

Oh and this light in the 2x2 is a 1200w cob panel I got off Craigslist for 70 bucks. It a sweet little light. I like several smaller lights over a big one. One, you can build up when your ready and don’t have to drop 1500 bucks all at once and still have good lights.

 

[bluter]

nice. do you need to work in a height challenged space ? i run multiple cobs. 200w rig in veg, 600w rig in flower

i do defol and and handcuffs in hempy

veg rig

flower rig