lighting opinion please

[oneaday]

hi can anyone tell me , i am growing bubble gum autos,
i want my plants to stop vertical growing by itself, so i can start tiger bloom,instead of forcing them to go into buding, then, well my plants are on there 6th
week and they are almost touching my light, they are
2 foot 10 inches, tall, my light you could put your hand
right on it and it is not even warm, i have a 400 watt
hps cooltube light asembly,with a fan , my question is if the plants get a little bigger would it bother them if they touch the
light,
please help
thanks

 

[MaPilot]

I have heard of some folks keeping the MH in during stretch before switching to HPS. Hope that helps.
I would do LST though if I were you.
Good Luck

 

[Blueballavngr]

Easiest way is to look at the very top of the plant where the main cola will be. The spot where new leaves form that noobs confuse for bud hairs. Pick it or cut 80% of that growth spot off. This triggers a redirect in hormones that is causing the vertical growth and puts energy in to under and secondary branches giving you the effect of topping several times without the damage or wait. It is really a great technique for people that only have hps and do the whole grow with it because of stretching. Ur plant will become a bush in 2 weeks time and will create many new node sites. This will help ur auto finish with more dense buds as more nodes appear to grow buds from. U can use the same technique on buds. I believe a member on here does it if u search back building. I know it sounds crazy to trim the bud before harvest but if u r dealing with a sativa or a plant with fluffy buds this will help reformat there whole structure by shaving just the top of the bud. But just to clarify You aren't cutting the stem or topping the plant. Just trimming the very top tiny leaf cluster. If u want conformation (I would) look up "FIM" it means fuck I missed and will confirm this technique.

 

[Blueballavngr]

Or you can put ur light vertical with the plant and rotate ur plant every day unless u have two lights, creating a taining bed effect. This might be benneficial for ur auto. Just a thought tho best of luck

 

[labexperiment]

I do not believe it will burn you plants if you can touch it and hold your hand there for a few minutes, but it may bleach your leaves.

 

[theengineer]

I don't think you can do much with autos without them reacting negatively, so be careful, whatever you do...