The stretch

[shantishanti]

Hello everybody! I cant believe this is my first post lol I have been lurking here so long I feel like I know everyone haha, thanks all for the amazing advice/knowledge!!!

I'm curious about minimizing the stretch.
I have a Cotton Candy by Delicious seeds (sativa dominant hybrid) that has been over vegged quite a lot while waiting for my flower cabinet to free up.
From growing this strain in the past I've learnt that it stretches heaps and judging but its current height I think it will get way too close to my P300.
Am I correct in assuming that now winters coming in and my temps will be under control it may not stretch as much? Also, do you think 'backbuilding' from a very early stage will help? And last but not least should I hold off on defoliating under the canopy until the stretch is over??
Thanks in advance

 

[MrWhat]

Hello everybody! I cant believe this is my first post lol I have been lurking here so long I feel like I know everyone haha, thanks all for the amazing advice/knowledge!!!

I'm curious about minimizing the stretch.
I have a Cotton Candy by Delicious seeds (sativa dominant hybrid) that has been over vegged quite a lot while waiting for my flower cabinet to free up.
From growing this strain in the past I've learnt that it stretches heaps and judging but its current height I think it will get way too close to my P300.
Am I correct in assuming that now winters coming in and my temps will be under control it may not stretch as much? Also, do you think 'backbuilding' from a very early stage will help? And last but not least should I hold off on defoliating under the canopy until the stretch is over??
Thanks in advance

Cotton Candy, nice strain!!!

As you said, low temps help controlling sativa's stretch. As far as I know it, Backbuilding is used to densify flowers, not to control the height of the plant, but if you wanna give it a try, plz take pictures, I'm really curious at seeing new application of known tecniques!
I'd use some LST to control the height, I'm not a fan of HST for it.
If your plants cover all the horizontal space and there is no light penetration to the floor, you may lollipop the plants, giving more energy to upper flowers!

cheers!!

 

[Light Addict]

Hello
My backbuilding is indeed for more density of buds and better visual appearance etc. For a simple trick to slow vertical growth if required just gently crush the inner tissue of the stem just below that top growing tip. Whilst the plant repairs this bruised up inner tissue vert growth will halt!

 

[shaun6868]

Hello
My backbuilding is indeed for more density of buds and better visual appearance etc. For a simple trick to slow vertical growth if required just gently crush the inner tissue of the stem just below that top growing tip. Whilst the plant repairs this bruised up inner tissue vert growth will halt!

LA can this technique ( gently crush the inner tissue of the stem) be used in flowering stage at any time. Asking as I want more of an even canopy...cheers

 

[Weaselcracker]

Growing in a scrog screen is one good way of dealing with stretch. I grew sativas indoors for the first time this last winter, and wasn't sure how what to expect so out them under 12/12 lighting when they were only 4" tall. They stretched about 5x that length under a scrog screen.
My impression was that the backbuilding does control the bud height a bit- not the plant height of course- but maybe stop a little vertical growth on the buds. However, I never grew the sativas out without doing any backbuilding, because I liked it so much, so can't say what they would have done without it. It's just that I was expecting long stringy sativa buds but instead got wide fat ones.
I think the stem crushing (supercropping) can be done any time, but it seems pretty high stress so I wouldn't expect it to improve the harvest greatly. I did some on the sativas in flowering but now stick to just doing it during veg because they seem kind of sensitive about the supercropping.

 

[Light Addict]

For me its a process just for setting my girls up in veg. I do probably 90-95 % of my total work on a plant in veg, apart from backbuilding, I just defol a bit and that's it lol for flowering .

 

[shaun6868]

For me its a process just for setting my girls up in veg. I do probably 90-95 % of my total work on a plant in veg, apart from backbuilding, I just defol a bit and that's it lol for flowering .

Cheers for the info LA, I'll try n get more of an even canopy next round