Can environment conditions be adjusted to reduce stretching ?

I showed him the bed of perlite trick. He waters the little bag to total saturation, and then lets it wick more. They drink a lot. Could be where he learned the tech (Dubi), its a Landrace Sativa. Removes bag at transplant, sometimes he lets them go quite long in the little bag, 4-6 weeks at the extreme. I am not sure what he has decided is the 'sweet time' for the mini bag. We talk more about worms and compost than actually growin grass.
cheers
os

 

Genetics has a lot to do with stretch and 100% Sativa, especially the long flower times, are notorious for it.

 

I hear you, however sativa Genetics only means it's more prone to stretching. With the length hes getting between nodes it leads me to believe theres something more than just genetic factors causing his issue. That having been said, without pictures or being there, it's all speculation.

 

I guess i have stretchy to look forward to then?

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Depends on the strain. Breeders today specifically cross sativas with short flowering indicas to not only produce more compact plants but to also shorten overall flowering times. If this is a landrace or old-school sativa then yes you should expect x4 or more stretch from when you start 12/12.

 

I respectfully disagree.
With an old-school haze from the 90's there is no way it wont stretch like crazy unless action is taken specifically to try and inhibit it, and even then you will still get a good amount of stretch from these strains, even with optimal lighting and growing conditions. The reason you dont see this kind of stretch in many of todays genetics is because breeders put a lot of effort into specifically reducing stretch and flower times.

Just try and grow a landrace sativa or landrace cross and you will see what I mean.

To give you an idea, here are some pics from a Panama grow I did, mind you panama isnt even considered a stretchy strain by sativa standards and has a relatively short flower time at 9-12 weeks.

Here they are on the day I flipped lights to 12/12, these are rooted clones that got only 2-3 days of veg before flipping, they were about 15cm (6 inch) tall.


At day 25 they were over 2 feet tall and I had to bend and train them so they wont grow into the lights.


Typical for pure sativa, they never really stop stretching, this is a pic from day 60ish, all the stretch you see in this photo was from the last days before taking it.

One of the plants at harvest, from a 6" clone to this. Mind you, you dont even see the full size of the plant in this pic.

 

Just a thought. I'll slow the stretch sometimes by topping right at the flip to 12/12. Makes the plant concentrate it's growth to the sides.

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I don't really feel like we're disagreeing , I agree that sativas genetically stretch, but did you read that he was getting 18 inches between internodes? That is why I say it's not genetics. I've grown plenty of landrace sativas and I've never seen a foot and a half between nodes on a sativa that was getting enough light and wasn't suffering from heat. Problems flowering, sure. Problems with stretch, sure. But from 6 in to 18 in in 2 days seems excessive which is why I point to other factors.

 

I have an overall stretching question. If it derails the original topic I will take it else where happily.
I typically see obscene stretch when lights are too high. I have always tried to keep the lights as close as possible, as many lumens as possible, without hurting anything, and tried to keep the leaf temp at 80 ish.
So basically bright and warm.
Do you folks think that less lumens, reduces stretch at the same time it reduces overall growth? For me it just makes leggy plants doing this. I have to add that this is based on observations using led's of all different types, but not HID or flouro.
Just curious.
cheers
os

 

For sure genetics have whole lot to do with it. I brought a bunch of seeds back from jamaica last year and grew a bunch, since they are naturally pollinated there's no way of knowing who the daddy's are but they all came from the same bud, all grown in the same conditions i had some that grew with easily 12 inches between the nodes, barely any leaves and huge stalks...they looked like males, and others were almost as squat as a typical indica.

 

OK i may have missed the 18inch internodes, then again I wouldnt be surprised if there are plants that just stretch like that, consider also males will stretch even more then females.
But you are right light does play a role in plant growth, would be interesting to see how this plant would preform under the sun.

 

I've heard that excess red light during the stretch can make for a taller plant. More blue spectrum can keep them compact. Pretty sure it was bohdi on an episode of the pot cast.

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All is good, I had a feeling that might have been the case. I totally agree, males could definitely do that. Sativas, especially males, are genetically programmed to get up over the plant canopy to ensure procreation. Makes sense when you think about it.
Dig the video, that's a real cool experiment thanks for sharing. I've always had a suspicion that if you target spectrums you're gonna lose out on growth, but it seems theres even more to it than I thought.

 

Can't wait to see, the seeds i grew from jamaica were the oddest plants i've ever seen, the guy who grew the weed said they never use seeds from buds, i now see why, so much genetic diversity. Some plants looked great but tasted like shit, others tasted great but didnt really get you high, the one i kept sounds a whole lot like what your describing....the only way i flower her ''correctly'' is to place newly rooted clones directly into 11/13 in a 5 gallon smart pot and let her grow one huge bud. The high is so weird, motivated but unorganized.

 

IME the longer you veg the bigger the plant will get in flower.