So I've been growing in my closet for quite some time. I've been only using about 160 watts of CFL lighting, and have gotten pretty good results considering the little amount of lighting I've had. I've been talking to my cousin, who used to be into growing, and he said I could borrow his 600 watt HPS/MH set. Obviously I couldn't turn that down. Unfortunately, I've been vegging my plant much longer than I wanted to. I had to wait for him to come back from a trip to Europe, luckily he came back in time, considering my plant was touching the top shelf of my closet, and had no other place to go. Problem is, even though I move the plant from the closet, to the spare room, I still have limited space. I haven't topped the plant ever, so I'm considering doing that, but I've never seen anyone do it so late in the stage. Any suggestions?
I dont know what you mean by not topping the plant...but anyway with a 600 watt HID you are going to need some way to keep the room and the plant cool.
Topping is cutting the top of the plant, so the growth inhibitors stop inhibiting the side branches, thus bushing the plant more. But at the moment, I've just got fans. The temp is at 78 degrees, but it's only been on for a couple hours. Next week I'm buying a carbon filter and a ducting set up, as well as a 1000 watt light to add to my grow room.
You can top it but it won't do much good at this point because you're going to run out of space for sure in flowering. You can lst it little by little every day. Tie the main branch over until it's tight and every day you can tighten it more until its 90 degrees. The top cola will lose apical dominance so your other budsites can become main colas. You're going to have to veg another few weeks to get everything right but thats your best bet. That or cut and clone all of your other branches and scrog your closet with those so you don't run out of room again. Top early dude don't be silly.
I just measured everything. The plant is exactly 6 feet tall, and there's about 1 foot between the bulb and the plant. I haven't taken any clones off the plant yet, but it's a northern lights clone, so I definitely plan on trying to get some fresh cuttings growing in the closet. I could technically use a cutting from the top to clone, correct?
Yes but it doesn't root as fast as the lower shutes. I would top it to 1/3 the height if where your light is. You can clone the top and it will be a second plant. Just top it at the same height so they grow fairly evenly. You have to do something though for sure. It's going to be impossible to flower a 6 ft tall untopped plant in a closet.
Oh it's not in a closet, it's in my spare room. I guess the maximum height I could place the lights would be just under 8 feet, and that would be if I were to remove the ropes, and screw it straight into the ceiling. But you're right. Something needs to be done before I start to flower. I feel like a mix of topping the plant, then LST any new growth would probably be my best bet. I've got plenty of twist ties and string, so that's not an issue.
I would cut it a few inches shy of in half and plant the top in another pot. You'll get two plants half the size. Then lst and top until you have the desired amount of budsites and you're happy with the way the canopy looks then flip the lights. As long as you have a couple budsites under where you top it everything will be alright. Switch the lighting to 12/12 to get your top to root amd you can cut it back to 18/6 once it starts to take off. How far are the plants from the lights? Don't get it closer than 6 inches or you can end up with bleached buds. I have a 600w closet that can speak for that.