Well my first big plant was pinched a week ago and the results were quite noticable looking the plant over now. The 2 offshoots beside where I pinched grew a good 6" or so in the last week, making a big difference in total new leaf growth compared to the base stalk. However I pinched a bit late according to my friend n' he says I should be pinching branches after 6 alternating nodes have grown from it. Seems a bit early to me so I thought I'd get some outside opinions on it. As a stand by to test the theory myself, I'm using the two plants I'm 'babysitting'. One is the control which I'll leave alone and the other has been pinched at 6 leaves on the stem. Both seedlings, same potted dirt, similar height, etc. Too many variables to control really to make it perfect but should be an interesting variance between the two. And on a side note, the 3'+ plant I've got is the only one in my grow room that's that old and I'm wanting to push it to flowering soon. Is it not advisable to try switching to 12/12 from 18/6 with the 2 clones and 2 sprouters in there? I would assume so but I don't really have another space or an outdoor location near me I can use. Would something like a 14/10 schedule possibly work without making the clones/seedlings also flower? Worse comes to worse I suppose I can move it elsewhere and put my 2 spotlights (compact florecent bulbs in adjustable light stands I've been using to give extra light to lower leaves and help recover my injured clone). My whole set up unfortunetly is only floro's, the MH and HPS come next year when my budgets bigger and I've got more experience under my belt
Points: -a plant that is 3' in veg can easily end up 6' tall 3 weeks into flowering. If that's the case, and you've only got a couple of flo's, the buds lower down on the plant will be very low potency. -Vegging a clone while flowering another plant under the same light cycle is gonna be hard if not impossible. You can try a 14/10 cycle. -A plant can be topped when it is as small as 6".
In fact I top my plants very early, earlier the better I say and never ever near when switching to flower. This will highly reduce the final yield. Also never top plants that are pure indica. Again you'll lose yield. If I were you and you wanted the clones to catch up, I'd top the 3 footers down to their second nodes and let the clones catch up whilst all is in Veg. Goldie.
when you say pinch, do you actually mean pinching - just putting pressure - on the stem? i did this last grow, just kinda rolling the stem between 2 fingers putting pressure on ( but not to much! ) and didn't think any more of it. i didn't do it this grow, same seeds ( jack and ice ), and this grow are all twice the size already - a lot more stretched out, the lower branches arn't as long so i'll definetly be pinching from now on!
By pinching I'm referring to actually pinching off a section of new leaf growth with your fingers/blade. My control plants already shown a difference between the one I pinched. Less height on the pinch, but it's got a lot of new growth above the nodes and is already getting bushier than the control by a bit. Since I pinched only the top at first of my big'un, it's got a wide top with plenty of undergrowth occuring. I think I'm just going to have to bite the bullet and move him to my furnace room. A lot less factors I can control there, and a bit more cost to deal with lighting issues but I'll probably prefer what I'd get from that than having my whole stock flower early. Since this was my batch to really learn the ropes, I plan next time to clone en mass and grow from those so I'll have the majority at the same age.
i'm with you, so your removing bits from the plants anyone tried what i'm talking about? you kinda just squeeze it, but don't break it - can't remember where i read about it now, but it was something like doing that the plant spends time repairing that bit, whilst the rest of the plant keeps on growing - allowing the lower branches to catch up, and so it doesn't stretch so much?
ekul' I've heard it called "Super cropping" What occurs when you "pinch" the shoot stem, you disrupt the flow of the growth hormones to the upper most shoot. It in turn divertd the growth to the next lower node. "IMHO" a wonderfull technique for indoor growers to aid in keeping tight nodal growth for short efficient plants. I have used it for up to 3 weeks into flowering, to control strtshy strains.
