Plant is getting TOO big.

[Blaynco]

Before I explain my situation, I made my own grow box out of a 27gal Sterilite storage container. I attached a 50W LED light to the top of the box and a small computer fan cut out into the side for artificial wind.

Skip to the bottom if you don’t want to read the explanation.

I have started three plants indoors in this container that I intended on transferring outside once the weather became suitable for cannabis growth. Unfortunately, one of my three plants began to grow too tall for the box. I put the plant outside in the 75 degree daytime and 55 degree nighttime weather because the leaves were beginning to curl inward like a taco (assuming this was due to being too close to the light). The next day we had a mild rain and I let the plant stay outside in a 1gal bucket for awhile in the rain. When I went to check on it, the plant was knocked over and wouldn’t stand straight up. I fixed the plant with TLC and it’s now standing tall once again. I put the plant back into the grow box and propped the top of the box up higher on a bunch of movie cases, I intend for this to only be temporary. My question is, what do I do now that my plant has outgrow its indoor growing container but the weather is not suitable yet for the plant to reside outside?

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

What exactly do you mean that the weather is not suitable yet? Are you in the northern hemisphere? When do you plan on putting them out?

I am guessing that the plants are stretching rather than growing due to the lack of lighting--50w is really not nearly enough to veg plants. You NEED (a lot) more light. This is why the one plant got too tall and why it wouldn't stand up straight. I would recommend topping any plants that have bad stretch. And when you transplant, bury the plant stems as deep as you can. a plant with a weak puny stem is not going to survive outside.

Do you have pics of the plants?

 

[Blaynco]

The issue definitely isn’t stretching. One of my other plants, that is older than the tall one, has maintained staying low. I transplanted both of these plants around the same time and have had the same feeding cycle. I’m growing in the northern/western hemisphere, the daytime gets up to 80 but at night it drops to 50-55. I’m planning on putting them out once the nighttime weather is a consistent 60-65.

The plant outside is the one having the growth issues, the smaller looking one has lived in the same conditions, same light, same feedings and even older than the taller one. I didn’t buy these seeds and got them from a friend.

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

If the daytime temps are in the 80s, there is really no reason to wait until the nighttime temps are a consistent 60-65 at night. Plants grow at different rates. I think they could benefit from being outside and getting more light, CO2, and air flow.

You say you got these seeds from a friend....were they bag seeds?

Leaves tacoing are generally because your pH is off, not because they are too close to the light. I have a T5 that I can keep within an inch or so of the tops of the plants. What are you feeding your plants and do you pH the nute solution?

 

[Blaynco]

The issue isn’t only the cold at night, but last time I put my plant outside in the rain it got pushed over and I had to use paperclips and add more soil to keep it standing until he recovered.

Bag seeds? I don’t know what that means, he got the different seeds from different strains of bud he bought.

For the tacoing leaves, they fixed themselves once I took the plant out of the grow box and put it outside. I haven’t used any nutrients for my plant yet because I haven’t had the extra funds to purchase any (I’m hoping to order some this weekend). For the first couple of weeks I used purified bottled water which just recently I stopped because I have well water, free of charge. I haven’t tested this well water yet but I’m pretty sure it’s completely clean.

 

[JGVermont1965]

Plants grow, it's what they do.
They're different heights because they're different breeds.
If you buy a bag of smoke and find a seed, that is a bag seed, it may be male, it may be female and there's a good chance it will be a hermi.

It's not going to hurt your plant to stake it up, they should be outdoors getting strong and healthy, they can take a major beating and thrive.

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

Second what JG said. I did not get my plants going until late because I moved and even though they are still quite small, they went through a nasty rains storm that also hailed with absolutely no issues. You need the strength of the sun and the wind to blow them around a bit and strengthen those stems so they can make it outside. Stake them is you need to.

I am a master plumber. Do not assume your well water is pure (not sure if you mean pure when you say clean). I don't think any is "completely clean". Most well water has a lot of dissolved solids. You will not know unless you test it. And testing is important. I've lived in 4 different places where water was supplied by well (and dealt with hundreds of wells during my career). Two had really good water, 2 had really bad water. The last place I lived the water had nitrates and arsenic in the water--we couldn't even drink it without it going through an RO. The water where I live now, the water is quite pure, testing at under 40 PPM of dissolved solids. Dissolved solids are not necessarily bad, but if you have high readings, you need to know what is in the water.

Not trying to harp on you, but it is important to have certain supplies before you even drop a seed....like food. They generally need food after about 2 weeks. If they do not get the nutrients they need, it will affect growth and quality...could be part of the reason for the weak stems. I don't know where you live, but if you have well water, you are probably in a place where you could compost. Do some reading on organics and find out how to turn garbage into soil and plant food.

Bag seed is often a result of the female plant selfing (creating pollen sacs and creating her own seeds). This is especially true if there were only a few seeds in a bag that should have been sensimilla. The reason that most of us do not use bag seed is that most of them are hermy seeds and have a far greater propensity to hermy themselves. Often the pollen sacs are inside buds where you never even see them...you just end up with a fully seeded crop and don't understand why. Stress will trigger the hermy trait. So, keep a good eye on these, especially if they all turn out to be female.

 

[Blaynco]

I wanted to update this thread since I haven't been active on Marijuana Passion in over a week to try to work on the plants by myself to gain some confidence and knowledge I didn't have before.

I decided it was probably for the best to put the plants outside instead of keeping them inside. I finally made the move and I've never been happier, my plants are growing well and starting to look healthier with bigger stems, unfortunately there are some issues though.

Growing cannabis outside where I live is a little different, I am growing inside of a "bush" that was hollowed out a long time ago so the sun has a direct path to the plants, this is for privacy reasons. The one issue I am running into are slugs and snails that hide in the shade of the bush are coming out at night and eating my plants! I have made a mixture of garlic, soap and water to try keeping the pests away, I even went out today and bought an organic insecticide that was said to keep many different types of bugs away.

I still have not bought nutrients and I think that is stunting their growth so I need to do that ASAP.

Thanks for all of the help.
- Blaynco