Why no stretch

[PencilHead]

All those details about ferts etc are irrelevant to stretch.
In my own experience, stretch is directly related to the 'normal' final height of your strain, versus the height at which you went 12-12 and put it into flower.
In general, my experience over a wide range of growing conditions varying from 12-12 from seed, to free unrestricted growth, gave me this result:
(Since this is strain-dependent to some extent I will give an example of a strain with which I'm very familiar: Sensi Seed's Black Domina. 5Gall pot coco/ greenhouse natural solar)

1. Germ under 12-12 conditions = straight into flower.
The plant shows sex very early, typically 3 weeks from germination, and then goes into flower yielding a plant about 1 m tall in 10 weeks to harvest. The yield is roughly 2 oz. The plant can be regarded as 'stretching' continually because it's simultaneously in flower and growing.

2. The same seed germinates under 16/8 and is allowed to veg until it shows signs of sex, at which point it goes 12-12.
The plant grows to a well-branched specimen about 1.7m tall, then goes into flower, but does not stretch to any appreciable degree. The yield is roughly 4 oz.

I have the strong impression that when you force a plant into flowering by reducing its light hours to 12-12 before it would otherwise go into flower, the result is that the plant is forced into flower by the photoperiod, but will try to make up for it by stretching during flower as much as possible. There's not a great deal you can do about that if you insist on going 12-12 too early.

This is a phenomenon I've noticed on my own--I've never seen anyone offer this as a possilbe culprit in stretch.

My style has evolved to vegging out to about 3 feet--I'm now getting nominal-to-no stretch beyond normal bud stacking. When I run a calyx donor, I throw her early as possible and get crazy, mad stretch. No science--just personal observation.

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

Stretch does not give you more bud. More bud sites gives you more buds. IME, plants that stretch do not yield more than plants that do not stretch.

 

[Roddy]

"My style has evolved to vegging out to about 3 feet"

ALRIGHT!!!! Glad to see I'm not the only one here that loves em large! Anyone reading my gj will notice the last gals in bud have grown only minimally when flipped, no doubling of size like many fear. In fact, I am now vegging them a touch larger since they didn't reach the height I had thought they would, experimenting to see what works!

 

[Hushpuppy]

I am not real experienced in this area as a newish grower, but as an experienced "systems troubleshooter" I noticed the one thing yu said yu are doing different this grow is yer nutes. Everyone was previously talking about causes of stretch but not causes of nonstretch. If all factors are the same, IE, plant strains, light regimen, grow medium, and all variables are the same, IE, temp, ph, RH, then the only "culprit" would be the nutes. If yu changed to a better nute source, then the nonstretch could be more efficient growth from better nutes. the only way to prove this is to complete the grow and record yer yeild, start another grow and do exactly the same thing and see if the results repeat themselves. IMO

 

[Hushpuppy]

After posting I went back and saw that yu said yu changed everything. More efficient lighting combined with better nutes could easily account for the lack of the type of stretch, that occured with previous grows. it appears that at least some of the stretch that yu had seen previously was the anomoly, not the lack of stretch now. the real answer, IMO, will be in yeild. hope it proves right for yu.

 

[woodydude]

I do too HP!!

Interesting discussion about competative stretch though. I do have some shiney surfaces underneath my plants but this is a recent thing since the changes which goes against what is being said about it causing stretch (it may be causing it but not as much as I got before)

Having read what everyone has said I believe my friends plants, which look amazing, will end up yielding less than mine, mainly due to my lower buds getting more light. Time will tell!
Peace W

 

[StoneyBud]

I do too HP!!

Interesting discussion about competitive stretch though. I do have some shiny surfaces underneath my plants but this is a recent thing since the changes which goes against what is being said about it causing stretch (it may be causing it but not as much as I got before)

Having read what everyone has said I believe my friends plants, which look amazing, will end up yielding less than mine, mainly due to my lower buds getting more light. Time will tell!
Peace W

Most of the reason that top buds get larger is due to the hormones within the plant. The most growth hormone is sent to the upper parts of the plant. No amount of light at the bottom will make the plant send those hormones to the bottom of the plant.

The increased light will help the buds reach thier largest, despite the lack of growth hormone.

More light, more photosynthesis, more growth....to a point.

 

[Roddy]

My Big Band brought in a whopping 7.5 oz dried, not bad for a plant of 40" (+/-). I got a much less 4 oz off a comparably sized and shaped PEx recently and around 5 oz from the much larger White Widow. I credit the addition of the 400w HPS used in vert style as side-lighting, this added light to the lower buds which really bulked up. Now, would the same have happened had I put the light in a hood overhead? IDK, but I'm really pleased with the improved yield!

 

[Hushpuppy]

That might be worth experimenting with it to see if it proves out. If yu compare a scrog where the branches and bud sights are all kept at the same light intensity, it appears to me that there is more yeild per lumen than in other setups (all things being equal), IDK but it appears that way. It might be worth doing a large-ish scrog with "overkill" lumen supply to see the results.

 

[PencilHead]

That might be worth experimenting with it to see if it proves out. If yu compare a scrog where the branches and bud sights are all kept at the same light intensity, it appears to me that there is more yeild per lumen than in other setups (all things being equal), IDK but it appears that way. It might be worth doing a large-ish scrog with "overkill" lumen supply to see the results.

Hmm--might even work with trees, huh? http://www.marijuanapassion.com/forum/showthread.php?t=52156&highlight=flattop

This was the first flattop I ran. It's dialed to totally-obscene now. I came up with this style in response to the draconian plant-count laws in my state. Basically a SOG with only 4 main stems. Equally shared lumens is the bomb--every bud is a winner.

Roddy, you should be pulling a minimum of 8 zee's per super-sized unit. I shoot for 14, usually get 10-12 each plant. I'm not that good, so maybe I've been lucky.