I have two Northern Lights autos in 2’ x 4’ tent. They’re 7 weeks (from starting seed). I’ve been feeding with GP via AutoPots. I trimmed off lower leaves, but the tops are a complete canopy. The plant on the right is much smaller, so I’ve been tilting the light at an angle.
They look healthy to me, but I’m wondering how I should handle this thick canopy growth. It looks like most every branch has a pistil forming.
The center main stem on the left has grown literally inches per day. I bent it a bit to keep it away from the light, but not sure that’s the best option. Should I whack it?
I wouldn’t take any more off. There is already plenty of airflow within the plant and the plant needs those leaves to manufacture the sugars the plant needs to grow and be healthy.
You will probably need to trim again in a couple of weeks as the plant stretches in early flower. Trim as necessary to maintain good airflow within the canopy.
Midwest has you covered on the question.
I am wondering about the plant being an autoflower.
Typically you don’t see such growth on autos. If I was asked I would say that they were photo period and should have been topped around the 5th or 6th node to keep them under control.
How long did they veg before they flowered? I might have been tempted to top it and LST the stems by tying them down early. The sativa genetics are going to stretch them more than Indicas.
Sometimes the stretch catches me off-guard too so you deal with it.
Bending branches will always work but it is harder after the stems harden up. Not impossible though.
Has the larger one always been the bigger of the two? Or did the major difference occur during the flowering stretch?
I think really about all you can do is supercrop (light handed) the tall one. Find room as best you can. You may need to remove some of the secondary (lower quality) bud sites below where you bend the tops. Again, because it is an auto, don’t get carried away with removing too much.
Consider yourself one of the lucky ones. I would rather have this problem than a mini auto.
Exactly. You just dont know early on what to expect. I went back and found pics of the plants early on and saw they looked very healthy but much shorter. I might suggest sticking with a single topic/thread so we can see the history. Just tag a few of us and we will comment when we arrive.
@Spiney_norman@MidwestGuy a couple years ago I was growing some NL photos and another member was growing the auto version. At the time he had lousy lights but nonetheless his autos were 3-4 feet tall and significantly taller than my NL.
@GD - I meant to ask about lights. What brand are you running? What are the on / off hours?
I had a NL auto when I first started growing that got 6ft tall.
Its unpredictable and why I grow photos now.
NL Auto in back…Two other autos in front…all the same age, all in 3gal pots.
so the whole problem is most likely the lights , the wrong or to low DLI will make any plant stretch out of control .
and with the autos the more you trim the more it will grow . because it slows the maturity ability of the plant down. me i love to trim , but it needs to be done early , when you cut branch growth off . the leaf dont matter cut any time you want , i do every few days with leaf .
the objective is to let air flow through and light to the bud sites . along with DLI,pH,RH,dew-point temperature of soil and water ,feed amounts . and every plant is different. look at it like going to collage , the more you read and study the more you learn . therefor the better plant you can grow .
Great canopy!!!
My first grow was a white widow jungle, All I thought was this isn’t how it looks in the videos. A couple more auto grows. Much improved as I learned. My biggest lesson was why in the hell do I want to grow autos.
The seeds are from ILGM, and I had already grown a couple of the NL outside (with lousy results). Those were definitely Autos, so I assume these are too.
If I put the smaller plant on a step stool, I don’t think the AutoPot gravity feed would still work.
This is what both plants are doing. I’m still pretty new at this, but I think it’s preflower…?
I have several HLG 260 rspecs. Good lights. Maybe along the way its height wasn’t quite right. Agree re flowering. I also use autopots. Hard to raise the tray a significant amount.
As I mentioned, I think the most you can do is bend (super crop) the tall one and do your best to even the height between the two plants and then set the light around 22 - 24".
why autos ? for me its the amount of light , i can leave set on 20 hrs whole grow . light leaks dont seem to effect the plants and i get 8 hrs more time to play with the girls . true it does seem buds take just as long to mature . but most autos stay small for tent and a personal grower . Happy Growing
The last auto I grew was in 2020. I wanted to learn from them and also grow them outdoors. I tried outdoors once. Caterpillars and bud rut. That was enough for me. I’ll stick with a controlled environment. Autos do not give me the flexibility or ability to grow the way I want to. So I moved on.
yes outside in Va. sucked , last year. all plants had mold and bud rot .the ones i tryed to dry, when broke open was full of rot . i too agree , *&^$% outside grows . Happy Growing
Do you have an option to move one out of that tent to another tent, space, or outside? Seems like then you could dial in some training and trimming so they can take off even more. I wouldn’t be the source for trimming all that bush properly though, I’ll look forward to hear what the experts say.
Happy Growing
