First time growing sativa

[turbobuzz]

I decided to try a mostly sativa strain PPP, and this plant has stretched 20" in 2 weeks after I switched to 12/12. I have never had this rapid of growth before, but I have never used CMH lighting before. I only have about 2 feet of height left to raise the light. Hope it stops the stretch soon. I'll know next time!

 

[Bookush34]

Topping that would work great.

 

[New Age United]

Yes you should top sativa at least twice if height is a consern but it's too late for that. You could still supercrop it to keep it short, worse case you have to cut the top off I've done it before the main stalk will still produce a nice cola.

 

[hotrodharley]

Top 3 times and supercrop them starting early in veg. Consider a SCROG for flower. With some sativas hitting 12’-15’ these things make sense.

 

[70's natureboy]

I like weed that grows like a weed. I can't stand indica shrubs that do almost nothing in veg. I would let her grow into her glory. I don't think it will stretch much more but if it does you can bend it down and get some more light on her.

 

[turbobuzz]

I like weed that grows like a weed. I can't stand indica shrubs that do almost nothing in veg. I would let her grow into her glory. I don't think it will stretch much more but if it does you can bend it down and get some more light on her.

I think that will be the plan. I flipped this at 16" thinking it would stretch to 32" at best. Wrong. I do hope it slows down this week. I've got 8 more seeds of this, so lesson learned. And I've always used flourescents and blurples, but this CMH is so far the bees knees. Way better growth.

 

[OldMedUser]

I've been growing sativa dominants for the last two decades and ScroG is the way to go with those girls.

A trick I use when a top is getting too tall is just to roll the stem firmly between your fingers until it gets soft and the top flops over. Might have to do a couple inches worth or even a couple of node spaces so it doesn't break but even if it splits open the top still grows fine and the buds lower down grow a lot bigger as if you topped the plant. I've even had the back of the bend break right apart and the top still grows as if nothing happened. I've literally done it dozens of times over the last 20 years and never had a top die.

Got me some nearly pure indicas going and plan to mainline them so need to switch gears with these girls.

 

[turbobuzz]

I've been growing sativa dominants for the last two decades and ScroG is the way to go with those girls.

A trick I use when a top is getting too tall is just to roll the stem firmly between your fingers until it gets soft and the top flops over. Might have to do a couple inches worth or even a couple of node spaces so it doesn't break but even if it splits open the top still grows fine and the buds lower down grow a lot bigger as if you topped the plant. I've even had the back of the bend break right apart and the top still grows as if nothing happened. I've literally done it dozens of times over the last 20 years and never had a top die.

Got me some nearly pure indicas going and plan to mainline them so need to switch gears with these girls.

Going to have to do something, it's grown 6 more inches in two days. What a stretch. I'm not a pro at this, so I learned a valuable lesson on this strain. Light comes on in 30 minutes so we'll see how much it's grown in the last 12 hrs.

 

[turbobuzz]

17 days 12/12 and so far has stretched from 16" to 45". Wow,

 

[Charsiguy420]

17 days 12/12 and so far has stretched from 16" to 45". Wow,

Wow that is crazy. I think two of my plants are also pure sativas and I dont know what I'll do with them when I switch. At the moment they stand at about 14". Think I should switch even if they are 3 weeks old?

and did your had preflower before you switched?I Have another sativa plant that is also about 15-16" in week 5 and still no preflowers...

 

[JohnDee]

Char,
So you don' know the sex yet? It could b a male which tend to grow taller...so they can spread their seed far and wide.

As a general rule sats will stretch x3 Indicas will double.

And to further mess with you...the stretch is usually measured as a percentage of total finishing time. So you will have more then a 2 week stretch.

Read up on supercropping. OMU gave you a good description. It sounds worse then it is. Plants are amazing healers.
Good luck,
JD

 

[Roger A. Shrubber]

some cold water kelp extract will help a little with that, but it's better to use it before you flip. it contains a high amount of Cytokinin, which helps keep internodal length short...so about 2 weeks before you flip, start adding a little to your feed, and keep it up till the stretch is over, bet it'll shorten them up by about a third without a significant loss of yield....

 

[eyeballsaul]

I wouldnt shy away from pinnin the top down with string so its almost bent in half then lowering the light.

 

[turbobuzz]

Char, Mine is up to 62" now. Started at 16" at 12/12. You better start flowering. I didn't see any preflowers when I switched. I had two, one was male. Probably a good thing. I bent the top over a little with a string last night. It already is curving back to the light. I will be topping in veg next time. Learned a lesson this time.

 

[turbobuzz]

Char,
So you don' know the sex yet? It could b a male which tend to grow taller...so they can spread their seed far and wide.

As a general rule sats will stretch x3 Indicas will double.

And to further mess with you...the stretch is usually measured as a percentage of total finishing time. So you will have more then a 2 week stretch.

Read up on supercropping. OMU gave you a good description. It sounds worse then it is. Plants are amazing healers.
Good luck,
JD

Mine was almost 4x, and 4 weeks stretch. Hell its still growing. This was 3 days ago.

 

[turbobuzz]

some cold water kelp extract will help a little with that, but it's better to use it before you flip. it contains a high amount of Cytokinin, which helps keep internodal length short...so about 2 weeks before you flip, start adding a little to your feed, and keep it up till the stretch is over, bet it'll shorten them up by about a third without a significant loss of yield....

I actually did just that with kelp.

 

[JohnDee]

Mine was almost 4x, and 4 weeks stretch. Hell its still growing. This was 3 days ago.

Turbo dude...that is one fine looking sativa...really too bad you don't have more headroom. Bend it soon so the side branches can develop. Once you remove the apical meristem influence by supercropping...the side branches will take over. You'll probably need to do a little leaf pruning and maybe remove a small branch or two. You understand that this is probably a 12 week strain...
JD

PS-make sure to bend it low enough. You don't want to go through all this only to have the side branches get too tall.

 

[turbobuzz]

Turbo dude...that is one fine looking sativa...really too bad you don't have more headroom. Bend it soon so the side branches can develop. Once you remove the apical meristem influence by supercropping...the side branches will take over. You'll probably need to do a little leaf pruning and maybe remove a small branch or two. You understand that this is probably a 12 week strain...
JD

PS-make sure to bend it low enough. You don't want to go through all this only to have the side branches get too tall.

I'm glad to have that feedback. I'm really a novice with sativas. I took a stab at crushing the main stem and rolling it between my fingers. It's about healed up now. I bent it over with a string tied to a weight last night. I'll take another pic when lights come back on.

 

[turbobuzz]

I'm glad to have that feedback. I'm really a novice with sativas. I took a stab at crushing the main stem and rolling it between my fingers. It's about healed up now. I bent it over with a string tied to a weight last night. I'll take another pic when lights come back on.

Here's what it looks like tonight. Exactly 28 days flowering. Only grew 1/2" last 24 hrs. So hopefully it starts bulking up some buds. I'm with you, I'm thinking 12 weeks despite what the seed seller said (8 or 9 weeks). I'm used to hybrids, or indica, so this seems a little sparse at this point to me.

 

[turbobuzz]

So, this is how this plant looks 29 days from when I first saw pistols. Long way to go, but I'm feeling better about it now. Pure power plant from MSNL seeds.