Dealing with Height Problems in 3600 Watt Grow?

Packed 3600 watts into a small room with 7.75 foot high ceilings - I know many of you have bigger height problems but when dealing with this amount of plants it's pretty damn difficult.

To date, I've ran six cycles, my very FIRST one being the best when I simply had them on the ground in three gallon buckets. I gave them extremely low amounts of run off, if any... and still it was my best run!

I've since built tables 15 inches tall, so I can throw my 100 gallon resi underneath.

The Problem: After the 15 inches for the table, 8 inches for the lamp, and 14-15 inches in between my light and plants (my strain seems to act best when about 14 inches away) I'm only dealing with under five feet and my plants just end up too small really, it's a bummer! I usually flower a bit too early, they end up 5-6 inches too small because I'm worried about them just getting too big.

Possible Solutions

--I'm considering making any changes to my room that will enable me to grow them taller. It's odd, sometimes I flower them at the right amount, and they seem to know they can't grow as large as when I had them on the ground... so they stay small.

--In short, I'm considering just going back to putting them on the ground with little run off, or maybe a flood and drain... I could likely just use a buncha small Rubbermaids that are like 6-7 inches tall and lowering my tables.

--I'd really like to go back to just putting them on the ground but I got lucky my first time, and didn't have any nute problems...so no huge need to flush until the end... I'm not sure I can count on that everytime.

Do any of you grow them just sitting on the ground with 60-70 plants? How do you water them? I don't have time to do it by hand... but I figured if I could find space in my room for a garbage can and then set something up where I flip a switch and the water gets pumped out of the can and through the drips. I could have them like 3-4 inches off the ground on a cinder block, and allow a bit of run off.. but if I run into a must flush situation it could get tricky in there. My friend does something similar with a garbage can holding the water, and said he uses some sort of sprinkler contraption to get them watered... he just plugs it in for a minute or two nightly and then unplugs when done.

I've also had a difficult time getting them to fill in the canopy enough. As I said, they usually end up too small. I could probably get away with having them 4.5 feet tall, maybe needing to tie a few down... but they end up significantly smaller than that most times because I'm afraid of gettin em too darn big!

Any suggestions? Also have considered adding chicken netting and when they pop through the net, just pull them back down. If you are pretty diligent about doing that while they are stretching, can you add alot of vertical growth without going into the lights? Any advice appreciated.

Next CycleDoing White Widow next run... any advice with that is appreciated too. How tall do you grow yours, etc?

Forgot... the pots add a lot of height too... I've done 3 gallons which are over a foot tall, and recently did 1 gallons which add nearly a foot as well. After all is said and done, I only have like 3.25-3.5 feet to grow them - am I better off just putting them on the ground and not having much run off?

im sure u have aready found a soution but have u tried a ebb n gro system? they are on 6hr timers and u can replace the soil with hydroton clays, they water every 6 hrs and i cant imagine doing it any other way Also try to grow a pure indica strain.

my best answer is to keep on doing what your doing but just forget about stressing the height. Top them a week or two before flowering and throw a screen up, like you yourself suggested, and pull it down to your height needed if things get hairy. I have several topped plants amongst my untopped (experiment) and the untopped ones are at least 10 inches shorter through stretch and are way wider than the rest. Do this top and you will get the super thick, full canopy you want and your height worries will be a thing of the past.