They are getting too big..... help

Hi all,
First time posting after being a serial lurker, I had a successful indoor grow 3 years ago but thought I would give my greenhouse a go.
The 4 girls are 9 weeks old on an autopot system, growing great and I have been able to manage the environment pretty well.
I’m not sure if my initial mistake is strain but they are all ‘easy sativa’.
So my question is..... can I do anything about the size of my plants at this stage? I have pinched out the middles twice already to try slow the upward growth but they are still going for it! Take a look at the pics and any help or advice will be greatly appreciated.
If any other pics will help let me know.

a general rule of thumb is that they will triple in size once in flower. I would cut them back alot

steve870 said:

a general rule of thumb is that they will triple in size once in flower. I would cut them back alot

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Thanks for the fast reply, my concern was that they are already flowering as they ahave been showing there sex for at least 3 weeks now. So will be ok to give them a good hacking back? Any tips on the best way to not destroy the best bud sites?

they are not in flower and far from it so juste cut it back it's your only solution if you leave it alone it will be bad

steve870 said:

they are not in flower and far from it so juste cut it back it's your only solution if you leave it alone it will be bad

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Ok that great, is it best to just take 2ft straight off or do it in stages?

just go straight for it

if you are in the northern hemisphere they should start flowering in a month or more they will grow back

HydroJ2010 said:

Thanks for the fast reply, my concern was that they are already flowering as they ahave been showing there sex for at least 3 weeks now. So will be ok to give them a good hacking back? Any tips on the best way to not destroy the best bud sites?

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Sounds like they are just showing preflowers? You can prune them back no problem when they are in veg and are showing preflowers.

You could LST or super crop them too.

TreeFarmerCharlie said:

Sounds like they are just showing preflowers? You can prune them back no problem when they are in veg and are showing preflowers.

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Thanks for the reply! I’m actually really happy that I came to you guys. Do you think it’s just the strain? Do they look healthy enough? (I think so)

You are in flower when you change the light cycle to 12/12, are you aware of this? Buds will start to form 1-3 weeks after switching to 12/12.

practice making clones

SheeshM said:

You could LST or super crop them too.

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Sorry I’m a newbie, what is LST and super crop? Just briefly as I can do some research so you guys don’t need to spend hours typing.

HydroJ2010 said:

Thanks for the reply! I’m actually really happy that I came to you guys. Do you think it’s just the strain? Do they look healthy enough? (I think so)

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Some strains definitely grow faster than others and some strains will stretch more than others in flower. I had some ILGM Purple Haze plants that came close to quadrupling in height during the first few weeks of flower.

Bendoon said:

You are in flower when you change the light cycle to 12/12, are you aware of this? Buds will start to form 1-3 weeks after switching to 12/12.

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I’m relying on the sun

TreeFarmerCharlie said:

Some strains definitely grow faster than others and some strains will stretch more than others in flower. I had some ILGM Purple Haze plants that came close to quadrupling in height during the first few weeks of flower.

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Thanks for the reply. So if I cut them down like 2ft do you think I will be in the same situation in 4 weeks time?

HydroJ2010 said:

Sorry I’m a newbie, what is LST and super crop? Just briefly as I can do some research so you guys don’t need to spend hours typing.

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LST = “low stress training” which means to gently pull and tie down branches to train the plant to grow outward instead of upward. Super cropping is when you bend branches until the kink into a 90° bend, which reduces the height. The branches will form hard knuckles at the kinks and then the ends will starts curving and growing toward the light over the course of about a week or two.

Ha, ok then you need to chop them in half. When are your days going 12/12? Be a few months away won’t it? Or are you close to the equator?

spliffendz said:

practice making clones

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Haha I think that could be an option, although in my current situation I don’t want anymore haha.

HydroJ2010 said:

Thanks for the reply. So if I cut them down like 2ft do you think I will be in the same situation in 4 weeks time?

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It won’t be so bad if you do some LST with them. Once you break the apical dominance (pruning back the main stem and LST will do this) the plant will start equally dispersing the growth to all the nodes instead of focusing on mainly the main stem.