Veg and FIM question

Hello all, 1st post here. This is my second grow. During my first, a friend FIM'd for me around week 2 of veg. Now I am on my own. I have 15 plants, under two 600 watt HID's, in a 4x8 tent. I transplanted clones and they took off. Had to veg under HPS for bout 5 days before I got both MH bulbs. They have now been vegging 17 days (including the 5 under hps) and are between 18 and 22 inches tall. Two strains, Powerkush, and Quarazytrain. Quarazytrain short and squatty, Powerkush longer. Distance between nodes averages from 1 to 3 inches wit the average about 2.

I would like to veg longer but appear to be almost to the point of crowding. they are in 3 gallon pots, soiless #4, hand fed/watered. I have a 7 foot tall tent so height is no problem. there is stilla good 6 to 8 inches between growth, with at least a foot between pots.

I would like to FIM cut the tops (and know how), but my questions are these:

1. can i keep vegging...in hopes for bigger plants bigger yields?
2. if so, when should I FIM?
3. FIM limits upward growth i have heard, but produces more cola sights at top.
4. Also, when to start cutting excess growth from the soil up..I have heard you want
3 to 4 inches of bare stem.

Sorry so wordy, if anyone manages to read all of this and comment, you're a cool human being, thanks!

Great setup! Do you have any pics or plan to do a journal? 1. your plants will at least double when you flip them so keep this in mind. you need space between your candles and the tops so that 7 feet fills up quick. 2. I wouldn't more bud sites dont nec mean more weight at the end of the day. 3. yes. 4. I usually cut the bottom third of my plant or so. Keep us posted on your results like I said very cool setup...you got ventilation or do you just manually open the tents up?

I have ventilation, it's all in a basement. I have a Vortex sucking air out thru a phresh filter. I have a hydrofarms 6 inch blowing fresh ambient air in, thru ducts into closed euro hoods, and then out of the tent into a separate basement room. No pics yet but will post soon. Journal has been started. In my previous similar set up, I vegged for 18 days, but when I fimmed, they stoppped growing. about 24 inches when flipped, and only maybe grew 2 to 3 more inches until harvest. I did get 1 1/2 to 2 ozs per plant.

I am not really wanting to FIM this time. Want to see if plants vegged longer, that are not fimmed, will actually double in size like you say when flowering. And if so, would that mean a much taller plant, hence more yiled possibly then last time? I had very dense good size colas last time, and produced a high quality product. I hate those buds that end up looking long and skinny, and fear thats what you get when the plants double in size thru flowering. Thought the whole idea of FIMMING was to get more buds out of shorter plants...but is that only really used when you have height restrictions? Thanks!!!

Man you got a rocking setup!! I found some plants take really well to FIM but others dont. I am not a huge fan of the long skinny colas either that take up so much space but lack weight. Have you tried bending? Anytime you cut or bend your plants usually stop production for a week. If you wait to long in the flower cycle can even set you back 2-3 weeks on some strains. I have always experimented with FIM, supercropping, or even topping. I found with the long skinny colas that when you see this growth pattern begin to give em a bend and they fatten up and give the lower buds a chance to catch up. Genetics play a huge role also in bud size and formation. Are you rocking clones?

Seems you need some help bro, saw ur question on the other room too.
When you fim/top a plant you should do so asap. I tend to top the plant instead of fim.
To get 2 main stems or "colas" you cut the plant on top of the first true node. The first true node are the 2 branches that grow after your seedling gets its very first set of rounded and jagged leaves.
If you cut above the second true node (second set of branches) you will get 4 tops.
After you top your plant you should let it veg another 3-4 weeks at least before you switch to flowering... the reason you may not have got better results last time was because you fimmed and then switched to flower soon after that.

hope this helps,
monkz.

I did bend my brances during flowering with low stress wire and developed additional bud siights, but with the crowding could not spread them all. i do not make my own clones yet, these are transplanted myself from a friend.

opps i meant that reply for you, about the bending and not making my own clones

Monkz, that makes sense, I fimmed and switched to flower bout a week later. I believe my friend topped them because quite a few have multiple branches coming out of the top. So if you top, you do it when they are still in the dixie cups when you get the clones I take it? When only a few leaves and branches are there? Now that I am 17 days into veg with 23 inch plants, what do you suggest? A pic will be coming which will be much more helpful I'm sure. At this point, i take it I cant top any more. I dont want the long skinny buds, but If I do not FIM at this point, and veg longer...is that likely?

Actually, I just confirmed that the clones i got from my friend were "tops' when he cut them. So there are already multiple branches everywhere, after 17 days of veg. So the question now is, If I don't FIM them, can i expect them to almost double in size during flowering, and if so does that lead to long skinny colas? I would guess that dependes on the light penetration depth (avg 1 foot to 1 1/2 feet) from the top down. And also, Id keep the bottom third of the plant bare. anyone?