Why is my node spacing so terrible?

Hi All, 5th grow and the first one where I've had such an issue with stretchy stems with few nodes during stretch. 5-6in between nodes. Every plant in the tent, 4 separate strains, all the same. I'm thinking it must be an environment issue? I did let the temp and humidity hang around 80/70 for the first 8 or 9 days, maybe that's the issue? Light is an roi e-720 on max so plenty of light intensity. Feed around 2ec and I even cut the P in my feed to 25ppm since that's supposed to help with node spacing. 1gal coco DTW with multiple fertigations a day. Any thoughts would be appreciated!

Pics are day 14 of 12/12, just after the first defoliation

she looks neeekad

The only thing I can think of, is maybe the light is too intense. I veg at 75%

Have you grown these strains before?
The temp and humidity at 70/80 should be ok without impact.
What's different than your last grows? How long did you veg? Have you tested the intensity of light? Photone is what I use (android or iphone app). What is the Nitrogen level you are running?

Nrk.cdn said:

Have you grown these strains before?
The temp and humidity at 70/80 should be ok without impact.
What's different than your last grows? How long did you veg? Have you tested the intensity of light? Photone is what I use (android or iphone app). What is the Nitrogen level you are running?

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First time with these strains
Everything I've read says to keep light intensity high during stretch so I did. 950ppfd in the middle, 550-600 on corners and edges.
From seed I vegged for about 6 weeks.
N is around 175ppm

One difference from my last grows is using kelp. I know it can contain gibberellins, maybe I gave them too much

Some strains are just that way. Why hold back P and not N if your trying to minimize stretch?

OneHitDone said:

Some strains are just that way. Why hold back P and not N if your trying to minimize stretch?

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Yeah but 4 completely different ones growing the same way? Seems unlikely.

There's a lot of scientific literature that low P levels reduce stretch and decrease node spacing on cannabis and most fruiting/flowering plants

Probably just the strain that's how my gushers is

Genetics/strain?
I've got 4 strains going atm one of them (star dog) is like elastic the stretch is similar to yours, two of them are quite stout and another medium/just nice.

My Oni Seeds Strawpicanna stretched like crazy on my last run but it was noted in the breeders description.
Also, looks like you could've done a better job of weaving through the screen....doesnt really seem to be serving any purpose as is.

Star Dog said:

Genetics/strain?
I've got 4 strains going atm one of them (star dog) is like elastic the stretch is similar to yours, two of them are quite stout and another medium/just nice.

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4 different strains from IHG, beleaf, square1 and first blood. I don't think all 4 would stretch like this. I'm leaning toward the kelp

waterproof808 said:

My Oni Seeds Strawpicanna stretched like crazy on my last run but it was noted in the breeders description.
Also, looks like you could've done a better job of weaving through the screen....doesnt really seem to be serving any purpose as is.

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this grow was basically a SoG but i put the screen in there just to train them horizontally for a bit. the net was full when i flipped

Nrk.cdn said:

Have you grown these strains before?
The temp and humidity at 70/80 should be ok without impact.
What's different than your last grows? How long did you veg? Have you tested the intensity of light? Photone is what I use (android or iphone app). What is the Nitrogen level you are running?

Click to expand...

Photone is in BETA TESTING for android, DO NOT trust the accuracy! Its not even close on my phone.

That's a very thick canopy and I can tell by how thick the stems are where you defoliated that you didn't defoliate until after it stretched. Those lower portions weren't getting a lot of light hence they stretched. I would reduce canopy thickness personally before stretch or defoliate sooner.

Halfandhalf said:

That's a very thick canopy and I can tell by how thick the stems are where you defoliated that you didn't defoliate until after it stretched. Those lower portions weren't getting a lot of light hence they stretched. I would reduce canopy thickness personally before stretch or defoliate sooner.

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Would you suggest giving a decent defoliation right before flipping? My next grow has better node spacing but definitely still really tall/stretchy

justice8965 said:

Would you suggest giving a decent defoliation right before flipping? My next grow has better node spacing but definitely still really tall/stretchy

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Node spacing is dependent on strain, light intensity, light spectrum, temperature, and nutrients. Kinda in that order.

Padawan is right but just ask yourself what's going on here? Of course strain affects node distance and everything else listed, but those lower portions were blocked from light which also shifts the spectrum of light going through resulting in more stretch. You could defoliate before stretch but for my grows I just don't like canopies that thick. The other thing is you could flower sooner before that much of the screen is filled and continue to tuck branches during the stretch.

If you're running a GC ROI 720 you should have zero issues with light induced stretch, I veg using those fixtures @ 25% hanging as far as 2 feet from the plants with no signs of unusual stretch. It probably boils down to genetics. The only time I have noticed weird stretch is when my temperatures are low during lights off (~68 °F or colder), sometimes I do it on purpose to hit my 2nd layer of netting.

Looks beautiful, my vote is Genetics.

justice8965 said:

Would you suggest giving a decent defoliation right before flipping? My next grow has better node spacing but definitely still really tall/stretchy

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I would only clean up the bottoms of the plants before flip, get rid of obviously low sucker branches off the main branches and let them do their thing uninterrupted for at least 3 weeks after flip, then go through again and pluck away any obviously crowded leaves and snip away lower auxiliary branches that aren't going to get much light. Yeah you will lose some grams but you also won't be spending an extra few hours trimming and harvesting popcorn.