Switching to Back to MH While Still in Flower

Ok I'm three weeks into flowering, my plants are all showing good bud sights but as for a main cola, not so much. I'm going for SOG-like growing. Since I placed them under my 400w Hortilux HPS they have stretched to over 3 times their original hight and the internode lengths have expanded incredibly fast. My issue is that the hortilux bulb is a very hot one and I need to try and get these babies to form a main cola asap or by the time they grow some real bud they will burn... next time I get an air cooled fixture.

Anyway, can I switch them BACK to a Hortilux Blue MH and keep the light cycles the same in order to prevent stretching? I know this would stress them so I have dutchmaster reverse handy to prevent hermies. Thanks, I may just be paranoid (god it's been a while since I smoked) but I could use the advice...

I found that when growing in hydro, the flowering stage would usually see my plants grow well past the point i would want them too, so I have started to continue using the metal halide for the first few weeks of flowering and the stretching has been halted.

You could quite easily switch back to the mh for around a week, this is slow the upward growth down for the next week, then switch back to hps and it should go mostly on the buds then.

nongreenthumb said:

I found that when growing in hydro, the flowering stage would usually see my plants grow well past the point i would want them too, so I have started to continue using the metal halide for the first few weeks of flowering and the stretching has been halted.

You could quite easily switch back to the mh for around a week, this is slow the upward growth down for the next week, then switch back to hps and it should go mostly on the buds then.

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So nongreenthump I was thinking about doing that. On my first grow I kept them short and bushy and as soon as I switched to the HPS light they stretched. I was just wondering if that reduced your yield?

Ok I just put the MH in, from what I hear people can grow through with a MH so if thats what I need to do, so be it... if not I have bushmaster coming, maybe that will help. Thanks.

Well, you're only 3 weeks into flowering, so your grow spurt is about to end, and the flower formation will begin. Give them some time, and you'll get the colas that you want, what ever lamp you use. I would switch back to the HPS by Day 28.

One way to avoid some of "Da stretch," if you are using chemicals, is to give a PK booster in the first week of 12/12. The original Blossom Blood and the AN Bud Blood are great for this. Used only during the first week, they seem to start flowering process sooner, and Da Stretch is shortened.

HTH

I have done some expirementing and found my plants actually vegged better with my hps ligfhts which is weird. I did a side by side expirement and the hps vs mh the hps plants were fuller bigger and more dense then the mh lighted ones. So now I have gone ahead and toss my hps and mh lights together and get both spectrums. I have 2 400 watt hps going and a single 400 watt mh in the mix for little extra.Likesaid earlier though you just hit your growth jump they will slow always keep in mind when vegging plants will probably triple at least double in height when going into 12/12 no matter what you do light wise.

i agree with FF. th ebest of both worlds! MH has a cooler blue light that is supposed to be similar to the sun in spring and early summer. hps has a warm orange light that is on the same spectrum as the sun in summer and early fall. regardless of what the books say, nothing beats an expieriment! i too used both in veg but not for flower. i will try it.

im at the moment using hps for veg and i thought it was crap but out of the blue my plants started to groe like mad so wot do you do just find wot works best for your plants.

Thanks for the help guys! I did just put them under HM, I will leave it there for a week or so... unless that bushmaster ever gets here, in which case fuck it, that should stop stretching.

right now for flowering, i'm using 2 warm light cfl's and one cool. best of both worlds i guess

I saw in the 3 pics you had up that you have the light way far from your plants which would be the stretching cause. I see your main colas there but would suggest getting that 400 watt light to closer to 14-16 inches away

Actually it's not that far, also the Hortilux bulb is hot as shit! If it's any closer the heat could stretch them more. The 400mh is actually cooler. My bushmaster came today so I applied it via foliar feeding with Penetrator so lets see how that turns out.

how did it turn out?

what does the word "well"mean?