New Grower I think I screwed up: 6 DP Autos in a 1sqm box with double LEDs (and more...)

[Minitaipan]

Good evening all !

This is my first post on this wonderful forum's grow journals section.

Back in a decade ago and more, I used to play around with old-school "Is that a male or a female ? Darn !", the basic HID 400W lights from Sylvania (MH/HPS) with Adjust-A-Wing, some Biobizz/Plagron soil, some Coco and even DWC/Ebb&Flow/Drip etc.
First with Sensi Seeds, then Dutch Passion, then Brian/Royal Seeds, then back again to Dutch Passion (best/safest imho back then).
Back then, with my limited skills, it was common to grow nine plants in a 1sqm box: no worries.

Now I started again, using LEDs and some DPs in a 1sqm box (100*100*200) from Secret Jardin.
First run, using nine Photo-Periods from Dutch Passion (Euforia, Powerplant) in old-school 9L plastic buckets -> Superb disaster as I dumped the seeds straight into Biobizz Allmix, without using rockwool or giffy/riot cubes: they got super stressed by the excessive nutrients.

Now comes my second run: after reading a ton of threads here (like @TaNg and @Mr ganjamoto insane ones), I decided to go for Autos from DP, but not trusting their capability -or mine- to overwhelm the 1 sqm space, I went for 6 plants.
The best 6 of 9 germinated seeds from DP: Auto White Widow, Blue Auto Mazar & Think Different, all going through a careful heated germination in Riot cubes.

Then 3 of them went into an Airpot 12.5L, and 3 into a PlantIt 17L (planning to do some basic benchmark between the two), with a neat cocoon of Biobizz LightMix surrounded by Biobizz All-Mix.

All this with a double LED exposure from Mars-Hydro: a "cheap" Mars-Hydro 600w from Amazon and their COB 100/300W.
Just regular tap water + some SuperThrive (I'm really that old-school )

Now comes the new and surprise problem: the 6 plants are exploding in the 1sqm box, even though I topped 2 of them at 5th node (one BAM in Airpot, one BAM in PlantIt, cause benchmark...)

My question: should I let nature do its work "as it will" or should I engage into some serious training/cutting/defoliating/whatever to get it under control and protect the harvest quality/quantity wise ?

As a picture is worth a thousand words, here's the situation now on start of Week 6 in the two attached pictures.

M.

 

[bad dragon bzzz]

hi and @Minitaipan i wonder should we ask the supreme leader @Taipan
not looking to bad at all nice colour look healthy enough
not that ive ever done but a bit of defoling maybe in order,or give two plants to your gran
been lurking for some time or first day here ? im archie gemmill your butlins blue coat hi de high site rep a few things well worth a read.

Site Terms Of Use
regardless if you read them or not,you have agreed to abide by them,so best cast your eye over takes 2 mins,in short no religion politics and dont be a knob
https://www.autoflower.org/threads/site-terms-of-use.13737/

New Member Intros
why not do an intro,tell us something about yourself your grow or your ferret
https://www.autoflower.org/forums/live-introductions.35/
Live Stoner Gossip bit lost or stuck,got a question ? a cuppa tea getting cold and a rocket to burn ?
https://www.autoflower.org/t...ossip-october-2018.67798/page-48#post-1916976
some Guides and Tutorials
https://www.autoflower.org/forums/guides-tutorials/
start a journal in the new growers section
https://www.autoflower.org/forums/new-growers-grow-journals.44/

follow along with Ash-A-Ton from seed to jar thread
https://www.autoflower.org/threads/school-daze-seed-to-jar-live-guide.65331/

anything else just ask away or @ me
good luck n keep er lit

 

[Proph]

Hello, and welcome back to your renewed addiction! Im glad you're growing again!

Ahh, the classic overflow! Looks like you are gonna have a tent buster on your hands! If you were in nature, I'd vote to let nature take its course. But since this is the opposite of nature, I say do what you have to do to keep the plants healthy. That includes training, and even killing of plants to make room. Its totally a judgment call on your part. I can image the possible humidity issues in a full leafy tent like that. I'd give them a week or two more, then make some decisions.

 

[MickJ]

Looks like they have a couple of feet to grow. Great problem to have, nice growing.

Sent from my comfy chair
[emoji41][emoji2956][emoji848][emoji12][emoji42]

 

[wes]

You could always add another tent! It’s basically what I had to do when my “autos” didn’t flower. Plants look great so the bumper crop might pay for itself first run. But that’s me; I hate to cut ANYTHING down, especially when they look that good. Good luck.

 

[Simplicio]

I've done the same, allowing desire for variety to cause me grow 6 plants in a 3 ft x 3 ft tent, which is a bit smaller than yours.
My plants looked very much like yours, but things soon got out of hand.
Some plants grew into the lights, and the overcrowding allowed no room to bend branches away from the light without covering up other plants.
No plant was happy with its lack of growing room.
I've since reduced the number to 4, and even that is a bit crowded.
Everything still worked out, but I suspect yield and quality were a bit off.

 

[Minitaipan]

Thank you all for the warm welcome, really appreciated !

I think what you are suggesting is that drastic measures can't be avoided and that implies, for the sake of simplicity, reducing the number of plants from 6 to 4 "at least".

This is something I have never done before, the whole experience of germinating 9 seeds to select the most promising 6 was already brutal for me

Back then (aka before Feminized seeds), you germinated 10 seeds and prayed that at least 5 of them would be females.
You knew there would be males and those would get to meet their maker in the WC after some nice Smoothie treatment in the mixer "If you survive this, we'll call you McGiver !".

So here I am with 6 seeds from DP, all new to me and all promising: how do I select 2 to die ?

As a recall, I have 3 different genetics here and I have no/zero clue about their smoke/vape experience:
- Auto White Widow (AWW)
- Blue Auto Mazar (BAM)
- Think Different (WTF?)

Any hint ?

 

[St. Tom]

Thank you all for the warm welcome, really appreciated !

I think what you are suggesting is that drastic measures can't be avoided and that implies, for the sake of simplicity, reducing the number of plants from 6 to 4 "at least".

This is something I have never done before, the whole experience of germinating 9 seeds to select the most promising 6 was already brutal for me

Back then (aka before Feminized seeds), you germinated 10 seeds and prayed that at least 5 of them would be females.
You knew there would be males and those would get to meet their maker in the WC after some nice Smoothie treatment in the mixer "If you survive this, we'll call you McGiver !".

So here I am with 6 seeds from DP, all new to me and all promising: how do I select 2 to die ?

As a recall, I have 3 different genetics here and I have no/zero clue about their smoke/vape experience:
- Auto White Widow (AWW)
- Blue Auto Mazar (BAM)
- Think Different (WTF?)

Any hint ?

a warm welcome to you my friend thanks for posting on afn you look like you are well on your way it will be packed to the max in that space you will have your hands full down the line and wishing you lots of luck

 

[G.Leave]

Ive smoked AWW and the photo version of the think different(think fast). Both are fantastic potency and nice smells and flavours too...i am sure you will dig 'em!

 

[davisgirl]

Thank you all for the warm welcome, really appreciated !

I think what you are suggesting is that drastic measures can't be avoided and that implies, for the sake of simplicity, reducing the number of plants from 6 to 4 "at least".

This is something I have never done before, the whole experience of germinating 9 seeds to select the most promising 6 was already brutal for me

Back then (aka before Feminized seeds), you germinated 10 seeds and prayed that at least 5 of them would be females.
You knew there would be males and those would get to meet their maker in the WC after some nice Smoothie treatment in the mixer "If you survive this, we'll call you McGiver !".

So here I am with 6 seeds from DP, all new to me and all promising: how do I select 2 to die ?

As a recall, I have 3 different genetics here and I have no/zero clue about their smoke/vape experience:
- Auto White Widow (AWW)
- Blue Auto Mazar (BAM)
- Think Different (WTF?)

Any hint ?

Hi! Fellow noob on my first grow. Welcome to AFN. Any sign of flowering yet? Not sure how you are going to pick. But admit it...you have favorites. Go from there.

Looking forward to growing the Think Different ay some point myself. Happy Growing!