Out of control Autoflower!!

[Handyandy]

Hey all. I have a Green Crack Auto growing in DWC currently in Week 10 and it doesn’t want to stop growing/stretching. I did some LST early on and tried to creat an even canopy. Currently it is over 1.3m and I’m more or less maxed out in vertical height. In an effort to control the plant size, I switched to “early bloom” nute mix couple of weeks ago and then went to “mid-bloom” about a week ago but it still wants to keep going up. It has slowed down a touch but I’m literally running out of vertical space and wondering if anyone has any tips to make it stop growing and focus on flowering. I suspect genetics is in play here but any input would be appreciated.
Temps ~25C
RH 40-60%

 

[Tinkertent]

It's possible this isn't an auto and you need to swap to 12/12 lights.

Regardless if it's an auto or not clearly the plants big enough for you . It won't hurt to seal the lights schedule.

 

[PotDaddy]

What is your light schedule? what breeder? Have you read any grow reports of this same behavior?
If your not on 12/12 then maybe you should change them.

 

[Handyandy]

It’s Green Crack Auto by Fastbuds.
Sorry forgot to mention the light schedule. It’s definitely an auto as it’s been on 18/6 since germination. It showed sex in week 3 or 4 and went into flower shortly afterwards without me changing light schedule.
The issue is it’s been flowering as well as growing taller and taller everyday. It’s already at my max height capacity and I’m hoping it starts putting its energy into flowering rather than growing.
I suspect this pheno is most likely sativa dominant and thus the size. I really don’t want to burn the tops or be forced to cut them off. Tops are now less than 20cm away from the lights...

 

[Kinezokyprios]

Super cropping is your emergency solution.
Do you have other tall plants in the room? I am asking because green crack tends to be very antagonistic with other tall plants in the same room and tries to dominate them. I have experience with green crack ever dwarfing a six shooter. Whereas if the rest of the plants are short it grows within normal limits being 120 cm maximum, usually around 90cm.

 

[Doug58]

I've grown six different Fastbuds strains and had several of them grow much taller than the breeder's description's state. I found if I didn't top them they would outgrow a 4'x 4'x 6'6" grow tent. Both Gorilla Glue, Pineapple Express did this in some plants even if topped at the 5th node when other examples didn't. I had one example of each not finish until 120 days after having to move them outside after outgrowing my tent.

 

[Kinezokyprios]

For gorilla glue it is an issue since it is relatively short. Pineapple Express is relatively tall and SCROG is recommended to control it. But green crack which is a permanent feature in all my grows does have the tendency to compete with other tall plants. If you grow along a more indica like plant then it stays within limits. Topping is very good option with this particular strain and since in reality it takes around 16 weeks to harvest (9 weeks that fast buds says has never happened to me and I have grown over a 100 green crack plants) it is well suited for it. I have tried it too very successfully.
Our friend must do super cropping at this stage since he is well into flowering.

 

[Builder0101]

Definately another plant in that closet. I dont think there is room for much training of any kind.
Ya I'd say super crop thise 5 or 6 tallest branches and lay them over. Have to go down a foot a d into some pretty woody material. High chance of snapping. I would take my time and massage a 2 or 3" section of branch bend each branch over pretty slowly. You can hang weights from very near the tops of the buds. Fishing weights or large steel nuts etc. You can bend the more supple ends more easily. You can add a little weight each day and let those branches come over. Let them grow into the bend.

 

[Kinezokyprios]

Next time you grow it, your options are:
a) topping and SCROG,
b) LST and SCROG and
c) smaller container, stronger lights starting with 6500k in vegging and then switching to 3000k in flowering and a bit more potassium in your fertiliser at vegging, if you choose a more SOG style grow.
If you top try also to clone the cuttings. Since the internode distance is big you can have sizable cuttings that can grow quite big over 35 cm and flower adequately and much faster than the mother. Green crack has a relatively big vegging time for an auto and along with the flowering stretch a cloning experiment is worthwhile. 4 out of 10 times I was successful and gained around 20 grams from each clone. Do try it and let us know.

 

[Handyandy]

Wow so much helpful info and tips. Thank you all. It’s safe to say I will be much better prepared for this strain next time round. As a noob, I was not planning to do any HST anytime soon but desperate times call for desperate measures... I will attempt some super cropping and see how I go. I did feel some of the tallest stems and they are very stiff and inflexible. I’m afraid I will snap some of them.