How bad is "the stretch" in Cinderella 99?

I have a long vege in store, and want to fill out my vertical tubes without running out of vertical space. Those who've grown it out, what am I in for on the stretch? I've read it's anywhere from 30% to 100% of the plant's height at the time of the 12/12 switch.

3 Female Seeds X-Line C99s, all @ 24 inches currently, with @ 35 inches left to the top of cabinet. Two oblong tubes of chickenwire.

Thanks in advance.

i have no clue sorry m8

top and/or LST

I have never run the C99 but I do have some C99xBB and I know mine more than doubles in hieght. But deffinately makes up for it with nice long colas.

Sounds like you should top it, flip to 12/12, and tie some stings to the branches to train it. If you train them to 30", then that should be plenty i would think. I think it's usually a reasonable idea to go easy on the first grow of a new strain. Learn how she behaves and then grow accordingly.

I grew c99 a couple of years back from gn collection I veged them to 10inches ,they streached to about 5 foot

I figured the stretch in the C99xBB came feom the C99 side.=) Its unreal huh? I was wondering if this could be run outdoors with decent results. Shit by harvest time I think it would be 20 feet tall! LOL

Dr.Feelgood said:

Sounds like you should top it, flip to 12/12, and tie some stings to the branches to train it. If you train them to 30", then that should be plenty i would think. I think it's usually a reasonable idea to go easy on the first grow of a new strain. Learn how she behaves and then grow accordingly.

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Thanks for the answers so far guys, but please keep them coming.

I'm not sure if you all understand what I'm trying to do, or maybe I'm misunderstanding. I'm growing in a C24, in a design like what's in my avatar, with 4-150w hps hung vertically (no reflectors) down the center of chickenwire tubes, so I don't have lights up top to deal with; all 60 inches can go to bud production. I'm trying to max out yield on the design's first run, and time the stretch so I can use as much of the 60 vertical inches available for buds as possible. I understand going easy on the first grow of a new strain, but if I time this right, my second run might not have to be for a year! Even if the stretch gets a little too high, I could train the buds around the tops of the tubes, bending them kinda 90 degrees (there should be room up top, as I don't anticipate every sqft being filled to the top). Think about it though; 60 sqft screen filled out, and you yield only 10g/sqft...600g...great summer!

All credit to G_MAN and prenda, (from www.grower.cz ) for their killer design! They're doing awesome things with 150s! SEE PICS)





Bozwell: Over 400% in the stretch!!?? I'm hoping that's not typical...

Whoa....

Vern equinox sry ive ne ver had experience with c99, but awesome pic.. holy crap crazy..

Holy green screens batman!

Holy green screens batman!

Now thats what I call a Bake-a-Round.

Are you growing in DWC? If so, you might want to look into Phosphoload or Bud Blood. I think Bud Blood is similar but I'm not sure.

Phosphoload is "virtually identical to superbud by Dutch Master"

"Key benefits"
1. Up to 30% yeild increase
2. Halts vertical growth
3. Significantly faster flowering response
4. Heavier tighter flower density
5. Fastest strongest flowering response possible

Drawbacks..
1.Very Expensive
2.Must drain DWC nutes and leach roots with leaching solution after first week of flower.

I am just a newbie and have never personally used this product. I have some bud blood which I will use someday and plan to use the Phosphoload after I get things dialed in.

Phosphoload comes highly reccomended from some guys at the local hydro shop who have used it and can testify to it's results.

It is very powerful stuff though and- "more than 2 doses (1 per week with every reservoir change will KILL or damage plants)."

It will immediatly halt the stretch though, so it might be worth looking into. Nice setup, hope to see some photos of that VSCROG? in action. Good luck with it. CF

i do soil but use green fuse bloom stimulator and it really minimizes the stretch with my c99. i hit it up with 1 tea spoon/gal right up to the last 10 days of flowering.

Thanks guys, but I'm counting on the stretch to help fill out these 60 sq ft of screen in my cab, but I want to time it right so it comes close to filling out (and not leave a lot of empty screen).

So dan kay, have you flowered C99 out without the additives to control stretch? If so, what was the starting/finishing heights around the stretch?

i kept the plants small (sog style) but still got a doubling in size without the additives. i'm really interested in seeing how this turns out. might wanna see what people switch c99 scrogs over at. it'd probably be a fairly similar ratio.

Well. I'm starting to believe I'm closer to the switch than I thought; T-minus 1 week, and counting, perhaps.

Ok, I thought you said you had a long veg in store. Thats why I mentioned the Phosphoload.

You could veg the C99 until most of the screen is covered then use the PL to go straight into flower. Or start flowering and use the PL when the screen gets full.

I think thats the main benefit of PL. It allows you to use the maximum amount of space without overgrowing and have complete "control" over the stretch.

-A little off topic and you probably know all this stuff, but anyway I feel like typing tonight for some reason


You might also have some taller/shorter phenos, so that could be a factor also as some will stretch more than others. Unless your growing 1 plant or growing from clones, but I take it your growing from seed this round.

If going for maximum veg time while trying to fill the screen with potential budsites you also want to look into ways to keep the internodal spacing as tight as possible. 6500k MH or t5 6500k lights, also keeping the day/night temps as close as possible helps.

They make a cylinder shaped fixture called "Inner Sun t5" but it's expensive... http://www.bghydro.com/BGH/customkititems.asp?kc=HLIFT5IS&eq=

I have both a 250 MH hortilux blue and the new wave t5 2' 4 bulb for vegging. The two 2' t5's have been great for vegging. I'm buying more for side lighting in my c24 type cabinet.

If you don't have your lights yet you might want to consider an electronic/digital ballast, but I don't know if they make them in the 150. Lumatek makes a 250 watter though.

Some nice things about the digital ballasts is they draw less amps, allow you to use MH and/or HPS, and can produce more watts. My 400 watt Future Brite ballast will make 430 watts while drawing less amps and making a lot less heat and noise.

Not trying to tell you what to do here. Your system design speaks for itself and you probably know more and have more grow experience than I. I'm just smacking the keys like a mindless puppet..

Edit-Ok, I guess you already have all your lights lol.

I'd like to see some pics of this setup if security is not an issue. I'm a west coast med user so easy for me to say I guess...

That setup would turn a lot of heads in the Cabinet section though, I'm sure they would love to see it.

I thought I had a long vege in store, as I was thinking 25-35% stretch, but if you guys are adamant about C99 stretching @100%, who am I to argue? If all three of my ladies get 100% larger, I figure my screens will finish @ 85% full. Seeing as how this will be my first ever grow (if I can get it flowered out), I think I'll be able to live with that.

You're right about running from seed this time, but I think I've found my mother for the next run; fastest grower, bushy as hell, with tightest internodes and so many damn preflowers, it almost looks like it's an auto-flowering pheno. It will work a lot better (more even growth) if all plants are from the same clone mother (good point!). Don't worry about expounding too much; better too much info than too little!

Sorry my camera sucks, but here's some pics from @ 10-12 days ago, I think (they're now @ 6-8 inches higher than the bottom lights) The tight shot of the bush is @ 25 days old:

Nice Greenery there.

Nice Greenery there.

Those are some healthy looking plants. FMX c99? I think you said. I want to add a C99 to my collection and people think highly of the female seeds stock. I'm curious to see how much they stretch.

Is that the flower cabinet in the pics? Or do you have another cabinet with the cylinder screen in it? I'm curious to know how you built or will build that SCROG cylinder.

Looks like braided #9 wire in those other pics. I'm thinking a 55 gallon drum and some #3 rebar for the bends and vertical supports could work, but that would take some elbow grease. My cab is 24" X 31" X 84". I dono if I could use a 55 gallon drum for a jig, it might be to big.

I like your design with the fans and scrubbers on the outside to save valuable space. My veg cabinet is similar but my flower cabinet has the 6" vortex on the inside to cut down on noise. I might be moving it to the outside though to gain another foot of height. I have a seperate room for the cabs and stealth is not much of a concern. I'm still building

Nice volcano in the corner BTW. The king of vapes. Someday soon I hope to have one.

Biobizz TopMax works wonders for me. Try it from the very first week into budding.

I had a similar question on another thread (I guess you're right; I should post up an some offical grow diary thread), so I guess it'll be easier to copy/paste:
______________________________________________________

User Name said:

Vern Im curious, how are you gonna hang both the 150s without them interfering with one another and/or moving around touching the buds? Cool tubes? ...

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That's a damn good question, and one that bothered me for a long time (relative to the rest of the work into the design). I couldn't just hang them both from the top, as the heat from the upper bulb would burn the lower bulb's power line. Even if you shielded it somehow, you have this big wide shadow running down the length of the business end of your 150, cutting down lumens.

I also needed a more elegant way of attaching my chickenwire tubes than just suspending them on hooks from the ceiling, so I had what I refer to as an "epotphany"; I made a frame inside the cab using 1/4 inch threaded rod (#20 x 72) hacksawed to size. I used 12 pieces to complete the frame, including two bars mounted horizontally in the center line to support the upper and lower lights (the lower bar supports the bottom two, upper bar, the upper two lamps) and connected everything with cable ties. (Chickenwire tubes are connected to the frame using cable ties, and there's basically a 2 inch perimeter that is outside the frame; enough space to pull shade leaves behind, etc.) Then, the ballasts are remoted outside the cab, hanging on hooks mounted underneath the sound-proofing box, which is sweet because the ballasts are passively cooled by the air being pushed through the carbon scrubber! (No, not an accident!) I drilled four holes through the wall large enough for the 14 gauge Romex wire and pushed it through and up the wall to the center lamp support bars, and spiraled it around the support until it is in the perfect position. (Other light, just continue spiraling the Romex until you get the far side light into position). Leave a little slack in the lines, and you can adjust the lights a little here and there. I left the sockets' flexible leads exposed so you can wind them around the support bar to reposition light in a quick fix. The main branches/budsites I'm tying down to the screen (loosely, from the inside) with plastic covered twist ties until vege/stretch is over. If buds start forming and growing into harm's way, I'll cover the bulb with an inner tube of 1 inch wide chicken wire to keep buds at a safe distance from the heat. I'll draw a diagram that'll clear things up a bit, I think.



I'm also considering a modified cool tube setup, with bake-a-round tubes and 120mm fans simply directed up the glass tubes, freely pushing the heat to the top of the cabinet (no seperate exhaust for the cool tubes). This should help keep the glass cool enough for the errant bud to touch without burning up. The fans will also give some more ventilation directly up the chickenwire tubes (I'll leave each of the four 120s an inch or two below the start of each cool tube, to disperse the stream a little bit.)

I'm sorry about the quality of the pics, but you can barely see the one chickenwire tube set up on the bottom left (of the full-frontal pic), and you can barely make out the frame in that shot as well (no chickenwire yet on the right side in the pic). I'll take some shots later this week with the lights off and a couple of shop light fluros lighting the way; my crappy camera gets bad interference from the ballasts if I get the camera too close.

I'm still building as well, and I wish I had a 6 in Hurricane, as even speed-reduced this sucker's loud. I had the 8 inch left over from last year's first attempt (pulled for security reasons). It should get quieter still, as I'll be enclosing the elbow, fan, and duct muffler in a box and insulating with that spray insulation "Great Stuff!" I tested it on the elbow, and it really quieted things down. Now, my biggest noise to deal with is the whooshing sound of all that freaking air being sucked through; any kind of filter I could apply from the inside to quiet things down? I have plenty of CFMs to burn, as I have the speed reduced to @ 25%.

Yeah, that was an inadvertent product placement I noticed after the fact, but you are the first to mention it, I think.
Like Dan Quayle says,"Volcanoes rock!"

-Vernal

Vern, I've been reading all your posts on vertical scrogs, I've been interested in trying this for a few years and your posts have really inspired me to go ahead with it. I've been looking and all the pictures and have noticed in some of them the plants are trained around the outside of the screen while in others the plants are pulled through the screen like in a traditional scrog, any insights into which method is better?