Golden Tiger help with too many branches

[bmking]

Hello,

I am growing Golden Tiger in a little Scrog (0.8x0.8m) with 250W HPS. I chose two Golden Tiger females and now I know I should have only used one.
I grow them in Coco with a mild fertilization of EC1.0. I started them under 12/12 one week after germination, and they have shown their sex 4 1/2 weeks ago.

In the last two weeks their growing has been exploding and it is impossible to Scrog them properly. They have grown way above the scrog and I think it is too much because they are fighting each other for space.

Please take a look on my pictures. They are not very good, but I hope you can use them to see what I mean.

My question is now how to handle it. Should I just keep it as it is and just keep cutting some leaves off so that the light can pass all branches, or should I start cutting off a lot of branches to build op much fewer but stronger branches?

Any advice is appreciated! I can make better pictures, please just let me know on what to focus with the camera.

 

[BlazinPurps]

Man they just started flowering too reminds me of my first Haze grow running out of ceiling space. I assume you cannot raise your light or you would have and they have a lot of stretching left to do. I really cannot imagine it would be possible to LST that much in that small of a space. I do not really see another option but to butcher the hell out of them down close to the netting, they are early enough in flower and have plenty of growing left to do and I believe they would easily fill the space back in IMO. Someone with more experience growing in small spaces probably has better advice than me though. You will probably get more replies posting this in the indoor growing section.

 

[Skinny Leaf]

I would take cuttings and start over. The cuttings are much easier to tame and they stay somewhat smaller.

 

[RonSmooth]

Just prune it. Start at the bottom and cut everything but the uppermost 1/3 of the plant.

It will open the plant up for better circulation and more productive flower sites at the tops.

I prune, pinch, bend and pull fan leaves as necessary throughout flowering. IME the plants seem to like a good haircut.

You can use the pruned branches for cuttings as well.

 

[hush]

I think if you prune it you will end up with an overwhelming mess on your hands, to be honest, but if that's the only space you have, what other choice do you have?

I recommend you take skinny leaf's advice and take cuttings. You don't necessarily have to start over, but you might want to root some cuttings, create a second garden, and do a "take 2" just in case this first garden becomes a mess.

Your plants look very healthy though, for what it's worth. At least you know you are providing the right environment and conditions for them. It's just your timing that you need to work on. From the look of those plants, you probably should be only vegging for a week or two before you flip to flowering, in that small space.

 

[Coconutz]

Just remove all the skinny secondary shoots and hope for the best

 

[Terpene]

Kill all that happy green growth? Never!!

First things first, trim all the weak lower branches that aren't doing much so there's better air movement underneath. That's going to be required regardless of what you choose.

Couple ways to deal with it: (1) top everything, (2) get REALLY aggressive tying things down to the screen, or (3) trim back to primary shoots. I'll go in to the positives and negatives of each.

1) Top everything - works well for controlling height but will leave you with a flat *very dense* canopy. Lots of smaller, quality buds this way. Similar principle to using a hedge trimmer on bushes. You will have to trim out every larger fan leaf, which the plants will like for light, but hate for loss of energy / stress. This may be your best option with a stretchy one like GT. Looks like this:

2) Tying tops to the screen - will function like LST grows, but you'll find yourself using more twine/wire continually throughout the flowering cycle. I've done this one many times, but tying strongly developing branches only limits height to a degree.

Trimming to primary shoots - if you do this, the branches are going to push like crazy and develop large, long colas. These colas look fantastic in pictures, but end up getting way taller than you're going to want. Tying them down may help, but the thicker the branch, the more it stretches. (notice how in the pic the screen isn't visible, tons of stretch.)

 

[bmking]

Thanks for all the answers!

I have today trimmed away lot of the lower leafs and cut off some of the branches. The plant in the front has many but thick branches so that they can stand by themself.
The problem is that the plant in the back has even more branches which are like spaghetti, meaning they can not stand alone without support. I think I will have to cut a lot of them away too since when they gain weight from buds it will even be more impossible for them not to break...

 

[bmking]

I have now trimmed the leafs and cut away some of the weaker branches. I have added new and better pictures to this post. I think it is much better now, although of course far from perfect. I would happy to read your opinions!

By the way, is it normal that many of the new leafs only develop three fingers?

 

[dubi]

Welcome bmking

Your trimming is correct, now the whole plant receives more intense light and the air circulation is better, much cleaner, this will prevent from pests and fungus development. I wouldn't prune the main branches now or you will have the same problem again in 2-3 weeks, try to lower down the tops if they are too close to the lamp.

If the new leaf has 3 fingers is a sign that flowering has already started.

Let us know if you have any other doubt. Kind regards!