how short can you keep a plant when you LST it around the rim of a bucket i know there will be differences in strains too but could you do it in 20 inches
16" I have one half my flowering cabinet set at 16" from the glass and the other at about 20" . I run the rim of the container with the leader and hold leader and shoots to under 8" from the container top (I'm under 48" floros for veg (so there's a depth issue anyway) before sticking them under the 400HPS (enhanced) . I tie them down a little more 12/12 day and dose them with my organic veg formula for the Nitrogen they need in the next couple of weeks . Even for the next 10-14 days while the stems are still very pliable and stretching , you can continue to tie down as needed . My light is hooded with a 265 cfm so radiant heat from the bulb is the issue (even with a fan right on them) . 8-10" from the bulb is about as close as I get .
also, when my plants make it around the rim of the bucket, when they are out of space, should i just clip the top of the plant and go to 12/12 and flower, er what?
I try to leave my leader intact . and I only get about half way around before I feel the container is ready , then I let it go a while to let the leader get back in the lead (upright) . By now the side branching has filled my needs and will max out the root system by the end of flower . Going all the way around is maybe too long in veg for most container sizes IMO .
