Slowing down new seedling growth.

[Gori]

I am wondering if there is a way to make new plant, growing from a seed, have shorter distance between the first few nodes while it grows? It looks like when the grows starts, it reaches up and those few leaves are typically located pretty far from each other. Is it stretching because of insufficient light? - I think this my window gets pretty much light. Should it be exposed to lower temperature?
In my specific case it was Trident Maple. When growing smaller bonsai, I wish I can some control over it if possible.

 

[cmeg1]

Good ole’ lower nitrogen fertizer about 1/4 strength or .4-.6 ec
Use fulvic acid powder/kelp powder in a 5:2 ratio with 1/64 tsp yucca powder per gallon water and foliar feed ONCE A WEEK ONLY.
The cytokonins in kelp break the auxin signal in the meristem of the plant and forces the genetic survival responce of back budding/branch break responce in trees( most trees act favorably especially ones that bud normally in this way).T
makes leaves photosynthsize more and great motherplant prep for cuttings.
It will slow elongation and keep internodes short.....look at my results on Zelkova,Hornbeam,JBP.
Back udding on 1” branches and seedlings.

Look at the 1st zelkova seedling air-layer...only 6” tall!!!

RAW Full Up

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RAW Kelp

For BULK sizes go to our Professional Division. RAW Kelp is 99% kelp extract from seaweed (Ascophyllum Nodosum). This product is fully water soluble. RAW Kelp is a beneficial supplement to all feeding schedules. It is also ideal for adding to foliar sprays and for creating optimal recipe...

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RAW Yucca

For BULK sizes go to our Professional Division. RAW Yucca is made from 100% natural yucca extract from the plant Yucca Schidigera. It can be used as wetting agent for nutrient solutions and foliar sprays and is great for flushing excess salts from the root Zone. When used on soils, it helps...

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[Wires_Guy_wires]

More intense light also helps.

 

[Shibui]

I once saw an Japanese article where the grower was defoliating seedlings to slow growth and reduce internode length. I have not tried this so I cannot vouch for accuracy or effectiveness but if you try it let us know what happens.
I suspect low light will be partly responsible for your long seedlings. There is a big difference in how we as forest/cave dwellers see light and how plants experience it.

 

[Gori]

All good advices, thank you, will try. For the light issue I think I can use additional artificial lighting. As nowdays there are choices of led bulbs of different spectrum, I would think I stick with those more on white/blu-ish side as reddish are more likely to represent morning/evening lighting.

 

[sorce]

I think you'd be quicker to get 6 branches with close internodes that you can propagate and get a better nebari on 4 of 6 than fiddling with one.

X6 unfiddled seedlings...24 better possibilities faster.

Take a year to save 2.

Sorce

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

All good advices, thank you, will try. For the light issue I think I can use additional artificial lighting. As nowdays there are choices of led bulbs of different spectrum, I would think I stick with those more on white/blu-ish side as reddish are more likely to represent morning/evening lighting.

Chlorophyll absorbs strongly red and blue light. The reason so many LEDs have red diodes is this light is NEEDED. Sunlight contains a large component of red, which the plants use. Blue light is needed too. Better quality LEDs have the ratio of red and blue diodes in roughly the correct amounts. White light is good because it contains both red and blue and all other frequencies, as the other pigments in the leaf to a minor degree absorb other frequencies, and some transfer electrons to the photosynthesis cycle much like chlorophyll. So there is a benefit to having white light, in addition having white light is more tolerable for the humans who have to take care of the plants. I personally find LEDs that are just blue & red to be extremely disorientating unless there is enough white light in the room to keep me from getting dizzy.

White light color is described by its color temperature in degrees Kelvin. White light between 5000 K and 6700 K has sufficient red and blue components to grow most plants well. The higher the color temperature the larger the blue component of the white light. So 6700K is more blue, 5500 K is more heavy in red. But both have red and blue components or the light would not look white.

 

[Gori]

I think you'd be quicker to get 6 branches with close internodes that you can propagate and get a better nebari on 4 of 6 than fiddling with one.

Never tried this, but may be it's time to give it a try.