New Grower First LST tie down question

[nomis]

Hey AFN'ers,

Am going to play with LST and have been reading up, but have one quick question on where to start. Should my first tie down be where the red circle is, or where the blue circle is? I tend to think the red area is better, but wasn't sure if the first leaves above the cotlydons are considered to be a true set.

Thanks in advance for any input.

 

[jayp]

Red but to me I think she's a to small to be tied down right now just my

 

[Nam80232]

I agree with jayp. Looking good though!

 

[CGR]

YES SIR looking..... .....wonderful let her get a lil bigger then tie her down...."DS"

 

[wwwillie]

Hey!
Good question, I have been wondering the same thing myself. If you don't mind I'll ask the same question. I think my girl is ready and am thinking of starting her training. I have made a red mark where I thought I would start. What do you folks think?

 

[Son of Hobbes]

Nomis, I agree with the other fellas, let her get a little bigger first. When I LST, I treat the main stem like I'm bending copper pipe. If you take a piece of pipe and bend a 90 degree angle in it, it crimps and you've just hosed the inside diameter. But, if you gradually bend the pipe, you can put in your 90 degree angle while maintaining the integrity of the pipe's diameter. Same thing goes for the plant stems. You want to gradually tie it down. Give it a little bend down, there can be some slight resistance but you don't want to stress her (thus the low stress part of the training.) As you train the stems down, they will eventually start growing back upwards towards the light. You can also train them stems to all lean towards one side of the pot. I've found this can be useful if you have multiple plants in your grow space and you're trying to train everything down so it's not overgrown.

I like to use fuzzy pipe cleaners, the kind kids would use in arts and crafts. It's easy for my eyes to see the bright colors, the chenille fuzzy protects the stems from the wire to some degree, and they are durable and reusable. That's just me though; use what works for you!

Just my bro!

wwwillie,

Same thing applies to your plant. Personally I would let it grow a little bit more; but you could probably start if you wanted. You can train from that spot, just remember to be gentle, go gradually, and look and listen. Look to see if if there's too much strain. Stems can and will snap from the main stalk. If it's a partial break, they can be put back together and regenerate, so don't freak out (but try not to get there in the first place!) Listen for the sounds of stress. Stems snapping. Roots pulling out. That's TOO MUCH pressure on the plant. There's no need to He-man or Hercules it

Let us know if you have any more questions! Hope this helps you guys! :karma Cloud:

 

[wwwillie]

Thanks man.
I got started, I'll post pics in my journal. I took a piece of 12 ga. copper from some romex. Made a little bent shepherds crook kinda thingum and pulled her over just a wee bit. Hardly at all really, my Bubba Kush photo I pulled a little harder on. We'll see, it's a process for sure.

 

[Dr Who]

Bingo - thanks Vapourhaizer, I was probably just about to ask the same question. I've only ever previously done any training to larger plants to manage their height, rather than to promote better branching - presumably that the point of this?
:clap:
Nomis & Willie - I'll look forward to checking back to see how these beauties get on whilst things here limber up for a bit of the same treatment.

 

[Son of Hobbes]

Bingo - thanks Vapourhaizer, I was probably just about to ask the same question. I've only ever previously done any training to larger plants to manage their height, rather than to promote better branching - presumably that the point of this?
:clap:
Nomis & Willie - I'll look forward to checking back to see how these beauties get on whilst things here limber up for a bit of the same treatment.

I think there's a few reasons to LST; it's one of the least stressful methods of training down the auto, it keeps tall plants manageable, and you can LST different taller plants to be the same height as shorter plants, helping to create a more horizontal canopy, which means you have more bud sites exposed and more equal light dispersion to those sites. I have about 15+ different strains going in my current grow; and aside from a couple big monsters in 5 gallon buckets, the entire canopy is pretty much level across the board. That means I can set my lights at one level and pretty much be blasting all the bud sights at the same distance.

Here's a personal example; I have this Dutch Passion Think Different from my grow space:

Here it is again after LST:

See how horizontal everything got? Those tied down branches towards the bottom will start reach up towards the light. I'll end up training it down a bit more as she grows more.

Hope that helps bro! :karma Cloud:

 

[wwwillie]

So... I very gently pulled her to the side. Looking to get the main stem sideways a bit. Want to see what happens, counting on photo tropism to pull things back upright. Here she is.