Indoor LST Hub

[BigBuddha]

Okay.. here's an example of aiding the LST process by removing a singe fan leaf that blocks light to young growing tips. This is to allow direct light to the two potentials underneath it and others that are looking for light.
If she has time, she'll grow two new stems from those, so it really pays off to give them access to that light sooner rather than later:

Before.. (I've circled the fan leaf that's blocking light)

After removal:

Now all four of those sites are getting direct access to light where that fan leaf was blocking it off from them.. so we've sacrificed one fan leaf feeding one tip, to benefiting four potential bud sites. A small sacrifice when you think of those four sites all producing bud later on.

You notice I only removed ONE fan leaf there, and I wouldn't remove another one for at least another day, maybe two. There is a VERY important reason for this and it must not be overlooked or seen as something you can "get away with" because you feel ambitious one day; if you go hacking away at too many leaves at once it can shock the plant too much and risk hermying. They seem to prefer environmental factors to be easy on them in general. The fan leaves are also energy-production machines so removing too many at once leaves the plant stunted as it has less access to light, CO2, nutrients etc and it can't perspire as much to keep cool. So the golden rule of leaf-removal is to keep it very light on the plant and do it slowly as you train the stems over days/weeks.


Get the idea?

 

[Rello]

Awesome Thread Buddha!! It's Very Informative!! :clap: I Will see if i can get some pics together of my overkill LST to add to this post....

Those who dont understand LST will see the light soon!

Edit : I was looking at your most recent post and was thinking I should give my input on the fan leaf blocking situation.... I would have done the same thing and move it out of the way, but I would have either tucked it, or actualy put a string around the single fan leaf and (LST)tie it out of the way. That way there is no harm whatsoever done to the plant, and later you can cut the tie and let the fan leaf do its thing because its not in the way anymore. I got a Friend who loves taking off fan leaves to allow light to lower bud sites, and has no issues, so to each his own... its just my opinion

 

[BigBuddha]

Hey, Rello. Welcome to The Hub.

Awesome Thread Buddha!! It's Very Informative!! :clap: I Will see if i can get some pics together of my overkill LST to add to this post....

Cheers mate. I hope it does some good.

You've done and got me all excited now that you put the words "overkill" and "LST" next to each other.

And then say this right after it:

Those who dont understand LST will see the light soon!

Reckon I'm in for a treat.

Edit : I was looking at your most recent post and was thinking I should give my input on the fan leaf blocking situation.... I would have done the same thing and move it out of the way, but I would have either tucked it, or actualy put a string around the single fan leaf and (LST)tie it out of the way. That way there is no harm whatsoever done to the plant, and later you can cut the tie and let the fan leaf do its thing because its not in the way anymore. I got a Friend who loves taking off fan leaves to allow light to lower bud sites, and has no issues, so to each his own... its just my opinion

Excellent input.

I can't argue with that.. I could have tied it back but I've opted for the chop if I feel like it'll be in the way later on. There's no methodology that I can give to back up if it's the best idea or not.. it's just a sort of.. an instinctual thing if you get me.

I'm glad you brought it up because it was sloppy of me not to point out that tying back is the preferred option for autos. For photos it doesnt really matter cos you get the veg time, but knowing your plants enough to get away with it when your veg time is limited takes a bit of practice and a few stunted girls to have learned from.

So fair play.. I'd have to agree that tying back is the default option.

Thanks for your post, Rello.

 

[pixael]

Consider it subbed

 

[Hoots]

AAAHHHHHH......... LST, my favorite subject.

LST is the art of making your lassie comply with your wishes and is a very powerful technique,

The ropemaster is required too............ hold on this is the wrong forum!

 

[Hoots]

I'll start again,

LST is the art of making your lassie comply with your wishes and is a very powerful technique,

Tied at base for strength and one tie around main stem just after showing sex.

This starts side branchs moving but the main stem will quickly reassert itself.

Only one more tie is needed not long after first one to share growing tips between all branchs. No more tieing was needed except occasional tweak to bring the odd branch back in line.

End result in 11l pot under t5's was this.

One cola is sticking a little higher but then always room to improve!

Although the girls may resist at first they love it once they get the idea, or is that for the other forum again?

 

[JasL]

excellent thread BB ! you covered all the basics in such a way anyone should be able to understand. i tried this vs. crimping on my Blackjacks and the LST plant is the biggest. the crimped plant did well also but the extra shock slowed it down a bit more. all of my lower limbs are the same height as the main stem ! i wish i had done it on my shot adrenaline also.

 

[SmokeyDeHerb]

Excellent thread BB...the main thing to say about LST is that it works.
It's pretty difficult to do it wrong and you will get good results from it
Here's my first attempt from a few years ago...3 plants in one tub and all LST'd



The first shot shows how the plants were divided in the tub...the two on the outsides didn't have as much room as the middle one due to the tub size.
The second shot is the resulting jungle and the third is the aftermath...not all the ties are their to see but you get the idea

 

[BigBuddha]

Cheers for your post/pics, Smokey. That's some fine work you've done there and your divider has given me some ideas because it seems that it's segementing and cornering lost light.

Below [shitty] diagram illustrates what I'm thinking, basically, looking top-down on 1 corner of a pot that's been divided into 4 quadrants with some sort of constructed divider unit that allows for the main centre stem to rise through the centre (an as-yet undesigned device ):

The idea being that any lateral light that's bouncing around will be redirecetd back onto the foliage, and also I'm wondering if each quadrant would act as a single unit and compete for light more easily if the thick clusters are separated..

This is all pure theory but I do sense some sort of potential around it.

Seeing yours shows that many stems can be separated, but what I'm noticing most is that within each section, the mylar divider acts as a direct reflector and separates the smaller nodes from other nodes that would have otherwise overshadowed them. Certainly on those nodes, the end result should be more yield.. I'm just cautious that there's an offset somewhere else that I'm not thinking of. I suspect two main things:

1) Supplemental side-lighting will seriously be improved for each side as you turn the pot to face it.

2) If not using side-lighting then the plant would need to be directly under the main lights to get an even spread, so it pretty much limits us to a one-plant grow per tent.


Anyway, back to your multi-grow.. that's officer-level thinking, Smokey. + rep deserved.

 

[dwcgrow]

Great thread BigBuddha, i actually started LST'ing after reading this thread, i had done it before but i saw a lot more benefits the way you put it.
Well here's some pics of the lst i did on a royal dwarf, had some height restriction and wanted better light coverage. I started LST at around 4 weeks.