Indoor LST Hub

[BigBuddha]

Guys, there's been some truly excellent posts in my absence. I'll respond to them individually over the weekend but there's some decent rep points been earned today.




Edit: Oh.. and it appears that I'm now Fully AutoFlower, too.. woo hoo

 

[TheCannabist]

Congrats bro and thanks for the +rep!

 

[insert name here]

Dwc lst

Well, I ve got the LST going, and thanks to all you wonderful folk, I have some idea of what to do

Right now this DP auto Blueberry is 19 days old. I imagine that she will grow quite a bit more.

Any thoughts on how she should be trained? Bending the main stem around, almost circle like is the thought that I am having, and I have another question, the side branches that are growing up, going "higher" than the Apical tip, is it a good idea to tie them down too, even if they don't have any budding sites down stem. Looking forward to your replies...

 

[BigBuddha]

Hey, inh. How ya doing? As well as your girls, I hope.

I'm off out soon but I've whipped up a quick pic for you to show you where I'd start her training.

The blue line is the lowest string which will support the plant as you add the second (red) restraint above the 2nd node. I'd attach the lowest restraint first.. allowing for a little bit of pull once you add the second.. and SLOWLY start beinding over the stem just above the second nodes. It won't go 45 degrees straight away.. that could take a few days of gradual training.. but don't be afraid to give her a little bit of light force. Then the next day pull her down a little more and so on.

What will most likely happen is the lowest nodes will start becoming tops and the stem will fatten considerably to support the upcoming growth. That's good for the whole plant later on and once the first part's done you can pretty much do it as you please after that as she'll be in auxin-redirection mode.. So far as how to proceed.. my personal opinion is just to go with your feelings as you're watching her develop. I like a nice early bend and to open her up like a spine with ribs.. but I do plan to try a spiral one day, too.

Be back later with a bit more when I get a breather.

 

[Rebel]

Big Buddha, let me first thank you for such a great thread on LST... I'm a few pages deep and have grasped the subject of Auxins and the process of tying down every few days to keep it proper... My question is... Is it ever too late to LST? I'm a week into flowering already in my breeding project... A few of my girls are soaring upward over 3 feet, almost a meter, is it too late to tie her down or is this when supercropping comes in? I'm not familiar with supercropping but I know of one grower who has done it into flowering when he realized he'd run out of room in his tent... Any suggestions for me? Thanks in advance for any help and awesome thread! Max Rep Given!

:smokebuds:

 

[BigBuddha]

Hey, WVR. Welcome to the Hub and thanks for your feedback man. Appreciate that.

Regarding your main question.. there's pretty much a schism on this issue and I'm in the camp that says it's never too late. I mean, ok.. late in flower when they're not growing virtually rules-out most of the auxins playing their role with encouraging more top growth and wotnot.. but it's well worth it all the way through in my opinion just to get more light to more areas, and as she bushes out in the centre canopy.. to spread apart some of the colas so more light gets around. If yours are stretching now.. tie those gals down a bit at a time mate. It won't do any harm I assure you.

The penny really dropped for me when I learned that the auxin production starts with the roots, so if we bend a stem the roots are the very first thing to beef up to compensate. It's a bit like when people bodybuild.. no matter what part of their body they first workout.. their back is the first thing to start beefing up so that it can support the extra muscle to come. Same with plants it seems.

With autos, however, the real benefit is drawn when we start early because autos don't have all the veg time for the extra growing.

So far as supercropping.. it's not something I've ever tried (intentionally) so my only results were recently when I acidentally chopped the tops off of two girls.. and both REALLY compensated by beefing up all the stems like I've never seen before (I actually had to hack the stems down when chopping them as my Chikamasas couldn't handle them!!) .. but I ran into hardwater problems with those so I can't really say if it's any good or not. My first impression is that it COULD be a really nifty trick to force an auxin-shock and get really good yields.. but until I'm sure it doesn't just knock-out the yield I can't really say much else about it. Sorry pal. For a photoperiod strain I'd definitely give it a go as I'd have the veg time to repair in full.

Here's a bit of LST mini-porn for ya: she's an experiment to see what happens to autos in small airpots & being fed light every watering (a 1ltr one in this case).. and as soon as I started training her her stem fattened up nicely and, for a 1ltr pot, folks seem to think she;s doing pretty well.

And this is the only one I've never LST'd (same experiment)!

LST for the win man.

 

[BigBuddha]

I have another question, the side branches that are growing up, going "higher" than the Apical tip, is it a good idea to tie them down too, even if they don't have any budding sites down stem. Looking forward to your replies...

Sup dude,


Right.. on that question.. most certainly I'd be tying down whatever I could. The reason being is that over time those side branches will turn into fat branches with their own stems coming up that can then also be trained.

I guess it could come down to:

A) How much you can be arsed to do it (it is a daily effort at first)
B) How much space you have


My personal philosophy is that if in the veg period it grows up.. tie the fucker down.

I have to ask, though.. what is that yellow mesh? And what are you growing them in? Is that a hydro setup? Never seen anything like it but it looks really neat.


Anyway.. in honour of all you who've come and learned something and/or shared something.. I'm going to pack the bong with some automatic and build a smoke with some SAS and consume both in all your names.

 

[Rebel]

Thanks for all that information Buddha! My Breeding Project are F1's from an Afghan Kush Landrace Mother Photo and a Auto Assassin Male. They all have photo dominance at this point... They showed under 20/4 around 30-35 days... I had to put them to 12/12 to flower. They simply exploded since with vertical growth. Thanks again for all the help! And +rep as well!!

:smokebuds:

 

[insert name here]

Big Buddha, That is some plastic mesh staples to a pine frame on top of my DWC buckets. I am using solid copper wire to "tie" them down. It is cumbersome, but functional and I am tying down stuff so far trying to follow the principles of sending the Auxins back down the stem. The stems are really fattening up now. I figure that with the screen under the plants you can almost do a SCROG type grow and just keep spreading the plant out while keeping the Vert. height down. having fun so far. will put up some pics tomorrow.

 

[insert name here]

got some pics of the lastest, she is fit to be tied, or tied to be fit, I am not sure, but it seems like its working Comments suggestions?????????