New Grower LST? Is it for Newbies?

[Magic]

Hi guys i wanted to ask some of the vets here if you would suggest LSTing to a new grower? Or would you suggest growing them out normal so they get a get a clue how everything grows out?

 

[HappyHouse]

Im a new grower and LST'd my first photo. i recommend it at least for the experience plus its kinda fun telling those ladies how to grow :twist:. You never know what works for you until you try

 

[Bromeo]

I lst everything I grow. I always have had to due to space issues. I have done them since I started growing. I recently grew a smaller strain out untouched. Didn't do an lst on it. It didn't feel any more special then the lst ones and it didn't teach me anything new other then taught me that I really like doing an lst:

 

[Son of Hobbes]

The idea behind Low Stress Training (LST) is that you're trying to control where the growth of your plant is going and keep it manageable. Say you have a 3 foot vertical tall plant; you're blasting light down on the cola and top buds; but the lower growth is getting less light. With LST, you can take that same 3 feet of growth and train it be nearly horizontal, giving you a nice even canopy of buds and much more equal light dispersion, which should give you more uniform growth and buds.

Keep in mind the LOW STRESS part of the training; I treat branches like I'm bending pipe; bend it too far and all you're doing is putting a kink in it (in this case, weakening/destroying the stem.) It's better to do it before you start having massive buds on your gals than after; I've snapped entire branches off (ACCIDENTALLY I swear :X's Evil Laugh x: ) that were top bud heavy while trying to train them after the fact.

If you are growing a monster strain; it's a Godsend. The same goes if you are growing a photo strain; you can LST one plant to fill up an entire grow room if you leave it in veg long enough!

I've tried string; I've tried wires; I've tried zip ties. The best thing I have ever found (to date) was a cheap 100-pack of colorful pipe cleaners (like kids use to make arts and crafts projects.) I cut the foot length cleaners into thirds, and then I have a nice manageable twist tie (and colorful for us with old eyes.) You can tie the branches to each other, put a stake in the pot and tie to that; etc.

Hope that helps bro

 

[dirty budster]

I also grow with height constraints but I went with a scrog instead of LST, although they're quite similar techniques. First grow it was a bit tricky not knowing what to expect and not knowing when to stop training them. However, once you have the plant in front of you it becomes clear what needs to be done. I also looked at a lot of other grows to get a better idea what to expect.

vaporhaizer, nice tip on the pipe cleaners, I might give that a shot. At the moment I'm using plastic twist ties, like the ones keeping cables together, seems to work pretty well also.