New Grower Talk to Lenny

[cocolopez]

look up LST (low stress training). Here's a great primer.

http://www.growweedeasy.com/how-to-grow-short-bushy-marijuana-plants

 

[Son of Hobbes]

How do you train horizontal?

cocolopez is right with the LST. Low Stress Training allows you to train the branches of the plant down, so instead of all the growth being vertical or bushed out in every which way, you can choose to tie down specific branches to keep a more horizontal, level canopy.

There are several reasons for doing this, for starters it allows you to control large plants. If you are growing a monster plant or multiple plants, if you LST early, you can train even the tallest growing plant to stay pretty short.

It's also one of the least stressing methods of training a plant; if done right it does little to stress the plant (hence, the Low Stress part!)

Third, having an even canopy allows your lights to better penetrate the foliage (instead of being deflected by spires of buds,) should increase the amount of exposed bud sites, and should allow some flexibility with growing different strains next to each other.

One of the most common problems people have with LST is they stress TOO MUCH. Think of your plant stalk like it's a piece of copper tubing. If you take that tube and you fold a straight 90 degree bend in it, you've just crimped your pipe and destroyed the integrity of the inside diameter. HOWEVER, if you put a GRADUAL bend in the copper pipe, you can still achieve a 90 degree bend while maintaining the inside diameter.

I've used string, wire, twist ties, etc etc, and the best thing I've personally found, are chenille pipe cleaners, like the kind that kids use for arts and crafts in school. You can get a box for between $5-10, cut them into thirds, and train to your hearts content. The fuzzy chenille offers some degree of protection to the stems/branches from the wire.

Here's what I'm talking about:

I wish I had a good close up of some of these, but take a look at this next picture here. See the pipe cleaners in the picture and how the stems/stalks of many of the plants are bent down?

I took a drill to the top of the pots to create anchor points to attach the pipe cleaners to. Then it's just a matter of tying one end to the branch, tie the other to the anchor, and GENTLY GENTLY GENTLY pull down. GRADUAL. A lot of people think they need to LST it all in one day and be done; in my opinion that's a great way to break branches. I found myself LST'ing several times a week (doesn't take long once it's set up.)

If you need any help with LST, feel free to PM me directly or just ask in here or post pictures of your setup if and when you're willing to try it and we'll make sure you get it done with minimal risk!