Bushy LST/No-Sex...

[drsnuggles]

Hey guys and gals,

I've got a weird situation on my hands, and just want some feedback as how to proceed.
I germinated 6 seeds and 4 of them took. One of them is doing awesome, the other 3 are sucking large gonads.

Heres a picture of my good plant followed by one of my other ones:


aaaaand...

.


Ok, so heres the info:

MG soil (Yeah, I know, please don't turn this into a MG pro/con thread.)
bagseed
No nutes as of yet.
Lights: 2x4ft 40W fluor bulbs (Daylight and Aquarium), 4x 23W CFL Softwhite, 1x 25W fluor desklamp @ 1ft.

Ok, so heres the thing. I want to LST the big plant, but in order to do that I need to transplant it into a larger pot. These plants are also on their 4th day of 12/12, as I am trying to sex my plants. If I transplant my plant now, while sexing it (and don't know which it is yet), could that stress it out and make it go male/hermie? I really want to get started. I'm almost ready to throw the other ones out, they're doing horribly.

I tried to take a pic of the new growths, but I cant tell if they're proflowers or new leaves.



I'm just not sure what I should be doing. I really want this plant to be a female, and I want to start LST-ing it before the stem gets too thick/hard. Any help is appreciated.
EDIT: They came out of soil march 2nd, so they've been growing for 22 days.
Thanks!

[T3h C0rps3]

Wow, that plant looks great and happy. the other one though... wow, thats a big difference.. and they both came from the same bag?

I do not think you should try to transplant it right now, because it will probably get too much shock. and for sexing, instead of throwing on the 12/12, you should have just put a black bag over a node, so you only have that part flowering, and not the whole plant. It is not the best thing for a plant to go from full flowering, to vegging to flowering again, so if your plant is a female, then you should just let it finish flowering, and take what you can get.

And that plant is pretty big to want to begin LST on. usually to start LST you begin when it has 3 sets of fan leaves, because it is very bendable. right now you have the risk of breaking it. so if you do not want to listen to me about the whole flowering thing, and stuff, then just be reeeaaallly careful when doing all that, because she is looking beautiful right now, and I would hate for you to lose her. so be careful.. and get lots of big buds from her

happy tokin, and great job so far

[drsnuggles]

Thanks

I want to try to LST still, the stem is pretty malleable. But of course I'm not set on it if it ends up being too late by the time I get to try it.

I've never heard of putting a black bag over a node to find sex. Since there have only been 3 nights with 12 hours off, would it still be possible to just start putting a bag over one node and keep it on 24/0?

Also, do you have any pics of this bag trick? I would want to make sure I'm doing it properly.
EDIT: And yeah, they all came from the same bag. That one plant is doing nicely, but the other three look exactly like the second pic :-/

[T3h C0rps3]

I'm not sure where the thread went... I thought it was a sticky.. I will look for it more later... but it was nothing more than placing a black bag.. like a doubled up trash bag over 1 of the branches, and then checking it every so often to see if something is going between the node

[drsnuggles]

Thanks Corpse, let me know if you find it.

Anyone else have any input they'd like to share? I'd really appreciate some suggestions.

[doob3r]

you can still LST no problem! just start working on the branches and the main stalk slowly. you should be fine sexing your plants after a transplant just xplant them tomorrow and keep on 12/12 i always sex my plants and ive never had any problems

[aregan35]

yea man just use a zip tie and duct tape the end of the zip tie to your pot.

[drsnuggles]

Ok, I am finished transplanting and starting an LST.

Note: This is my first ever grow. So although I've read up on everything quite extensively, it's not quite so easy to be able to apply it. I'm going off of a base of different experiences and things I've seen on this site and others. Please tell me if this is alright, or if something needs to be changed, or if I should just axe the strings and let it grow normally.

Anyway, this is what I've come up with. please comment.






Essentially I tied a piece of twine (which is snug, but not cutting into the stem) to the stem and anchored it, using it as a counter-weight. I then tied twine above it and went in the opposite direction. I then tied twine higher up between two branch sets near the top and trained it towards the lip of the pot.

Thanks in advance for your suggestions and comments.

Snuggles

[CaliCoast]

I like using dental floss with younger plants and then something like floral tape when they get older. The only reason is that the floral tape I have is a little too wide for younger plants. I only mention this cause it seems like that twine is an invitation for mold or fungus growth. I'm probably just over thinking but something that came across my mind. Also I drill a bunch of holes around the pot and use the holes as anchors.

With all that said I'm sure if you left it the way it is it will be fine.

[T3h C0rps3]

Originally Posted by CaliCoast

I like using dental floss with younger plants and then something like floral tape when they get older. The only reason is that the floral tape I have is a little too wide for younger plants. I only mention this cause it seems like that twine is an invitation for mold or fungus growth. I'm probably just over thinking but something that came across my mind. Also I drill a bunch of holes around the pot and use the holes as anchors.

With all that said I'm sure if you left it the way it is it will be fine.

I would think that twine from a store would be treated with some type of chemicals to prevent mold and all that, because twine is very strong and is used for outdoor things, like tying down tarps and such. So I think he would be fine with the twine

[CaliCoast]

Originally Posted by T3h C0rps3

I would think that twine from a store would be treated with some type of chemicals to prevent mold and all that, because twine is very strong and is used for outdoor things, like tying down tarps and such. So I think he would be fine with the twine

Haha yeah you're probably right. I said in my post I was "probably over thinking" but yeah. But then again the less things you use that are treated with chemicals the better imo.

[nymphetamine]

ay Snuggles... i found your post pretty interesting and timely. Plz keep your fellow newbies posted on your lst progress... i wanted to do lst myself, but waited too late - best of luck to ya...g

[drsnuggles]

Yeah, I am planning on doing a grow journal, but I want to make sure that the plant is a female before I do that. It would kind of be pointless to be like "Oh look, heres a bunch of hard work... and it's a male."

But yeah, I'm leaving it on 24/0 now so the plant doesn't get too stressed out, it can just re-coop. Hopefully it will naturally start to show preflowers in a few weeks.

So hopefully you'll see a grow journal from me soon, and everyone is welcome to give some tips and tricks to help me turn this into a beautiful plant.

[morphyx]

Just a thought...you could use coat hanger wire and "sleeve" it with a small diameter, clear aquarium tubing. That should be gentle enough and wouldn't pass on any harmful coatings/rust from the hanger. Theoretically, you could cut the tubing a bit longer than the wire and seal the ends with a waterproof aquarium epoxy.

That way, the "tie downs" would be reusable.