Hey, so i am doing a PC grow pretty soon and i wanted to LST it. couple of questions: how old should the plant be? what should i use to lst with? is there any good tuts around with pictures to show(i couldn't find much...) thanks!
How old should they be when you start training? It depends on how you want it to work. LST during veg will encourage more branching at the areas that receive more light from the training- bend a vegging stalk to the left and the right side that is then facing the light will grow more. LST begun during flowering encourages lower buds to grow in the same way. Because vegging plants are smaller than their flowering counterparts, the light can usually reach further down, decreasing the benefits of LST'ing. Myself, I've never LST'd during veg. I get my best LST results when starting about maybe 1/3 of the way into flowering; when the plants start to get tall enough that the lower branches need more light. I flower in 5gal buckets with tiny holes drilled all around the rim. Cotton string is then used to tie the stalks to the bucket and pull them away from the middle.
I'm interested too. Any more knowledge on the subject would be appreciated. Not trying to hijack your thread classy. Jus tryin to get info brother.
http://forum.grasscity.com/indoor-marijuana-growing/890781-help-lst-experts.html You can check out my thread if you want. A few pics. Not intended as a tutorial, but it may be helpful.
Right now i am following the notorious circling around the pot ( seen a lot here ) What you do is start lsting after your plant has a couple of nodes and you train around the outside of the pot to encourage multiple equal sized bud sites instead of one prominent cola and a couple smaller ones. I personally use wire coat hangers and cut them to make stakes out of them. I stake below the node every 2 or 3 nodes. Here is a picture of the diagram you can follow.
the whole thing is training, if you tie the top node down as it grows length wise, it will reach for the light. You don't just bend it all at once. You stake/tie it down every couple of nodes and that is controlling where it grows, if that makes sense to you. So yes, if you tie it down it will grow up. then you just slightly bend the stem so it is curved and stake that down. And you keep repeating that and you'll have it. As for the age, i started mine after about the first couple of nodes. ( the things where branches grow out of)
Mine aren't PC size but but if you start 12/12 at step 2 it would be. Plants don't grow exactly like the diagram, and topping helps. 3000 words worth of pictures, I'm looking forward to step 4 pic 1 and 2 are and 18/6 cfl, 24/0 would have about 1/3 the spread and as many tops. Pic 3 was a little bigger than half a grapefruit with 11 tops at the same age as pic 2.
You can start LST any time after the 4th or 5th node. Pipe cleaners make great tie-downs, very easy to continuously re-adjust. The "circle-the-pot" method is a theory, and you can apply it, but don't expect the plant to conform so nicely to symmetrical plans -- it will start growing in all directions, the little branches will become big ones and start shooting off their own branches, pretty soon you won't be able to tell the original "top". The key is to fill a level, even canopy of tops, so anywhere there is open space in the canopy is a good place to train a new top to grow.