So I recently started four plants in a 2x2x5 foot tent. (I understand that is a bit much for a small tent but 4 germinated so I'm just gonna hope for the best). Anyways they are about a month old and I recently started LST. They have been doing good but I don't think having them grow bushy in a small tent is a good idea so I was wondering if I stopped low stress training if they would straighten up themselves and if I could start a SCROG. This is my first grow so I'm new to all of this so any help would be great!
SCROG more or less serves the same purpose as LST. Both have the goal of broadening and evening out the canopy so they don't grow like a xmas tree or ball shaped bush. I can't imagine how you could really SCROG with 4 plants in a 2x2 space but you might get a little benefit from it. Post some pics, there's a good chance that you should just let them be and make the switch to flower so that it doesn't turn into a jungle in there.
I took out the sting that was holding them down to LST but here they are, are you saying I should just let them grow without any training? Or should I go back to LST
i think your best bet given the space is to just continue the LST, and make a judgement call as to when to make the 12/12 flip. I'd say shoot for getting an even canopy that fills 50-75% percent of the 2x2 area, then make the flip. At 50-75% full, the stretch of those 4 plants will easily fill all available space. You could scrog, but I'm not sure given the crampedness of the space that it will be of any benefit over just LST. Next time, consider only growing 1-2 plants in that space. Since space is so limited, I'd go with fem'd beans everytime. If you have regular beans, I'd say germ 4, and hope for the best. But if you have a choice, go fem'd. Also, germinating is pretty fool-proof and only takes a few days. No reason to germ extra beans. If you germ 1-2 and niether crack, try another 1-2. Cheers
Two of the plants are fem seeds but the other two are just some bag seed. I plan on only doing gem seeds from now on though. But is this a good start on LST? Thanks for all the help so far!
Now that it dawns on me... You could LST then start a scrog a week or two before your flip. With the two bag seeds there's a good chance you'll have at least one male. Cull the males immediately and free up that space. With the freed up space you could continue the scrog another 2-3 weeks into flower. It'll be fun to do the scrog and you'll learn throughout the experience. And yes, continue that LST, following a circle around the outer edge of the pot. When to stop, when to scrog, when to flip? those are up to your discretion as only you are there to observe and tend the garden. When you have to make those judgement calls you are gaining invaluable experience. Otherwise, growing would be no different than baking a recipe on the back of some box.
I have a fluorescent pioneer jr. light fixture with two clip fans blowing on the babies. Then I have an exhaust blowing out the top.
For a 2ft, 4bulb T5 setup I'd think an SOG might be a good way to go, though I'm not a hydro guy, so I can't help you there. No reason you can't grow soil with that setup though, but it'd really lend itself to a one plant, expertly scrogged grow. Since you don't have a carbon scrubber, soil will help to keep the smell down too. I tend to think organic, water-only soil setups also lend themselves well to small grows like this. Reason being, if you have nute problems (too much, too little), you're kinda screwed because it's your only plant. Mixing a proper organic soil and amendments, and letting it cycle, minimizes many nute related issues. I personally don't want to have to worry about bottles of nutes and feeding schedules, I have plenty else to worry about.
Oh I don't have a hydro setup I use 75% VermaSoil with 25% perlite, and then I use a bottled feeding schedule that I got from my local store, next time I'm definitely not gonna do 4 plants I'll only do the one maybe two, but you say to go with SCROG and take the LST out? Or keep the LST with the t5 setup I have
Scrog is LST technically, it's just an implementation difference. True scrogs LST their plants just as your are now, then place the screen 10"-20" above the medium's surface. Yes, continue the LST just like you have tieing the plant down with string or wire. when you've created a nice, horizontal bushy plant, then throw the screen over it, and begin using the screen for training. Allow any branches of growth to grow above the net about 3", then pull it back down under the screen. If you create a screen with 2.5" squares, then when you pull 3" of growth back under, it will surely stay in place.
Heynow, I have a similar set up going, 4 plants in a 28"x28"x63" tent, vegged for 45 days lots of LSTing, topped twice, and did some supper cropping and defoliation before I flipped to 12/12, there is a solid block of nice flat canopy currently 4 weeks into flower, not an inch of wasted space horizontally, vertically I should have grown them taller, I look at the 2' of height in the tent that is not being used and it saddens me every time I see it, I don't know if one plant would have given me such good results in such a short veggin time, I think what I would have done differently is vegged for another 20 or so days to use some of the wasted height I'm gonna sub up and follow your progress
my issue is two of them stretched a good 8 inches. My light is 1 inch off the ceiling which I can't raise it anymore and the tops of the two are 7 inches away
252, how far along into flower is it, don't be scared to bend that stretchy node over if it gets to close to the sun
they stopped the stretch I'm week 9 into northern auto havery a horrible calcium magnesium deficiency that popped up over 3 days I just got calmag so I dosed double this feeding this morning hopefully it helps