2nd Grow: Girl Scout Cookies

Very innovative. Your plants are very tall tho so be caareful when they flower you will need to do some kind of plastic tensile chicken wire with squares around the pot and plant. that way you can train the same and not worry about it falling over. kind of like a Vertical Scrog.

Next time I'd keep your light closer, that will keep the leaf sets more compact and bushier. then when you flower you generally let them get tall like that. Strain dependant tho. that bagseed? or genetics? Either way, next time keep it closer so they dont stretch that tall and keep them pinned during veg. See your main stem just makes colas. depending on if you topped or fimmed at all. if you dont, the main stem will be one main cola with many minor colas and limbs.

method 1
if you chop the center growth if you just take some growth sometimes the center growth continues, and the 1 main cola can be pinned in a spiral circle of your container and off the main stem grow MANY minor colas 20-40 plus the 1 main cola that provided all the little ones. That method is the same thing as growing a regular plant except your spiraling it in the base of the dirt to maximize light and yield from your mini colas. Once the main cola has spiraled it shoots up with the little ones for the big swollen 1 cola.

method 2
Or sometimes the center growth stops and the 6,8, or 10 limbs you have become like the center growth and become main stems and rise up to 6,8, or 10 big swollen colas. I prefer this method because the plant distributes nutrients evenly (and I like fat nugs). So if you have 6,8,10 limbs 1 plant can produce a LOT.


I use both methods it depends on how i ended up trimming each plant. so its really about what you prefer, big swollen fat nugs. Or many many many little colas. Method 2 yields more in deeper containers like the 5gallon buckets i use. Method 1 yields more in a wider but just as deep square or rectangular container like an 18 gallon tote. That way you have more room for spiraling and can have a wider fuller bush. The buckets allow sky scraper limbs that give big fat donkey d*** buds or big long colas with many little nuggets strain dependant.


And all limb and stem training and forced growth direction is all a form of training. But what your doing is considered an LST.

But like i said my journal has many examples of how to train, along with my multi cola LST guide both in my sig

Hope this helps ya brother.

 

GSC dosnt like a whole light dumped on her...she starts to grow weird with alot of light penetration too closely.

I Would stop training her for LST and start "pinching" the stems that seem to stretch. This will keep stretchin down and knodes closer to each other. Its just like supercropping but ya dont bend them sideways. Just pinch the stem till you gear it pop. They focus on healing the wound with out alot of stress. LST is good for early veg.

Either way shes a stretchy girl, start pruning some legs to shape her into How you want her to flower. Focus on the main stems. The pinch techniqe works like a charm and way less maintance than LST.

Thats one of her main legs, see the space in between the nugs...ya wanna pinch the stems to prevent knode spacing. And better cola stacking. Like this

 

They prolly will fill it in but your trying to produce a "cola". So all the nugs turn into one.

Theres alot of ppl here that do the pinch method. Ask around GC. If you GroW OGs then you would.understand this method is not extreme. Iv been doing it since i started growing. Cannabis is a very strong n forgiving plant.

Lol ya got cookies man, trust me. Its just a matter of what pheno you have or if Its S1. Were do you purchase the clones at?

but if ya dont train her to keep knode spacing together she will be even lankier then the pics that i put up. They will not fill in. You pinch the first 4wks of flower after that i stop. Those pics i put up are 12 days from Harvest.

 

My buddy who owns the local hydro shop i go to suggested this 'pinch' method to me as well. Where as I dont know what it will do for stretching here is what I did notice.

The reason behind LSTing is to bend the stems to more lit area and make you stems push sugars easier. Think of your stems like hoses. If you want to push water (or plant sugars) up your 'hose' to a tower or something, you need a energy or inertia to push it against gravity upward. The energy to push the sugars up the stems come from your mini solar panels, or as we know them 'fan leaves'.

So in result, if you bend your stems horizontally, the sugars require less energy to move the nutrients/sugars to the newest growth resulting in faster growth. Just like a hose flowing downhill.

My point is, pinching your stems from the base up to the new growth can help accelerate this even more. The two i pinch in the back's leaf sets were the same size as the other 4. The next day the two I pinched had slightly bigger fan leaves than the rest, and the inner growth opened faster than the other 4 shoots i did not pinch.


So it does work, but for what? thats all to be determined i suppose.

 

Its works just like all other training techniques. It literally stops the stretch and focuss the other tops that are lower to catch-up. LST is for early veg. Plus Its more work then just going in your room and pinching a few stems a day.

Your hose anaolgy is good, But When you bend it too much, IME it slows the sugars down. Just like a "kinked" hose would. Get it? Thats why i dont bend my tops any more. I just pinch enough and When the tissue makes a poping noise i move over to another lankier top. It overall keeps a even canopy with better stacking. Thats the results.

 

Well bending them works for me as I start in the first week of veg. Yes I get the kinked hose analogy. Thats why I train mine in stages, not wanting to bend them too much at first. If you get a kink, you get a nutrient knot. Like at the base of my trained stems. Thats the kink point from me pulling my shoot to an un natural position and kinking the base of the shoot on the main stem.

So unless you do some serious bending and break its tensile strength you wont get a nutrient knot on an actual limb, maybe at a joint to another stem. From my experience bending them in stages and training the stem by hand for 20 seconds 1/2 way past where im going to train it prevents it from breaking kinda of like a warmup. Stems are just like our muscles in this aspect.

If the stem feels stiff like it would snap, just wiggle it slightly for 10 seconds. It should become more pliable. Just like stretching and warming up before you go train yourself! I've trained and bent limbs I had let grow and didnt trim/touch for a week. They felt stiff, so I grabbed the stem and bent it back and forth gently and slowly bending more.

I've had pretty good success with this so far. Im gonna try your pinch method. Lucky for me I know what you mean by 'stop when you hear it pop' cause when I first tried this, I pinched a limb a few times and it popped. I thought I snapped something, after inspecting I couldnt figure out where the sound came from. Your explanation make sense.

 

LST is great, dont get me wrong. But i have more numbers and it gets harder to train like that. But i totally get what your saying. "To each their own"

I do the wiggle thing as Well if it feels to hard....watering before hand helps makes it softer to work with.

But i expierment as Well, and i found this method...with a tiny bit of super croping in veg to open her up more works for me. Specially Cuz i grow lanky kushs that need trianing early on veg to late flower.

Good shit tho man, you know what your doing and i enjoy reading your posts and your analogys. Helps to understand this plant better.

 

Yeah man Thanks for the rep! Picked up some pre 98 bubba kush at the dispensary today gonna give it a whirl

I'm very interested in your supercropping tactics. I never read about it in depth, or know what role it can play in the mechanix of growth. I just faintly remember one time being really high, and reading about it for a few seconds. After a glance I saw 'Break your stem' and was like "Noooo way!" Also this was in 2009 during my first few serious indoor grows.

So I am off to do some research do you have any grow journals I can reference to better understand your particular method? Because I am a sativa lover and plan on growing many different strains. If i get some lanky phenos I wanna be ready

Again thanks!

 

Sure do, http://forum.grasscity.com/indoor-grow-journals/1107016-sips-101-a.html

Stop in Whenever, ask any questions, Ill be glad ti help best i can.
I use to have a strain called Deep sleep which was the clone only larry oG x pre 98 bubba kush. Top 5 smokes in my life . so enjoy!

 

I just pinched every 1/4 inch up the stem, when i hit the right spot it popped. switching sides i was pinching all the way up. I did not notice anything visible when it pops. its all inside.

 

Sub'd & rep'd

 

Its just like supercropping where it will forn some type of a 'knot'..but it def is usually all inside the stem. Sometimes their can be a lil slit or cut in on the stem from combustiing the stem with ur pinch, but thats perfectly normal and Its actually stoping the main stem of the branch and allow side growth to catch-up and make more tops and and more even canopy.

Ill get some pics of examples. I start pinching as soon as they are clones lol.

As clones i top early once, giving me two tops already....as soon as i see a lil stretch on some tops i pinch..

Hell feel n hear it pop..leave it like that and with depending on strain it prop itself right back up. GSC is very fast to response to trainning.


As they mature, i keep pinching im always pinching somthing When im in the grow room. Just habit now. And i see no bad side effects just bushier plants.

This is a 3 wk GSC from clone..you can see old pinch Marks from early on....they just look like healed bumbs...but above the black pen you can another bumb and the side growth is moving past the pinch mark...thats the idea...it transfers growth energy to the lower growths while focusing on healing the pinch on the main stem.

Another pinch about 4 knodes down..

Healing pinch wound...

So it creates more of a Bush type plant but it all depends on strain....GSC and other oGs are viney and need training early on...other strains have a better formation growth so you wont to pinch as much since they have better knode spacing. Those type of strains you usually want to top alot creating more tops with great interknode spacing.

 

Looking great man, girls are super healthy. If the stems are too tough, i usually wiggle the stem back n forth. Itll loosen up the tissue a bit. Also watering before u pinch will help make it softer as well. But yeah dont worry, you wont pinch the stem off..as long as the tissue is stil connected it will heal on its own. Fan leaves dont dont much but maybe stop nutrient uptake on that fan leaf. Thats a good example to try for the first time tho.

I know it seems scary but after a lil bit it wont Bother you as much. This is your second grow so def expierment a lil, Its How we learn.

Great update!