A few years back a fellow grower of mine were sharing some buds and brews and having a discussion about techniques and tricks of the trade. At this point of the conversation we were on the topic of yield manipulation, We dwelled on various topping and training methods when he mentioned "BREAKING" I had heard a little bit on this subject before but never had a hands on demonstration. So we took a trip into his lab where he had a few new plants that he intended to "Break Train" as he called it. He told me to get very close so not only I could see but hear as he applied the technique. He grabbed the center stalk about mid way up and gently twisted in opposite directions until you heard a light snap he told me to examine the area and look for visable damage, I saw none. Then he told me to try on the other at first I was a little concerned but he said not to worry just be gentle and you will hear and feel when you have twisted enough. I did just as he did and felt a slight pop inbetween my fingers but no sign of a broken stem. A week later he invited me back to see the results, The stem had a bulge were we applied the break and was much larger above the bulge and the plant was healthier and fuller than before I was amazed. Then he showed the plants he had already "Break Trained" they were humungous bushy as could be and each branch was as thick as most main stalks I have seen, They had huge dense buds on each branch snd had no need to be tied or supported by any means. The next bacth of clones I received I was just itchin' to try this my self so I did two of my own. The growth rate was a lil slow at first but once they had recovered the rocketed past the rest growing taller and bushier it was a success! Over the next few years I fine tuned my technique mixing Breaking with LST and the outcome has been awesome I am now pulling 2 oz. per plant with a 400 watt when others only yield 1 oz per plant with a 1000 watt set up!!!! So I was just curious If any one else has experimented with this "BREAKING" technique and enjoyed similar success if so please share your testimony and pictures if available. ( I will post photos later, the gallery said the image size was to large so I must reformat before uploading.)
yeah man ist called supercropping combine it with topping fimming and lst, it will increase a yield a good bit if done right.
Right on fellas thanks for the input! Yeah the whole idea is to break down and rebuild cellular structure in the plants internal system allowing it to absorb and distribute more nutrition faster and in larger quantities than before. That in conjunction with LST is practically guaranteed to improve yield by 50% if done correctly. As far as FIMMING or TOPPING I'm not a big fan, its really an obsolete technique which induces unneeded stress and slows overall growth LST is far superior.
ive never tried supercroppind in the ways of breaking the stems but its a technique i dont hear much about at all, im very interested to see the results first hand i may start break training on the next week.
I recently tried supercropping and have had great success so far. To be honest I did it because I knew it would lengthen the veg time and I had one plant that was about a month ahead of 6 others and I needed to flower at the same time as I currently have one room for growing. I initially cropped twice on the main stem and then later did three side branches. That was appx 1 1/2 weeks ago. Since then the main stem has really thickened a ton, the side branches are now starting thicken up and my plant is basically turning into a really thick bush. Today I cropped once more towards the top of the plant as its stem is not nearly as thick. I don't know how this will affect yield and the rest of the grow because this is my first grow in 4 years so I have nothing to compare it too. My results so far are good, however.
And it's just so balla!!! In a cramped space that is difficult to tie down the plants in, it has saved me a lot of time and frustration. You just reach in, snap snap snap and you're done. You come back a few hours later and everything is fine. The technique is a solid form of training. I prefer to tie them down or use a screen because it doesn't hurt the plant in the process. However, this method makes the plant stronger after it heals. It's DEFINITELY something to try on a plant. EDIT- I didn't twist it though... I just snapped the stem LOL next time I'll try what the OP suggests, although it seems like instead of using the snapped stem to train it in a direction, he is snapping the stem to get it to beef up. I'll try it and report back.
I myself use the twist method just to bulk the main stalk and nodes that I intend to bare additional colas provided by my LST application. Actually bending the branches seems it would have a heavy stress load and would cause external damage which is not a healthy suggestion. But to each his own I'm just trying to spread to word of this impressive technique.
here is a picture of a stem on a bagseed plant. i snapped it twice. it became very strong and bushy and the buds were fattt
i do this all the way through the cycle- but even more so when those babies are flowering, like 2-3 weeks in i will go an pinch each stem like 2 nodes down from the top cola and in comparison, the ones that get the snap are noticeably more resinated and crystaly. if thats a word. fuck it. it is cuz i use it alot. PEace
i was wondering by "twisting" do you mean folding the stem back and forth like creasing or twisting in a side to side motion like a door knob? ive seen a few videos of supercropping, and it was folding the branches over after squeezing them, if you are talking about turning them like a door knob, i would rather do that then fold them over, like supercropping.
I'm confused about what exactly is going on chemically in the plant when this is done. I guess what i'm really wondering is... LST is supposed to break apical dominance and allow auxins or something to go evenly to the colas, not just the tallest one, and therefore they compete with each other to be the biggest, and would then in turn produce bigger buds (i think). For those of you who have done this in conjunction with LST... My question is would this affect that spread of competition, in other words would the area beyond the supercropping be getting more nutrients to heal the wound, and if so wouldn't this defeat the purpose of LST (minus better light distribution and space purposes of course) By the way i am a huge supporter of LST im just not so sure about supercropping too.
I have used the breaking method along with LST and achieved great results. I find it extremely useful for stealth grows. Typically stealth grows dont have to veg as long, and when combined with Breaking or "Pinching" as I call it, you can drastically speed up growth. This is very helpful when LST'ing since it usually takes quite a while to veg an LST'ed plant. (At least using Dierwolfs method of LST in which you train your plant in a circle around the edge of your pot till you run out of room, and then you top it.)
Im gonna start a grow journal you should keep your eye out for. It will be a Stealth grow and it will combine LST, pinching, fimming, topping, + Im gonna scrog it.
"Q: I was wondering if you could go over some aspects of supercropping. I saw an article in this magazine about supercropping a long time ago and want to learn more about it. I am looking to produce the most bud from a plant and get a maximum yield. -- brian A: Supercropping (Feb. 99 HIGH TIMES) is a term given to a group of techniques that when used in conjunction will produce greatly improved yields over untreated plants. BENDING Plants naturally bend towards the light. They do this for their benefit, trying to better get into position to receive more light. Why wait for plants to evolve, use your smarts to bend plants into positions that are beneficial. Bending the tip of a branch over into a position where there's no vegetation will speed growth for 2 reasons: First the branch tip you moved is now getting more unobstructed light by moving it to an area free of vegetation. Second, the area you moved the branch away from is also receiving more light than before. So those parts of the plant also benefit from the move. Potential for growth is increased. TYING Forceful confinement or the use of string, twist-ties or a brace of some kind may be required to keep bent branches from simply growing back to their original position. Massage the bending point of the branch with the fingers of one hand while slowly bending -- only intuition will tell you when you've reached the breaking point. Some branches don't have a breaking point, you can tie them in a knot a they'll still grow. Others will snap as soon as you try to bend them. It will take practice and a few broken branches before you learn how far, if at all, any given branch can be manipulated. BREAKING Breaking is an advanced technique(Supercropping II, Sep. 00 HIGH TIMES) whereby you break the inner herd of the plant without damaging the outer, which is where all the plants strength comes from. Break open the stalk of a cannabis plant and you'll notice immediately the hard, outer herd. This is where textiles come from. The soft inner, lighter colored material is pure cellulose. The plant passes water and nutrients cell to cell through this network of cellulose. Breaking the plant's inner walls will cause it to rebuild. But it rebuilds these networks better than they were before; it rebuilds so fast (under good growth conditions) that 24 hours later the plant is using the new highways and it's increased capacity for moving water and nutrients. This technique can begin as early as the seedling stage. Twisting the plant gently, using both hands so you don't pull on it's roots. Work each of the plants branches every 2", up to once week. Do this by grasping the spot to be treated with two fingers of each hand. Use one hand to stabilize, while the other gently, slowly twists. Or you can twist with both hands in opposite directions, slowly until you feel a slight snap. When the plant's get heartier you will actually be able to hear it. TOPPING Never top an unhealthy plant. Topping is a simple technique of cutting the tip or top of a branch off using sharp scissors. It doesn't matter if it's the main(stem) top or the tip of a side shoot, the resulting effect will be the same. Instead of one top or tip resulting in a single bud, the treated shoot splits and produces 2 or more tips. It is debatable whether or not this practice will actually increase or decrease the size of buds or overall yield. A healthy plant generally thrives under careful stressing and physical manipulation. This is not something you want to overdue, start slowly and increase the frequency and intensity of your pruning practices over consecutive crop cycles. Gain some experience so you can recognize when you have overdone it. "