hey guys hows everybody doing?! First off i just want to say my next indoor grow (soon) i want to use the LST. i know the basics but have some questions. I know you start to tie down the main stem after 5 sets of leave and then keep tieing it down untill you flower it. Questions: I plan on topping the plant, would i tie down both those main stems once they come out? (silly question to ask i know you do just want someone to say yes lol) The branches that come from the inner nodes that produce buds: do you let them grow toward the light or can you tie thgem down? (would seem you let it grow towards the light to make the colla) On average how long would it take for veg growth and how do you know when to flower it? do you flower it when you think its ready? and does flowering take the same time about 8-9 weeks? im going to go watch some youtube vids on it
So, I know this a VERY noobish question, I've been reading about LST a lot, but I don't understand what it is or the benefits. I get the gist of it, you tie the main stem down or something, but yeah... give me some insight on how this is beneficial, when it is supppose to be done? Thanks in advance
my plant is topped and tied down. got much bushier after those things.. but dont stretch down too much.. and here's photo of mine taken 2 weeks before.. grows only under sunlight and summer is very cloudy
LST creates more budsites, keeps the plant low, and gets more of the available light at a higher intensity to more of the plant. Result is bigger harvest.
Basically if you top any new growth on a plant, it will then grow two main arms. As those grow, you can tie them down so the newer undergrowth gets more light. Then repeat the process with the new arms, you can make hella loads of colas. If you miss the top, then it will either keep growing one main or it will have one main branch off and not actually multiply your colas. Its easy to do though. Just decide where you can fit growth, pop a top, wait a few days or even a week then tie the new growth over. Cake. You can even use tape on the leaf tips to pull the plant towards the edge of the pot. I like wire tie. Then as all these new arms grow upwards and out, you can use a screen or bamboo rods to hold growth in a specific area. Then as more growth comes up, you can find a place for it in the screen. So many techniques mate. That's why I veg constantly in another box so I can play with different growing styles. Some are taking on a bonsai tree shape. I did that by tying the main cola to one side and the new growth to the other, then put stronger light on one side so the new growth would stretch that way, while the main cola had its own light directly above. so many ideas
Here is a plant with the 6th leafset just emerging Here she is later that day, topped just above the 4th leafset. I waited as long as I did to get a good cutting. Here she is 9 days later: 13 days after topping: That's when I tied her down, like the spokes in a wheel. I use string and duct tape. I loop the string over a branch and duct tape both ends of the string to the side of the container. Occasionally you will split the main stem doing this. String is your friend. This plant didn't split. And here she is yesterday, one day after the first tie down. The tops have turned up toward the light. All the secondary growth exposed by the LST is going to explode over the next several days, as each shoot vies to become the apical growth, the new top. As the new shoots grow long enough, you can continue to tie them down in this wheel pattern. The symmetry of the plant is largely preserved as she gets bushier and bushier. Reasons for doing this: If vertical space is limited in your flower space, this is one way to keep the plant short. Another reason to keep your plant short is if you are flowering with CFLs, which work best when they are close to the vegetation. A wide, flat canopy makes this easier to accomplish. More tops can increase your yield. The downside: Vegging takes longer. The plant ends up wider, taking up more valuable real estate in your flower space. You don't get that iconic donkey dick cola. Chicks dig the big cola. I decided to train this particular plant because she is a sativa dominant hybrid, Utopia Haze, that stretches a lot in early flower. I like to grow sativas, but I have limited vertical space, so I tend to flip them as early as is practical. In this case, however, I won't have room for her in my flowering space for about three weeks. So I'm keeping her busy doing something besides getting tall in the mean time. It's a stalling tactic which may or may not increase my yield. I'm guessing that it will, but sometimes you get better results by simply letting nature take its course. EDIT: Here she is 5 days after being tied down... ----
Thanks for the pics alatar. Great advise! Is it possible to tie down before topping? Or is it just better to top first then tie Down?
Sure, you can tie down without topping. There are various schemes and tactics employed in low stress training. This is just one of them. The advantage of topping a seed plant before you start training is you end up with two tops side by side with symmetric secondary growth coming out at 90 degree angles to the orientation of your tops -- like the four primary directions on a compass. This allows you to start your LST in a manner that preserves the symmetry of the plant, thus doing the least damage possible to her structural integrity. You are tying her down in all directions. The plant mass remains evenly distributed over the central stem, not inclined to tip over. She's going to have to support large, heavy buds one day soon, if all goes to plan. This makes it easier for her to keep it all together once bud weight becomes a factor. And it you wait long enough before you top, you'll get a viable cutting out of the deal, which can become another plant.