You would be amazed how much damage growers intentionally inflict on their plants. Twisting stems and bending them in half. So, don’t be afraid you will damage them beyond repair. If a branch is flexible an has some give, it can be bent. If they are thick and stiff, you can still bend them but they may need a little persuasion
This plant was pruned & initially trained as a manifold. I use bent wire (staples) to set and flatten the branches. But is has grown out and now it is time to do a little more LST.
You are growing in 5 gallon buckets, do you have access to a drill?
I drilled holes in the side of the bucket and used RapiClip plant twist ties
Wrap the tie around the stem, bend and position it where you want it and twist the tie so it doesn’t come undone but loose enough so the stem isn’t chocked off.
I also use RapiClip soft ties. I like it because it is soft and prevents damage to the stem. Sometimes I just make a hook to grab a stem
Finished with today’s LST. Low and level
This the same plant 50 days later on 6/9
Medium size binder clips work great too
How high are your lights above the plants. Most should be set at 18 - 24". That may be one reason they look a little stretched out.
Youtube has 100’s of LST training videos. Personally I like most of Bill Wards stuff. Google Bill Ward basic LST training and you will get a lot to choose from.
Good luck. If you have questions tag me and I will try to help.
With the heights of the plants I feel like it’s going to be very difficult to drag the top of my plants down to the tops of the buckets to be tied without snapping the main stem (my biggest fear which is why I didn’t do it) they’re all about 3ft tall. Also, wouldn’t shoving staples in the same pot at your plant damage the root system? That’s another reason I haven’t LST’d cuz I just don’t see an adequate amount of room to be shoving all that kinda stuff down into the same pot. I thought about drilling holes into the wall & instaling plastic hooks all around the grow room that I could just tie the branches to. And lastly, my lights are situated at about 24-30 inches. During veg I noticed the tips of the very top fan leaves were turning yellow (I have a post on this site about it if you’re willing/able to dig down my recents) tbat I never got a definite answer for back then so I went ahead & decreased my wattage output to 100-125w and moved my lights up higher & never changed that since
What exactly even is the benefit of changing the way and direction the branches and stems grow? Besides giving more light to lower bud sites I can’t grasp the whole idea cuz dont the plant distribute nutrients evenly?
At the end of the day though, as a rookie, I beleive I missed the deadline a while ago when I first researched it where tying down the plants would have been safest & given me the best result. Are there any specific methods I could use for a late term LST that i could look up which would minimize risk?
Citric acid, lemon juice both will work in a pinch for PH down.
I agree: plant is in no need of a defoliation at this point due to the open growth. If it looked like this:
Then yeah.
(BTW: that’s after taking 50 leaves off)
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I am sorry that is not what I was trying to say or tell you to do. Find a spot on the main stem where there are a couple of branches. Maybe 12" from the top. Take those branches and gradually bend them until they are level. Tie them off to the pot or even lower down on the main stem. They are at the beginning of flower so will need to be more gentle than you would have to be otherwise.
