Hi, so here are my two plants that are three weeks old as of today/Friday March 11th. I’ve grown a few plants, but I have been hesitant to break, I mean, train them, BUT am now going to do it.
So, they are ready now to begin training?
I have soft garden wire and 12-guage craft wire for staking.
I “think” that my first move is to secure the plant’s base to the pot with the soft garden wire, and then to gently bend over the main stalk near the top, in the opposite direction of the base, and secure the wire to the other side of the pot?
And, I “think” that I should bend it so that the minimal amount of fan leaves are disturbed/hidden/on the soil?
I’ve read about LST and have watched videos, but still I have to admit this is hard for me, at this point. Gulp.
My first move would be to fim the newest growth in the dead center of the plant and let it grow for another week. Then begin the LST.
But you’re not me! so you are absolutely on point if you want to start by training her sideways. Just secure her to the side of the pot or to the growing medium with a stake.
Or just bend her over and cut off anything that grazes the dirt.
It’s very scary. I still remember the first time I started to do LST.
There’s a cheater mode. @CoyoteCody makes LST clips - all you gotta do is clip the stalk into one end of the clip, bend the branch and clip into the other end. Easy peasy.
I’m sure I’ve already said this but their stalks get tough really quickly! You might want to get started very soon.
I did do the bracing thing for Claudette, but that’s because she wouldn’t bend - she was that tough! And no, I’m not ready for supercropping yet (though I may end up needing to learn for this grow!).
They are beautiful little plants, and I know you’ll like the results of the LST. I was surprised how well it went over here.
The ones I have are 90° Cheapies off Amazon. Cody makes much better clips than the garbage I have. I invested in them before I knew he made them. @CoyoteCody is da man. Made for growers because he is one.
@beachglass are yours also autoflowers?
If so, let me gently suggest doing a FIM instead of a top.
Thank you all for the replies! BTW, the actual light is much brighter and not yellow, as it seems in the pictures. It’s been a crazy week and I just needed to get my journal and pics up.
For what it’s worth, I neglected to mention that the soil is Roots Organic Original. In addition to the Grow Dots, I’m using Recharge every other watering and a bit of TPS organic calmag with each watering.
@Graysin thanks so much for the clip idea. I couldn’t recall who made those, as I came across those awhile ago. I sooo wanted to top or fim, with fim being less stressful to autos, but for now I want my focus to be on LST, just in case any topping or fimming stressed them too much.
@Fiz yeah, they do get stiff quickly. I’ll take my time and gently massage/work the stalk to reduce the chances of breakage.
Perfect. Only thing I have seen is that my grow dot plant did get hungry for something toward the end. Phosphorus maybe? I think being in the Roots Organic may prevent that/maybe your lady won’t be such a glutton for food.
That’s super hard to find that in autos. My local dispensary has it and I’ve been tempted to try it, but of the few things I’ve tried at the dispensary that I really like is their NYC Diesel equivalent (Mexican and Afghan parents), so I’m hesitant to drop $40 bucks when I’d rather apply that to seeds.
I’d sprinkle it on around the Week 14-15 mark (of the plant being alive) so just in case she goes longer than the dots (16 weeks), you’ve got a safety net.
As long as u dont get to rough with them you will be right most people put a anchor wire around the bottom of the stem to stop it from disturbing the roots then they will carefully bend the plant over and tie it down for starters then after a few days they will go back and tie down the branches .but i suggest watching more videos on lst training thats wat i did but you will be fine with this just take slow dont rush anything and u will be right
so you are absolutely on point if you want to start by training her sideways. Just secure her to the side of the pot or to the growing medium with a stake.
autos like gentle action. Soft core p0rn if you will.