i have recently changed my way of training to incorporate alpha cloning…i essentially bend the plant over to force apical dominance towards the side branches…these side branches will now grow quicker than the actual mains, i will then take them as clones
supercropping is a very useful skill to acquire…i consider it next to patience as essential to have, if you want to become a successful plant manipulator…
the lst clips are very useful and can help you to create a very even canopy…it however cannot knuckle the stems ( like supercropping ) to increase nutritional flow
selective cutting and pinching skills are also high up on my list…
these are just some tips to ponder on…the rest has been said…thanks for the tag …ill be sitting in the left back corner by the door…ill gladly assist if i can…
Here’s a northern lights auto I’ve been training maybe these tips will help. They never post in order but the smallest is Feb 23rd , next March 5th and the last was taken this morning. The one from this morning has some light clawing from a dry pot and was just watered.
One down! I admit, my first time playing with a lady and I liked it! I started with Marie since she’s kind of a mutant, maybe? I think it’s only leaf variegation, but I’m not sure. My other plant doesn’t have the weird leaf thing going on and is more vigorous.
At first, I poked holes in the bag, and then used the binder clips. I think I prefer the clips.
Thanks, yeah, and the one is hitting the dirt. Phew, Marie tuckered me out, think I need a smoke and a nap! Naw, I’ll clip the leaves, have a snack, and then work on the other one.
Alrighty, LST on the second plant, Jedi, is done! (For now, I know it’s continual adjusting until flowering.)
This won’t surprise any of you, but the second time was easier, quicker, and a bit smarter, with a couple of minor mistakes made on the first one, Mutant Marie.
Thank you all for your help and good examples! I’m sure I’ll have questions as the LST continues on these plants, so please don’t unfollow this journal yet.
I staked down a fan leaf that was blocking some light, since I didn’t want to cut it, yet, and it wasn’t tuckable. So much light on where the action is happening! :
So, the next parts are to continually/daily check, make adjustments, tie down, stake down, spread out the branches as they grow … anything else?
As the plant grows, in what would have been vertically, I should tie down around the circle of the pot and keep it (top part) as low as possible, correct?
Hey, I broke my first branch and I didn’t cry or anything! I was fiddling, gently (or so I thought), to see how I could do better and what I might do next, when “snap” on one of the mutant’s lowest branch. No biggie at all, but it sure happened quickly, lol.
Yeah, I considered it briefly; it was barely hanging on with one side of it’s skin. I turned it around to see where exactly it had been previously attached, and then I thought ahhh frick it, bye-bye, not worth the hassle to me and the effort on the plant’s part, if at all could have been saved, which I mostly doubted. I suppose it would be a different story if the branch was more mature? What’s your assessment, what would you have done if was your plant?
Same here, I was trying to get some of Shirley’s excess undergrowth off and I heard a tiny snap. It did survive and looks good to me. No more sticking my ham hands in there though - that’s why the FSM invented trimming shears.
Today’s bit of LST on Marie. I wanted to pull down (and over to the side) the area that is a bit higher up on the plant. Since I broke off a baby branch the other day, I directed that spot towards the bottom, with a slight direction around the pot. And since the area I wanted to work on was small, I used a pipe cleaner that hopefully isn’t too rough on the stem, but perhaps as the area grows, I can later re-do it using the garden wire?
I cut off parts of a fan leaf (seen in the second picture) since it was in the way and a bit beat up. Question: Is it better to just cut off the whole leaf, or can/should the plant use the remaining part of the leaf?
With those weird leaves and LST, she resembles a palm tree. Perhaps a name modification is in order, maybe something like Margarita Marie.
You are certainly getting the hang of LST…I use a whip and chair when they get obstinate on me. Later in flower, a whip and chair are required just to enter the grow room.
LOL! Not to bring up a sore subject … there’s also the Floor Toss HST method. Ahhhh, sorry, kidding but thanks for posting your trials and progress with that clone.
OK, yeah, my preference is that I’ll keep it for now, since she’s still young/vegging and could use it.
…ill be sitting in the left back corner by the door…ill gladly assist if i can… 
Naw, I’ll clip the leaves, have a snack, and then work on the other one.
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