How do yall prop up lanky bucket sativas?

[lysol]

You read the title, how do you do it? I trained one to grow in an upside down L, but the football sized head being off the center of gravity now is pulling the whole plant down... having to use all sorts of twine supports and its a pain to open the bucket lid... also the colas are swallowing the twine and when I shake the plants around the twine is rubbing all within the nugget releasing funk everywhere. any clever easy solutions to ease plant maintainability besides a bottom drain on the rez next time? Right now I am having to take down the twine and use 1 hand to remove the bucket lid, and the other hand to hold the head of the plant.... less than desirable as i get left with sticky palms. I got some diagonal supports now affixed to the vertical part of the plant and secured to the lid itself, but im still "top heavy"

 

[xcrispi]

We use lotsa bamboo stakes and bagtie material here .
Crispi

 

[narutonut]

Steak em. Tie em. Bush em (super crop, trim), Tomato cages, less veg time, bigger space any of these will solve your problem.

Cheers

 

[delta9nxs]

hey, lysol, nice to hear from you again!

looks like you've got a different problem so growing must be going ok. great!

later

 

[Haps]

I use stakes, held to the bucket with bungees, I use bungees from the frame above, and tomato cages. And I need more too. Between grows, add an access port to your lid or at the side top of the bucket.
H

 

[dubwise]

I've used bamboo stakes heavily duct taped to the outside of my buckets and used twine which is run from my outer walls and kind of looped around the stems. The twine is tied in a loose slip knot that wont choke off the plant. Both work okay, but I'm thinking I'll employ some tomato cages on a few and see how that works.

 

[BPJR]

Bamboo stakes and zip ties

cheers

 

[PuReKnOwLeDgE]

I use a trellis

 

[lysol]

Ok just to be clear though all these methods prevent you from peeking at the roots, so the best way to solve my problem would be to change cultural practices in the future, and just try to tough it out for the rest of this run, right?

 

[johnipedestran]

best method for you if possible is to tie them from the roof of your grow...hanging. leave some slack so you can check your buckets

peace
jip

 

[lysol]

best method for you if possible is to tie them from the roof of your grow...hanging. leave some slack so you can check your buckets

peace
jip

Thats what I was doing ofr a few weeks, but it worked so well the buds were swallowing the twine so I took off that support, which was what caused me to start this thread. Do you think its ok if the twine is "kiefing" in the insides of the bud when I move it around?

Also for changeouts I had to undo it

Updated with a pic

I think the plants sense they are tied up and stop worrying about growing stem, which produces more bud. Looks like it could be as thick as that 6" duct conduit when it finishes, what do you think? (I know it looks burnt to crap too)

OR: has anyone ever tried putting the stakes into the netcup with all the pebbles before the plant grows? Would be kinda stupid while vegging and would inhibit getting the lights close though.

 

[lysol]

Between grows, add an access port to your lid or at the side top of the bucket.

Wait, can you elaborate on an "access port" and how one constructs them? I didnt even notice it in your pic there, I pictured something that was re-closable, how do you keep out the light? Also where did you find the syrofoam to do up your lid? I would like to copy your idea exactly, it looks perfect. I guess You need 1 submersible pump to do the change out right?

 

[Haps]

In the picture in my post above, you can see the root through the port, and yes, in those buckets, I made the port big enough to slip in a small pump, it worked, but was not ideal. I cut the port just under the lip of the bucket, so there was still enough for the lid to hold on to. In this application, I just had a flap of reflectix to cover the port. And some of the ports were not big enough so I had to enlarge them with plants growing in them, doable, but not ideal.

You can use any styrofoam, just cut it with a steak knife, and sand it with an abrasive sink scrubber. Mine were recycled from the iceburg series of floating rafts. The stake in the net pot causes lots of problems on large plants, but will work with 8 inch net pots of lava rock.
H