LST training question

[there goes edro]

Hey fellas,
I had a quick question about LST training. I only have 3 ft. from the top of my pot to the plant top in my grow space. I want to LST to keep them short. Should I not veg that long before flipping to 12/12, but doing this will decrease yield? If I do veg for 6 wks should I train early or let them grow up vertically then bend over to train. Also considering topping multiple times to slow vertical growth. Any and all advice and input is always appreciated. Thanks

 

[memphis man]

start lst as soon as you get a few nodes on the plant. if your going to veg for six weeks you better have a good size pot or your going to get rootbound.

 

[dansbuds]

A few pics of your space & how many plants you plan on puttin in there might help me give ya a better plan of action .

 

[memphis man]

A few pics of your space & how many plants you plan on puttin in there might help me give ya a better plan of action .

 

[there goes edro]

Need to grab another camera so no pics for now, but Im growing in a 4ft x 4ft x 5ft growing space.I only have a 400watter as light. Money tight but Ill upgrade later, I just need to get something growing! I started 19 plants in 20 oz plastic cups. Probably planning on vegging 3-5wks.Wanted to flower in 2-3 gallon pots. Still just a newb trying to learn what it takes to grow quality shit. Thanks guys for your input.

 

[who dat is]

shiittt that's alot of plants for a 400, especially if you're going to try to veg for weeks and weeks. You could veg them for like 2 weeks and flower them in 1 or 2 gallon pots. Maybe veg them until sex. If you want to veg for over a month then you don't need anymore than 4 plants in 3 to 5 gallon pots.

 

[dubwise]

that's a big number....unless you're planning on culling the herd a bit. I agree with above posters....get them lst'd sooner the better if you plan on vegging for so long. If not, maybe a week, no lst, sog.

 

[stihgnobevoli]

shit really? i wish i had half that much vertical room. depending on what you growing i would think 3 feet from pot to bulb would be enough. i manage to get away with topping my plants just 1 time mostly, depending on how much indica, and for full on sativa's i tie em down.

at any rate start training as soon as you get 5 nodes or if the plant grows faster as soon as you have a node to bend and hook. i don't recommend starting before you have 2 nodes and at least one set of true leave(3+ fingers).

 

[there goes edro]

Yeah, I figured Ill veg until sex, cull the male and keep the best 8 girls. Flower out in 2 gallon buckets. I think this should work? Advice appreciated.

 

[pinecone]

Yeah, I figured Ill veg until sex, cull the male and keep the best 8 girls. Flower out in 2 gallon buckets. I think this should work? Advice appreciated.

Should work, but you may have to do some additional culling of female plants. You need at least 1 square foot per LSTed plant vegged 4 weeks in 2-3 gallon pots. The one thing I would recommend is not to transplant or start training until they do show sex. For one, a root restricted plant may show faster. Secondly, you don't really have room for 19 plants in 2 or 3 gallon containers.

Pine

 

[there goes edro]

Thanks Pine Cone,
I was going to transplant once into 1/s gallon pots until sexed then transplant best 8 young ladies into 2 or 3 gallon buckets to finish. On another note my ballast went out on me so now ive got them under to fluoros (only 128watts) until new ballast arrives Tuesday.
Growth has slowed considerably. Theyre about a week into veg. More challenges.

 

[Warped1]

edro I only have 27" of height total.. so my lights hang down about 6 inches I would guess. I had 2 plants in it that were being lst'd and it didn't look like I would have any problem flowering in such a small space. Unfortunately they both ended up being males so I chopped them the other day, but you can keep the plants really low. I always plan on my plants stretching around 3 times their veg height, for indicas anyway.. I won't put a sativa in this cab lol

 

[shrpshooter]

Fim.ING, supercropping, lst all work very well..u might want to think about making a screen and going SCROG....MY 2 CENTS ... shrpshooter

 

[there goes edro]

Im leaning towards a combo of supercropping and lst training to keep em low. Ill have a camera soon so Ill snap a few shots of everything to get everyone's input. Everyone here has been so helpful in answering all my questions, giving advice and input. Ill be a better grower someday because of yall. Thank you for someday helping me fire my dealers!!!!!

 

[Canniwhatsis]

Don't know how many plants your running, 6 weeks is a fair amount of vege time.

Here's how I do it tho,

From Clone, plant goes in a 1 gallon for 4 weeks, at around 4" tall I'll tie her down to the side of the pot and bend her all the way over. Depending on the strain, I'll FIM or top. I try to keep all the tops trained down to less than 1.5' off the top of the soil. The main growing top (if not topped gets bent back around the rim of the pot. in a "U" shape)

4-5 weeks I'll move to a 5 gallon smart pot and reapply all my ties to keep the tops low and vege another 3-4 weeks. By this time I've got a bush about 2x2x2' with a dozen to 2 dozen growing tops.

When I move to my flowering room the plant goes under a 2x3" garden fence Screen for SCROG style growth,.... Typically I've kept my plants 17" from the topsoil to the screen, tho I let my Flo get too tall and had to lower my table as not to break stems. I think I'm about 24" from soil to screen on her.

Once she starts stretching I'll give 2-3 training sessions, where I'm pulling new growth back under the screen and pushing it out to the sides, again, how much and how often depends on the individual strain. No matter the strain tho, I'll try to stop training once I start seeing stretch slowing slightly and small bud points forming.


Here's an example, My current run of Flow, pic was grabbed @ week 3 of flower, she was topped 2x in vege, and only tied down 4x times (Space constraints dictated that I had to let her move UP more than I wanted to.)

Here's a shot of a Blueberry plant I did a couple months ago, no topping, extensive training in vege. Total height on this girl was about 23" from soil to the top of the canopy. Pulled just over 6oz from just the one plant!

 

[there goes edro]

Nice work Canniwhatsis! Whose Blueberry was that anyway?

 

[Canniwhatsis]

Random clone from a dispensary.

It's an old school Ind dom Blueberry strain we've had here in Co for decades tho, two puffs and you may almost forget you even have legs! Couchlocky and very sedative. I'm asleep in 15 minuets. Good shit and takes really well to LST and SCROG.

 

[Canniwhatsis]

went back and re-read everything,.....

8 plants under the 400,... 6 weeks vege is pushing even getting them sexed. You might be ok from seed with that #, but your pushing your luck on the vertical space. and I guarantee you'll run out of square footage if you LST them.

Both the plants I posted were my ONLY girls under the 400, and both of them are taking up a 2 foot by 3 foot chunk of screen..... so 6sq feet of canopy per plant, and that's at just 8 weeks vege from clone.