how to select training style

[Former Guest]

Hey everyone!!

I wanted to know how you decide on how to train your plants. I'm not talking about height restrictions in your room or to increase yields. I'm more interested in picking a style that fits the growth of the plant. For example, some plants are lanky and tend to not have tight internodes, so what style best fits that? Some just want to grow straight up so they may be better for SOG growing. I kind of want to try and cover all different types of growth with pics if ya got em. helps a newb know what you're trying to describe and I would also have something to go back to later on for other grows.

I have three strains all with different growth patterns and three areas that I can do what I want with some height restrictions in one but not too bad. I want to do a scrog in two areas and one area is completely free for ideas. The scrog will be in a 4x8 tent with two 4x4 screens so the time to train will be pretty high so I wanted to look into something a little less maintenance for the last area. I'm trying to figure out which strain would go in each area. I bought one Durban Bubble and one Pennywise and put them in some soil, then a week later decided I should get more, so I bought three of each for a total of eight. then I took connie home about three days after that and they've been sitting about a week.

Pennywise: I have this one growing from seed right now that is probably 8-9 ft tall outside and is untrained all natural like a Christmas tree. the clones I have grow straight up tall and won't branch out till you top her. she can have tight internode space if given good light but the clones I have are a little stretched from the flouros at the dispensary. the one I grew from seed started indoors and had very short internodes, indica dominant and very branchy cross of jack the ripper and harlequin by tga genetics from the info on the web but she has skinny little leaves right now and the one outside does too but her big fan leaves have thick fingered leaves so I'm not too sure if this strain's four phenos has a sativa one; probably. the pic above has the branchy one I topped and the one I got a week later that has been topped but has yet to branch out.

Durban Bubble: I really don't know much about her but she grows very bushy like with lots of branches and decent internode spacing. really wants to eat her food and is sativa dominant. This is a cross of Durban Poison and BOGs Blue Moon Rocks.

both of the pennywise and Durban bubbles

Connie Chung: Not a freaking clue but decent internode spacing and is growing up instead of out. haven't topped them yet to see if they branch out some but will in the next couple days. indica dominant strain of old school g13 haze and LA Confidential by DNA genetics. they're kicking it in my living room until they're okay to go into the grow room under the metal halide so they will be behind technically but they seem to be loving it, so if I put them under the halide and fix them up with some soil and smart pots, I'm sure it won't be too long before they flourish.

 

[Former Guest]

anyone?

 

[Granger2]

Go to the Complete Guide to Topping, Training Sticky in the Indoor Grow Soil forum. Good luck. -granger

 

[Former Guest]

I swear to god I looked for a sticky. I somehow didn't go to indoor soil but only checked the organic soil, new growers, and growing questions. so many forums, you think you checked them all.



EDIT: ooo there's a whole bunch I haven't even seen.....score. I wish there was just a forum for stickies/tutorials so they were all in one spot. sometimes I go back to try and find them and have to go to several forums to just find the one I'm looking for.

if anyone wants to chime in one which kinds they like to train in which styles, I'm all ears.

 

[Former Guest]

after reading that tutorial which is great compared to others I've read, I've realized that I should redefine my question:

how do you know if the plant likes being topped or not? do all plants like being topped?
I read in threads about some people saying that they tried growing a plant one way and after growing it realized that it would of better been trained differently. for example: a strain is lanky and doesn't have tight internodes so someone said that this would've been better done as a scrog rather than just trained like a bush and topped with the branches also being pinched. is there a way to tell I guess how a plant should be trained?

 

[GreeeeN GRassss]

people pop seeds run strains take try different things. take clones of the strain that suits their style. trail and error.

no single plant is the same or will react the same unless your running clones.

 

[Corpsey]

I think the best way is to grow the plant at least through one cycle and take notes so you can go back later, with 2 strains now it doesn't seem like a big deal but if you have 10-20 strains it would help a lot.

The other thing you could do is google the genetic in question, look at pictures of it growing, not just in flower. And read peoples experience with the strain. Harelequin and jack the ripper info is def out in the world, take the parental info and use it to understand your cross more by doing more research. It will also help you understand which side of the cross it resembles more.

Some strains won't branch any if at all, some will branch like crazy. Some might be in the middle.

Then you have so many different ways to train, but each might be different in your environment. Pick one that you like/ that works for you.

 

[Former Guest]

I think the best way is to grow the plant at least through one cycle and take notes so you can go back later, with 2 strains now it doesn't seem like a big deal but if you have 10-20 strains it would help a lot.

The other thing you could do is google the genetic in question, look at pictures of it growing, not just in flower. And read peoples experience with the strain. Harelequin and jack the ripper info is def out in the world, take the parental info and use it to understand your cross more by doing more research. It will also help you understand which side of the cross it resembles more.

Some strains won't branch any if at all, some will branch like crazy. Some might be in the middle.

Then you have so many different ways to train, but each might be different in your environment. Pick one that you like/ that works for you.

so would it be safe to assume branchy strains and ones that have longer internode lengths would be great in a scrog where a strain that wants to grow up and not really send up branches when topped be better suited for SOG type of growing?

is this irrelevant because all plants will respond the same when topped and send up shoots no matter what due to growth hormones?

I just see comments like this periodically and no one ever elaborates on them so I was just curious.

 

[Corpsey]

You are correct.
Branchy / stretchy good for scrog.
Less/no bottom branching better for sog.

There are also lots of other growing methods that one might be suited better to.
The stretchy ones would be good for vert growing.

If you had a few different strains and topped them all at the same time they all wouldn't branch the same amount or even the same speed, hell even 10 seeds from the same strain is not guaranteed to branch out the same.

 

[Former Guest]

that helps me a lot when trying to plan this out. the pennywise from IME grew straight up and then in flower grew out with each branch being one single cola and not having any branching off. I know she was from seed and I didn't do anything to her at all so she is going to end up like a Christmas tree. I just thought that she would display a growing pattern like I described and that would be strain specific and not something that can be generalized with every strain or is it? just really something I know I'm going to have to play around with but was curious as to how the more experienced growers choose how to start their plants if they're unsure of how the plant grows or if there is a lack of available info.

while I don't think i'll ever just let em grow into a tree like that again, it was fun and wanted to see how one looked all natural because you just don't see that anymore. right now she filled out so much that I lassoed the top and she is staked down horizontal and all the branches shifted and started growing vertically within hours. it's super fun to watch and play around with. I've had a scrog going a time or two but this pennywise just doesn't seem like the candidate at least to me so I wanted to ask before I have a huge screen of problems.

 

[VerdantGreen]

plants from seed tend to be a bit harder to scrog and train than clones (the seed plants often dont branch so well and are more vigorous with stiffer stems and bigger leaves). if you have the height i think you can learn a lot by growing the seed plants sog or perhaps as bushes topped once - you will learn more about the natural growth habit this way. take cuttings and then if you decide you want to run them again you can scrog them or whatever.
also if you are selecting a keeper from a pack of seeds you may not want them to take up so much space as they might in a scrog.

fwiw you can scrog pretty much any plant from clone. ive scrogged everything from haze to Deep Chunk.

just some ideas

GL

VG

 

[Corpsey]

Yeah check out verdentgreens scrogs. Shit is serious, I remember thinking there was no way to scrog a deep chunk. Just goes to show you what is possible.

 

[tleaf jr.]

I believe to you should grow a plant many cycles aand try a variety of different training techs until you find what works best . Once you get your technique down youllbe able to make the plant grow however you want

 

[stihgnobevoli]

when it come to training, it's the one time where the plant will do whatever you want it to do. sativa, indica, hybrid. if you start early you can do whatever you like.

 

[VerdantGreen]

Yeah check out verdentgreens scrogs. Shit is serious, I remember thinking there was no way to scrog a deep chunk. Just goes to show you what is possible.

it was a DC clone i scrogged, i think most DC plants from seed would be nigh on impossible to scrog. even getting a sidebranch big enough to take as a clone is tough with some DC phenos.

VG

 

[Gry]

This seems like a neat idea for a thread

 

[Former Guest]

well I think scrog is a great way to train to get the even canopy that seems to be what you're shooting for and it is a good way to see how the hormones work to control how things grow. the best way to learn is to practice. definitely agree there because as time passed it was easier to read how the plant would react.

setting this up though and planning how things are going in and what I'm doing to them has presented some questions which I thank you for answering!! I'm hoping with time and learning different techniques, I will be able to look at a plant and see what would best suit her so she can really shine.