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Understanding the Art of LST - Before You Look at Any Pics, Read This First

C

Cozy Amnesia

fvk, thats something I need to figure out too before I start flowering, but I think you'd be safe either way, whether you left them tied up for the whole flowering or if you untied them. I think that if you untied them too soon the branches would "untrain" and bend back upwords. But like I said, I don't know for sure so do some research first.

I know you've seen the picture quazi, but I'd like to think it's a great example:



Can you tell which are the colas (there are two plants, other than the seedlings)? I can't. Thats because all shoot apical meristems (side branches) are just as big as the dominant apical meristem by continually training (like quazi pointed out, you gotta keep on training to get it that bushy). Let's see what I can remember from botany class...

Apical dominance is just as it sounds: one apical meristem towers above the rest and prevents/inhibits the growth of other branches. In most all plants the tip of the main trunk bears dominance over the whole plant and same is the case with cannabis.

If the dominant meristem is cut off, one or more branch tips will assume dominance. If, instead of removing the dominant meristem, we simply pull it down so that the top cola is no longer dominating over the rest, then several side branches will move in to take it's place. Why? Auxins.

It's a fairly simple concept, but a better understanding of LST than "the plant thinks it's injured," and another way to look at how LST works. Both auxins and apical dominance are the reasons why LST does what it does.
 
I

ihave2kittens

good shit that bought my understanding of lst/topping a little better, nice keep it up :p
 
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~fvk~

the Lion is going Guerrilla...
Looks like I got some work on my hands... Just when you think it's over with it's only just begun... 4 of my plants are about the same height but I have to bring down the upper growth just about everyday to keep things even within the plant itself. I think I'll keep them tied down until the stretch starts to recede. Anyways, thanks guys.
 
I

ihave2kittens

i guess i already am mini lsting a small small plant. looks totally rad. lol
 
J

Joe Budden

Brilliant info man, I vote for this thread to be a sticky 4 sure!!!
 

Quazi

Member
Joe Budden: Thanks for stopping by! Glad you enjoyed it.

BigBlack81 said:
Can you LST on mini-SOG style grows? And if so, how would you suggest to go about it as a general idea in which to go?
It depends on how "mini" you are talking about.

If you are in a smaller SOG, then LST might not be for you. I would check out Dr.BudGreengenes or blackfoot for the smaller ones.

If you're a bit above that size, then I would say that LST would be possible for sure. I would suggest attaching the tip to the plant to bend it down instead of using the pot as things could get messy that way.

Here's an example of some early LST that I've done on my own plants. I prefer using shielded copper wiring instead of string so there are no knots to tie or anything making it very easy to use and reusable:




By simply attaching the plant to itself instead of the container, you can promote the growth to lower bud sites while not having to sacrifice space in your SOG.

-Q :rasta:
 
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Knives

Member
Quazi, you made LST easy for me to understand.
First grow, and this is what ive achieved so far.





LST is an art within an art if you ask me.
So many ways you can bend and twist them..
Real easy to manage your plants in a small space. :joint:
 
M

moses224

I have been looking and looking for a method I saw alot of pics but your explanation nailed it. Thank you
 

Quazi

Member
Knives: glad I could be of help to you man! Can't wait until you get a decent camera to take pics with :wink:

en-lighten-ment, WhateverComes, mrcheezy503: thanks for stopping by! Glad you enjoyed the information!

moses224: glad I could be the one to nail it for ya'.

LST rules!

-Q :rasta:
 
M

moses224

You have me so stoked. My plants clones cant root quick enough so I can start the lst for my next flower!
 
L

Leonidas

I remember when I started LSTing a few years ago because I hated topping my plants and man I've never looked back . This in my eyes is the best way to pull the most yield out of a plant . Zoolander
 

bbing

Active member
Your right about auxens. Excessive levels of auxens form naturally in a plant from photo response or physical stress. Its what drives the direction of growth. I have experimented with gibrillic acid which artificially stimultes an auxen response (some were trying to induce sex with it and some even thought it would work like like colchicine to produce polyploidism. I once made a male "s" turn for 18" LOL ridiculous). These elongate cells cluster at the source and bend the area to the opposite side (the side w/o additional cell growth). This helps drive floral spikes toward light and away from shade.

I have had fun shaping plants to all sorts of forms using LST. My favorite was to train to the edge of a wine barrel half then use weights of increasing size to exert just enough pressure down. When they reached the bottom i let em turn back up to flower (leashes off). I loved it when friends were over standing right next to my "peppers barrel" none the wiser. You would be amazed at how strong you can make branches. At the end of stretch each branch could support a free-hanging brick w/o moving lol.

Scrog is a form of LST as well and works perhaps the best at establishing uniformly even surface area. I have found with some strains like agent orange need no suggestion at all and will naturally lean over during rippining exposing lower brachts to higher light.

FIM or suppercropping is "medium resistance training"? lol. Stunting the primary cola alows others to "catch-up" creating a more even canopy.

I guess topping would be extreme resistance training lol.

Cool thing about LST is you always have ability to "make strong suggestions" about growth in early and middle stages of development.
FIM'd mostly sativa



 
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bbing

Active member
1) LST can be done for all strains of marijuana"

not effectively, particularly some stretchy sativas.

Scrog is basically a LST w/ a framework
FIM allows you to achieve the effect of scrog w/o the hassle of screens.
some strains react negatively; some positively.
 
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Quazi

Member
Effectiveness aside though: the statement is still true. I only put it in there because I had read some people claiming that some strains could not be LST'd which just isn't true.

-Q :rasta:
 
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