Grow Method In Tight Spaces

Hey all,

See the links in my Signature for more detail on anything I mention in this post.

I am getting ready to start vegging all future grows in a cabinet space with a two foot, four bulb T5 light. Two, 10 gallon Smart Pots (no-till) will be in the small cabinet, and then moved to my flower tent when the round ahead of it is done flowering.

My question is, with such a small space, what is the best way to grow a plant so it has enough time to veg appropriately, but doesn't get too big for the space?

I was initially thinking mainling, but it does too much damage I think. I have a ton of space in my flower tent, so I really don't need to keep them small after the veg. The cabinet is really the only space issue I have.

I also thought about just supercropping everything. Just have regular pinch sessions to stunt the growth, but ultimately will make it stronger after it heals.

The last method I was thinking was just pure LST. Just let it go and tie down anything that gets too close to the light.

Thoughts?

Tri_Cho_Me

All the methods your thinking about will achieve similar results in the end, is one necessarily better than the other, from personal experience i say no, but each one has its advantages and disadvantages.

With 10 gal pots they will take off in no time and be a handful to control either way, running in smaller pots initially then re-potting when transferring to flower will help thing keep under control a little easier, but that kinda goes against the whole No-Till side of things.

But ill give a run down on my take on things. Others should definitely contribute their opinions as well, as the following is just my opinion.


Mainlining takes more time due to the repeated topping and the plant having to recover, but you can create a very even and wide base canopy for the plant.

Standard LST'ing will give you multiple heads, it also wont slow down the plant, but at the same time the canopy can become somewhat uneven if your not watching it or training it accordingly because the plant will still try and fight to have a dominate shoot, and you will probably have to train it back on itself in order to fully fill the canopy, as certain gaps may form.

Supercropping, has pretty much the same effect as Standard LST'ing, as you just pinch and flop it over in the direction you want it to go, but it creates a bit more stress which the plants recover rather quickly from, disadvantages is the plants can become rather gangley with shoots fighting for the same space, and the canopy wont exactly be even unless your on top of it.

Topping or Fim'ing will give the same effect as mainlining but if your not tying things down with some LST'ing the height of your space can be eaten up rather quick.

And not mentioned but you can also just Scrog it by throwing a net over it and training it so one top come out each hole of the netting, doesn't slow down the plant, and you can get a very even canopy, but the downsides are you have a net to deal with and you will have to clean out the undergrowth "lollipoping" when the time comes as there can be a lot of wasted fluff below the main canopy.

My prediction is you will probably need to incorporate a few different techniques and its what i do in order to keep things under control, i mainly use topping FIM'ing, supercropping, and the occasional LST which is more HST as i literally make Z's with the stems to keep the plants short, but i'm dealing with multiple plant in really small pots 0.4 Liter pots right now for example not 10 Gal like yourself.

So saying which one is best for you and your genetics, that i cant say, but i say just jump in and try something your favoring at the moment and experiment with things and you will find out which ones you like or dislike, or combinations of it.

As micro growers we tend to have to use everything we can at our disposal to get the plants to be under control in such small spaces.

So that's not really an answer but hope it helps a bit.

lst, dont randomly tie up some branches, become a bondage queen, no branches left behind, the soilline is your limit

top to bottom is bout 5cm

beautiful man way to watch gras grow

HuffnPufferfish said:

lst, dont randomly tie up some branches, become a bondage queen, no branches left behind, the soilline is your limit

top to bottom is bout 5cm
View Image

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What can I use to LST? I am thinking landscaping staples. Thoughts?

Tri_Cho_Me

round plastified wire 1$
cut a piece and give it a fishhook shape on one side, hook a branch and slightly pull down the branch or shoot while pushing it down with your finger so you can feel how much pressure it can take, i dont use any knots so the plant can 'grow out of it' if needed, better than a snapped stem the next day
once youre starting training a shoot further up that same branch, it might be better to secure the first one a bit more so it wont pull loose and mess up the even canopy
when i tried those staples they never held down, but they would be perfect if you figure that part out

That's what I use! Also make my own with a longer leg like a candy cane. If you are using fabric pots they make a Velcro that's green and about half inch wide that works well. Cut some holes in top of fabric lasso that bitch and pull her down till she gets saucy do it again. Can't remember who or where I saw this grower but he had this shit down to a science grew out not up with perfect canopy. I remember he sold his dead plants as cadle holders works of art they were! Good luck

Amazon here I come!

Tri_Cho_Me

HuffnPufferfish, that grow is amazing. I'm going to try that one day.

PrivateCultivat said:

HuffnPufferfish, that grow is amazing. I'm going to try that one day.

Click to expand...

No kidding, and it might be just the trick i need to succeed in my cabinet!

Tri_Cho_Me

I guess it depends on what you are trying to achieve. To me it sounds like you want to run a no-till garden. I dig it, and am thinking about doing that myself. But, everything I've seen on no-till (admittedly not a lot) they either transplant a few plants and veg them up, or they transplant a lot of plants and flower immediately. Either way, the beds are never moved.

Here is what I would do with your space. I would go with a 2x4 no-till bed in your tent. I would keep four mom's in the cabinet and eight clones in party cups. Veg in the party cups for a week, then transplant to the no-till bed (one per square foot).



I don't think you will be able to veg just a couple plants big enough in that space. I also think the no-till 10 gallon is going to be difficult to move. Maybe that's me being old and lazy.


I've tried mainline, it was so slow and I always ended up breaking a branch or something. I've tried LST, but it took a lot of time and wire. I love ScrOG, but that requires veg and flower in the same area. For micro grows, I've found the best way, for me, to keep plants small is small pots and lots of clones. So experiment and see what works for you.

Change of plans. Cabinet just isn't going to work. Have a 4x2x4 veg tent on the way.

Still probably going to have to LST quite a bit probably, buy not nearly as tight quarters as in the cab.

Tri_Cho_Me