cjmade
Active Member
Hey, I'm growing an autoflower for the second time and as the space available to me is very limited, I looked around a bit for the ways to keep my plant "small".
So here are some of my (not surprising) findings:
1) smaller pot
2) lst/scrog
3) choosing the right strain
If we were talking about 12\12 strains - i hear about a couple more ways(like shortening light hours, topping, supercropping etc.) for the height control, but since I personally don't yet have any expirience with those - I won't talk abot those.
And now to expand a bit:
Smaller pot - will cause your plant to become rootbound! In my previous grow I used 1 liter = 1/4 gallon pot. The plant grew to only about 40cm = 15' which was great! But still a bit too high(there's no such thing!) and was fast aproaching the light fixture, so I resorted to lst
*a bit of a disclaimer here - in the third week the plant nearely stopped growing - clearely stunned by the rootbound. It got over the stress in about a week or so, but still grew very slow. Remember - rootbound will stress your plant very much! Don't panic, go easy on the nutes, let it breath - it'll be cool
LST - is a low stress traing, basically just bending the main stem to the side. It is usually done in attemt to increase the yields by allowing more light to the lower branches, which would usually only get indirect light(reflected or shadowed). It is best done in vegetative stage, but I did it rather late, while my plant was already begining to flower. It didn't seem to stress it, at least compared to the rootbound.
ScrOG - reads as screen of green, refering to the way it is done - by putting a screen(like a chickenwire) between the plant and the lights. It works pretty much just like lst - every time plant gets above the screen you bend it and stick back below.
And now is the time to speak about genetics. The seedbank I purchase from has an option to sort available seeds by their aproximate height, so go for a strain which would fill your growspace all the way and maybe just a little extra. Bigger plants tend to yield more, but it is NOT a rule. Generally it is best to read about any particular strain in advance to know exactly what are you working with.
Also! Most seed companies have the same strain names(like northern lights) which can be very different or just flat out not the same strain at all.
Hope it helps to enyone who is interested. Bear in mind, it is just my mind and my expirience. Would be happy to hear if there are any other options!
So here are some of my (not surprising) findings:
1) smaller pot
2) lst/scrog
3) choosing the right strain
If we were talking about 12\12 strains - i hear about a couple more ways(like shortening light hours, topping, supercropping etc.) for the height control, but since I personally don't yet have any expirience with those - I won't talk abot those.
And now to expand a bit:
Smaller pot - will cause your plant to become rootbound! In my previous grow I used 1 liter = 1/4 gallon pot. The plant grew to only about 40cm = 15' which was great! But still a bit too high(there's no such thing!) and was fast aproaching the light fixture, so I resorted to lst
*a bit of a disclaimer here - in the third week the plant nearely stopped growing - clearely stunned by the rootbound. It got over the stress in about a week or so, but still grew very slow. Remember - rootbound will stress your plant very much! Don't panic, go easy on the nutes, let it breath - it'll be cool
LST - is a low stress traing, basically just bending the main stem to the side. It is usually done in attemt to increase the yields by allowing more light to the lower branches, which would usually only get indirect light(reflected or shadowed). It is best done in vegetative stage, but I did it rather late, while my plant was already begining to flower. It didn't seem to stress it, at least compared to the rootbound.
ScrOG - reads as screen of green, refering to the way it is done - by putting a screen(like a chickenwire) between the plant and the lights. It works pretty much just like lst - every time plant gets above the screen you bend it and stick back below.
And now is the time to speak about genetics. The seedbank I purchase from has an option to sort available seeds by their aproximate height, so go for a strain which would fill your growspace all the way and maybe just a little extra. Bigger plants tend to yield more, but it is NOT a rule. Generally it is best to read about any particular strain in advance to know exactly what are you working with.
Also! Most seed companies have the same strain names(like northern lights) which can be very different or just flat out not the same strain at all.
Hope it helps to enyone who is interested. Bear in mind, it is just my mind and my expirience. Would be happy to hear if there are any other options!
