HookdOnChronics,
I'm glad to see you stopped by. Your LST work has inspired me to try it out on my girls. I can start the LST already? Could you give me some pointers on where to start?
Well when you start is dependant on when your going to trigger flower. I would suggest tieing down at least 1 week before making the flop. BUT I have tied down during flower, and it's not a HUGE issue. Just better not to. Here's a tutorial on how I started LST on my pineapple express. You can really strart at any age. I just was lazy and started on this slightly later that's all....
Alright..... so here's the how-to on starting your LST. Or should I say, here's how I go about doing it. I'm not going to go way in depth with this, because it really is very simple, but this should definitely explain how to get it started. (Click on the links to see the pix)
1. So first off grab yout pot, square, round, whatever your using doesn't matter. But you want it to be the final pot that the plant will be in preferably.
So get the pot/contain, 8 screws, and a screwdriver.
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2. Your going to screw the 8 screws into the top of the container evenly spaced apart. (I just eyeball it, no biggie, doesn't needta be perfect)
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3. Next put your plant in the pot.
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4. Now what your going to do is put a counter-tie on the base of the plant. This just ensures that you don't accidentally uproot the plant at anypoint while bending it. (The bright orange 'pipe-cleaner' is the counter-tie. You can use string, wire, anything really, as long as you don't tie it 'tight' around the stem, and it won't break the flesh of the plant) Make the counter tie but don't 'pull' on the plant when doing so.
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5. Now's the scary part for most people. lol. What I do, is where I want the plant to be bending, I very very gently and slowly squeese the stem between my fingertips, NOT breaking anything, but slightly softening the inner flesh of the plant. Making sure you don't accidentally break anything. Then make your bend SLOWLY and anchor whatever your using (pipe-cleaner for me) to one of the screws.
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And there you have it. Now just let the plant heal for a few days. It'll be growing back towards the light in a matter of hours. What your doing is making the MAIN growing tip lower than the rest of the growing nodes. This kinda 'tricks' the plant into thinking it has multiple tops and starts to grow all of it's side branches towards the light, making for an even canopy/even light distribution among the buds/more large buds/less pop-corn nugs/easier trimming/shal I keep going? lol
Hope this explained everything enough. If you have any questions go ahead and ask.
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And here's that same girl after getting a night to recover. Happens quick man! She's a little wilty, but I roughened up her rootball quite a bit during transplant (on purpose) so that is why.
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