Can you Top and LST a plant?

wowshiv

wowshiv

Member
The plant that my friend is growing must be no taller then 18-20"(In a LST stage). He has:
DNA-Rocklock (autoflower)
Dinafem-Roadrunner (autoflower)
Both plants are generally pretty short, but how would you LST a topped plant.

Also I heard it is possible to top a plant twice, can you still perform LSt if topped twice?
:neutral:Any help is appreciated:neutral:
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mcpurple

mcpurple

Well-Known Member
yes you can lst and top and you can top as much as you want. ive lsted a plant that was topped 10 times or more. checkout my lst thread if your interested in lst. in the link below
 
SmeLLyTreeZ

SmeLLyTreeZ

Well-Known Member
Like said above yes you can, however doing it with autoflowers is not very smart considering the have a set lifespan. I would only lst a true autoflower..

However a regular photoperiod plant I would top and lst.
 
wowshiv

wowshiv

Member
haha i just checked out that thread about 10 minutes before I posted this one :). Is it safe to do with a autoflower? Also how exactly should I do it? Should I top it, wait for something to grow back then LST it?
 
HomeGrown&Smoked

HomeGrown&Smoked

Active Member
LST the hell out of them, but you won't want to top an autoflower. Like Smelly said, their short lifespan means the plant won't have time to fill out from the topping. But start LSTing the plant early and you will get much thicker buds.
 
MasterHemp

MasterHemp

Well-Known Member
you shouldn't top an autoflower you will hurt your yield because the time it takes to repair the damage you would have already lost valuable vegging time and as you know already autos dont really get much vegging time to begin with, so in the small amount of time it does veg you want to get the most out of it
 
blacklableboy44

blacklableboy44

Member
yo i don mean to be shootin questions in somebody elses thread, but it seemed like a good time to do it, im pretty new at all this, so what exactly is lst ing , cause from the sounds of it, its a good practice, nd my autowhite russian might like it
 
HomeGrown&Smoked

HomeGrown&Smoked

Active Member
It shouldn't get much higher than that anyway, if it does you could tie the branches down. I would wait to LST until you saw at least the second set of leaves, waiting until the third set will insure the plant is strong enough to recover. After you bend it, let the plant recover on its own, and once it has straightened up, bend it again.
 
HomeGrown&Smoked

HomeGrown&Smoked

Active Member
blacklableboy44 said:
yo i don mean to be shootin questions in somebody elses thread, but it seemed like a good time to do it, im pretty new at all this, so what exactly is lst ing , cause from the sounds of it, its a good practice, nd my autowhite russian might like it
Click to expand...
LST- Low Stress Training. Applying small amount of stress to strengthen a plant. By bending the stalk, the plant goes into repair mode and the "veins" in the plant get bigger to allow more nutes to be set to the point of stress. Once it has healed, those "veins" don't get any smaller, and continue to push more nutes through them. You would be very surprised to see how a plant (even one that is budding already) respond to this. The only side-effect is the stem will swell up where the bend takes place . . . well that, and bigger buds too ;)
 
L

leftreartire

Active Member
you can start lsting your plant at anytime you feel like it. i have seen guys start as soon as the plant could be bent over and held down. seen some that were so small that just the weight of the tie alone was holding it down. i personally like to wait untill my plant is a good 8-10 inches high. this allows you some leway in how much bending you can do. i also like to cut off any shoots on the bottom side of my bend for clones when i first bend them. since it takes a while for them to turn up and grow to match the others i find them perfect for clones.
 
wowshiv

wowshiv

Member
Also by LST'ing the hell out of it. Does this means, once it starts to face in the direction of the light, start to LST it again?
 
L

leftreartire

Active Member
blacklableboy44 said:
yo i don mean to be shootin questions in somebody elses thread, but it seemed like a good time to do it, im pretty new at all this, so what exactly is lst ing , cause from the sounds of it, its a good practice, nd my autowhite russian might like it
Click to expand...
when lst-ing i am not sure you damage any of the plant like the one gy said. i fnd that it allows the bottom shoots to get more light and grow bigger than they would it the plant grew straight up. you can get crazy when tying your plant down. you could put every branch a different direction and allow light to reach every part of the plant. if you spread the branches out you would almost think there was more than one plant growing in you system. i have some where i had what seemed to be 5 or 6 main colas when we know there is only one. you yeild i feel is 3-4x's more whe you lst
 
blacklableboy44

blacklableboy44

Member
oh, i c, well thats pretty sweet, seein how i bendin my stem round a lil bit tryin to get a better look at the plant, nd then got freaked out thinken i hurt it........nice
 
mcpurple

mcpurple

Well-Known Member
lst is the shit you can start any time in veg and some in early flower. if any one needs info or ideas on how to lst check out my thread in the link below its all about lst and if the info you need is not found in theri then feel free to ask.
 
HomeGrown&Smoked

HomeGrown&Smoked

Active Member
wowshiv said:
Also by LST'ing the hell out of it. Does this means, once it starts to face in the direction of the light, start to LST it again?
Click to expand...
Not exactly, but you have the right idea- when you bend it you want to allow for max light exposure, but when I said to lst the hell out of it I meant to do as much of it that the plant allows. I'll put it like this- if you are going to run a marathon, you have to train. You will start out slow at first, making sure not to hurt yourself. As you train further, you push yourself more than you did the last time, and with more frequency. It is a poor example, but these plants respond similarly to lsting. Go easy at first, and once the plant has recovered, give them some more.

I do need to correct what I said earlier- LSTing won't cause true tissue damage to the plant, so there shouldn't be too many bulges as I mentioned earlier. What I was thinking of was "supercropping"- or bending the stalk of the plant at a 90 degree angle, causing the stalk to pinch (think of bending a drinking straw). I had always mentally lumped these two together, and I am sorry for my confusion. Supercropping does cause some tissue damage, which will cause the stalk to bulge at the pinch, but the upside is the plant gets healthier and that translated to bigger buds.

Here is a pic I found of the bulge:
 
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