Prepping Mentally for 2nd Grow, which training method?

[sudodaemon]

I'm in the 4th week of flowering on my first ever plant. Switched from veg to flower when she was 16 inches tall, she is now 42 inches tall... Big, fat, bushy plant... Now, from doing this grow I'm wanting to do things different my second grow because I feel I could better utilize these CFL lights... I've been reading on LST, ScrOG, FIM, Topping, and after a while it all blurs together and I'm back to reading the same shit I was just reading...

My thought is, if I can train the plant so all the main buds are even in height and that way I can just position the CFL lights on the top, and not have this balancing act you see in my pic below... I have CFL lights hanging from anything that will support them and when this thing grows from 16 inches to 42 inches in the matter of 3.5 weeks, well, it' just a pain to constantly move those lights and try to find things to hook on to...

What would you guys suggest? Now that I feel confident in growing in general, I want to try different things to increase yield, and to better utilize CFL lights... I wanted to get a MH/HPS light combo but I don't have the money to shell out for them right now along with the money I would need to properly ventilate my small closet.

 

[The,,Roach,,ERA]

do it more money into a grow means more money out of it or bud and check out my journal to see what i have cost all together like 750 plus electricity bills

 

[montanachadly]

Yep the roach is right its kinda like the old saying it takes money to make money a hps for flowering is a must for big harvests. Your plant should be done stretching now and should start making some buds so wont keep getting taller except the buds that start to form on the end of the branch which will be slow unlike the stretch. If i was you and was going to use cfls i would go with a Scrog (screen of green) thats gonna make you get the best possible canopy held down by the screen i was thinking of doing a small one in a closet thats in a small space with my 150 hps just for shits and giggles right now im under 2200 watts of hps for flowering. I just wanna do it for fun to show people whats possible.

 

[sudodaemon]

I understand if I spend a lot of money I'll get a better yield... That is obvious. My question though was about a training method. Training methods don't cost anything really and can help me out.

 

[obijohn]

Just tie the branches down horizontally

 

[sudodaemon]

The plant is forming good buds now and has stopped vertical growth. So SCrOG... I'll look into that more. Anybody else?

 

[Corbat420]

I understand if I spend a lot of money I'll get a better yield..
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LOL? $1000 is NOT alot of $$ when it comes to the marijuana game son... i mean think about this for a minute, $200/OZ, 5x $200 = $1000... the average smoker on this forum smokes an OZ every 2 weeks-month, thats 2 month of smoking to pay off a room that will produce buds continually....

Training methods don't cost anything really and can help me out.

No actually they cant help you out when it comes to yeild. the ONLY things that will help when it comes to yeild are Light, Air, Nutrients and Care..... as Far as training goes, there are LOTS of strains that would prefer NOTHING being done to them. just let them grow.

All training does is allow you to fill out space, something you should be doing ANYWAYS....

 

[The,,Roach,,ERA]

yea you can FIM, TOP, LST those will all help and be patient that gets you the farthest, o and i think a happy farmer makes the best crop.

I understand if I spend a lot of money I'll get a better yield... That is obvious. My question though was about a training method. Training methods don't cost anything really and can help me out.

 

[Corbat420]

yea you can FIM, TOP, LST those will all help and be patient that gets you the farthest, o and i think a happy farmer makes the best crop.

Take 2 plants, same strain same everything...

Top or FIM one, LEAVE one, dont touch it... see how much faster the untouched one grows. after 3 weeks you wont thing topping is such a great idea anymore.....

Pinching and LST'ing are the ONLY known methods which dont slow growth, and can possibly increase yield (But not on their own...)

You want more bud? Buy better lights, and Veg the plant for longer. Simple.

 

[montanachadly]

Also if i was you i would try to put some cfls around the sides and bottoms of that plant if you do that it should increase your harvest using the cfls you want to have that thing covered in cfls to get the best buds possible sometimes the buds are fluffy with cfls but it also depends on the strain that plant looks like its got some sativa in it do you know what it is or is it a bagseed

 

[Corbat420]

Just for the record: i don't know of ANYONE who top their plants any more. no one wants to lose 2 weeks worth of growth for nothing....

Pinching doesn't shock the plant... and it does the exact same thing, other than the fact that you KEEP the greenery and dont fuck your plants up.....

 

[sudodaemon]

It's Big Bud...

I understand 1000 isn't a lot in the weed game. But if you figure how much I've spent on this grow, 1000 is a lot... It's all relative. Look, this is the thing. We can sit here and argue that I should be using hps, etc... That's all I ever read in here. I get that... I'm not going to switch to hps yet... My question was just about training methods and which would help me with light coverage using cfls... Can we ignore the hid conversation?

 

[sudodaemon]

I've got a grow journal on this plant if anybody cares to see. I believe it's all indica, what makes you think sativa? The height?

 

[Corbat420]

what makes you think sativa? The height?

it IS a sativa. the Leaves tell you that. i can see its Big ass sativa leaves from the pic.
Indica:
Sativa:

You:

My question was just about training methods and which would help me with light coverage using cfls... Can we ignore the hid conversation?

At this point NO we can not ignor the HPS Question. here are 3 reasons.

#1: HID Lighting is actualy efficent for gorwing... producing 100+ Lumens / Watt, compaired to the 60~ Lumens per watt from CFL's....

#2: The SIZE of that plant. that plant needs at LEAST 10,000 Lumens to flower properly. thats 175 Watts CFL, or 100 Watts HPS.... so unless your going to buy ALOT more CFL's the buds are going to be shitty, airy buds.

#3: The Dangers of CFL Lights. when you have THAT many CFL's in a small area it causes ALOT of problems. period. http://www.execulink.com/~impact/pur-lite_pro-9000X.htm

 

[sudodaemon]

Ok, well, this is the first anybody has said it's sativa... The seeds I bought were supposed to be indica, and I'm wondering if this plant is a mixture because there are both of those leaves you put up in your reply on this plant, I think at least, fuck if I know... some are fatter, and some are skinny and fingery... As for the lighting issue... I have 15 23 Watt CFL's surrounding the plant... So wouldn't that be 345 Watts total? Just trying to learn and understand based off your reply...

I've added more pics to this as well so you can see more.



I obviously didn't want a 4 foot tall plant, that's why I bought indica, but obviously I didn't get that... If I could afford an HPS light and the ventilation I would absolutely need because I'm in a closet, I would buy HPS... As for the dangers of CFL... Well, that's the risk I have to take... I just have to trust I know how to tie knots properly... I wanted to veg this plant with CFL and switch to HPS... but again, money is tight, and it's just not in the cards right now to do it. I think anybody that visits any marijuana forum knows that MH and HPS are the lights to have.

I'm not asking what to do with the plant I have now... I'm talking about my second grow... which, I will again buy indica, and lets just hope this time it is... When I get to that point... with my CFL lights, what would you guys recommend... SCrOG?

Some people don't have the money to just go out and buy MH/HPS light for their first grow... I'm one of those people that likes to learn by doing...I read forums for hours and try to figure things out on my own, but sometimes I have to ask a question... and when I do that I need to do it as cheap as possible... because for all I know, I can't grow shit, and then it would be wasted money on lighting and ventilation... Slow and patient is the way I take things...

 

[70sdiver]

You might think about t-5 ho's. Then run cool, and fairly inexpensive , and they do a good job budding.