LST, Am I doing this right!? Good or bad idea..?

Just wanna get some opinions on if I should follow through on this. Just tied it down a few minutes ago, and I really dont know what i'm doing..

You did it right although I try to let the plant establish a little before I start training it. Watch the tension at the stem. When they are that young you can strangle them with too much tension.

Hey chief. I'm a new grower myself, so of course you should take anything I say with a grain of salt, but I read somewhere that it's best to start tying between the fourth and fifth nodes. That's how long I waited, and by that time my bigger ladies (hopefully) had nice thick, strong main stems. I would suggest a strategy that has been working beautifully for me, which is to do it a few inches per branch per day. For example, from straight-up I will tie my ribbon (cheap, soft, flat, excellent) around the stem with a little lasso knot (for easy removal if necessary) and pull gently to see how far I think I can tug it. I usually go just a tad less than that. So from 90 degrees in an evening I might pull it to 70 degrees, then the next day pull it down to 50 or so. I follow the same rules when dealing with branches which need to be tied to keep them from brushing against the lights (tight dresser grow). I also add new lines every two or three inches depending on how far the stem has stretched since the last tie. So for example, right now my biggest plant in veg (6" pot, one month old) is tied in three places: one around the middle of the stem, to get it down to the proper horizontal orientation; another two nodes up to keep things straight; a third to hold down a particularly pesky fan leaf which wants so badly to burn itself on a light. The plant is probably a quarter to a third of the way around the edge of the pot right now. If it makes the final cut (read: is female) I will put it in an 8" pot (don't think I have room for 10") and let it breathe a little before beginning the tying process again to accommodate the larger space.

Don't know if any of that helps you or not. I certainly hope this isn't the junior trying to lecture the senior and I wind up looking like a fool! Also I'm lit.

Thanks for a reply, I'm merely an amateur. Pretty cool, all the nodes have already changed directions and are heading up. Am I suppose to tie the lower part of the main stem? And so basically as the main top growth continues to grow up I just continue to bend it any direction I want and just be careful pretty much right.. Have I got the idea lol.?

haha good point Johan Liebert, I just tied down the the lower part of the main cola to set it more vertical. I lost the pencil and used a thumbtack and a paper clip, lol could only find one thumbtack.. She pulled more and seems to be liking it. Got this bitch sittin sideways haha

I usually put a bamboo stake next to the main stem and use a zip tie to anchor the main stem so it doesn't pull up and expose any roots. After a couple weeks you can lose the anchor so the stem doesn't get constricted.

I think little weights that hook on to the plant are more convenient than tie downs.

Only thing I would suggest is not using string. It's OK now, but after time will cut into your plant and cause problems. Go to Walmart in the crafts section and get a package of pipe cleaners. They work great and are very gentle so you won't cut the plants.

Good luck

potberto said:

Only thing I would suggest is not using string. It's OK now, but after time will cut into your plant and cause problems. Go to Walmart in the crafts section and get a package of pipe cleaners. They work great and are very gentle so you won't cut the plants.

Good luck

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Hah, funny you mention this because I noticed the string doing exactly that, cutting/pressure on the main stem so I cut her loose and in the process broke off the very top growth/stem (2 days ago). The growth at the very top that started to grow up is what broke off.. About 1/2" worth of stem almost. Although it didnt seem to hurt it much, Its already growing a new one in replace of it and after accidentally hurting the plant all the older growth just grew a lot. I dont know if the LST for a few days caused this but I have a lot of colas growing off the main cola..

bigDAWG said:

Its already growing a new one in replace of it and after accidentally hurting the plant all the older growth just grew a lot. I dont know if the LST for a few days caused this but I have a lot of colas growing off the main cola..

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Mission accomplished, side growth has picked up, you've now successfully LSTed.

I wouldn't worry about the accidental topping. I used to do LST exclusively, but I have the ability to veg my clones for a bit longer then I used to so now I use that extra time to do an Uncle Ben Topping for four main colas before getting into LST. Works out really well, much easier to organize the canopy. The topping slows down growth for a while, but once that's past there's no growth slow down during LST.

vh13 said:

Mission accomplished, side growth has picked up, you've now successfully LSTed.

I wouldn't worry about the accidental topping. I used to do LST exclusively, but I have the ability to veg my clones for a bit longer then I used to so now I use that extra time to do an Uncle Ben Topping for four main colas before getting into LST. Works out really well, much easier to organize the canopy. The topping slows down growth for a while, but once that's past there's no growth slow down during LST.

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thanks lol.. But I didnt mean to It was kinda like "oh let me try this" "wait ehh nevermind" ha, new colas are growing and the plant is sticking up growing normally again, kinda causing all the fan leaves to be in the way of all the new colas that are growing. My clone is growing extremely slow overall height wise but It's growing like crazy inbetween everything..

bigDAWG said:

thanks lol.. But I didnt mean to It was kinda like "oh let me try this" "wait ehh nevermind" ha, new colas are growing and the plant is sticking up growing normally again, kinda causing all the fan leaves to be in the way of all the new colas that are growing. My clone is growing extremely slow overall height wise but It's growing like crazy inbetween everything..

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Yep yep, you're girls are responding just fine. Pretty soon leaf and vertical growth will pick up again as each of those side shoots tries to dominate.

I like to tuck away larger fan leaves, pull them down below new growth. I find this kind of micro management greatly helps in balancing the canopy. But the girls do prefer I keep it to a minimum. They generally don't like to be touched so I keep it to once every few days or so, a neat little tuck away after more light stem training.

When do you recommend the earliest to start lst

kiddfarmer08 said:

When do you recommend the earliest to start lst

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as soon as you can bend the bitch over i would start, and before the stem hardens

sickstoner said:

as soon as you can bend the bitch over i would start, and before the stem hardens

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I agree. You can do it when the plant reaches 2-3 nodes, or once there's a strong enough root system to keep the stems turgid, or firm. I usually wait for about 5-6 nodes. The longer you wait, the woodier the stem will get and the less you'll be able to bend the stem at a time without snapping.

ok thanks is it difficult to do in a NFT system?