LST pre-flower stretch + general advice (First grow!)

Hello all,

New here, doing my first outdoor grow for a long time, and looking for some advice as my plants are entering the flowering stage!

Some details:

Outdoor grow
European climate (NL) - legal
germinated on 25th May so into our 13th week now
Plagron Terra Grow (and now Bloom) nutrients
Topped + LST

Some background:

I LST'ed my plants fairly early into the grow and managed to guide them about halfway around the pot. Used garden cord to tie down the plants to the sides of the pot. Now have quite a nice canopy going. I have repotted them three times now, once after germinating, again halfway through veg and just last week (as they were stretching).

So - I didn't quite realise my plants were stretching and thought they were just killing it, so I LST'd them last week. A day before this I also repotted them (I am slightly worried I might have over-stressed them, however, seem to be doing quite well.)

However a day or so ago they started entering early-stage flower (can just make out pistils).

My question is - did LST'ing the plant as it was finishing stretching reduce my yield? Should I just have left them stretched out and let them enter flower? Or better yet, LSTed early into stretch, not at the end. They are currently tied down to the side of the pot, but should I maybe let them off the LST? My concern is that LST wont do any good as they wont grow horizontally any more and need to be directing energy to buds, and by LSTing so late ive reduced amount of bud sites (or am I completely wrong?)

As a side note, think I have some nutrient deficiency (see pictures) as the lower fan leaves are yellowing and some are dropping off by themselves.

Another question - they white spots on the leaves, what do they indicate?

Any comments/feedback much appreciated. I have approached this whole grow fairly casually but tried to keep a close eye on them and take good care! Not too concerned about yields just want them to stay healthy. They are also not getting too much sun due to the weather here but also my balcony only getting a few hours a day.

Thanks

Wilbertkaade said:

Another question - they white spots on the leaves, what do they indicate?

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Check under your leaves, could be the beginnings of mites.

Renfro said:

Check under your leaves, could be the beginnings of mites.

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Checked, a few did have some, ive sprayed them down now.

Whats the rule of thumb about pesticides during flowering anyways?

Wilbertkaade said:

Checked, a few did have some, ive sprayed them down now.

Whats the rule of thumb about pesticides during flowering anyways?

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Depends on the product used but generally you are pretty limited. If the plants had been treated with Forbid 4F prior to entering flower then it would be safe to use. Once you start flowering then you should avoid it IMO. I never have mite problems because I use the Forbid in veg.

Your plant doesn't seem to be too far along to use Forbid but you need to do it very soon. 1mL per gallon. Make sure the solution has a slightly alkaline pH of 7.5 - 8.0 so you don't create the perfect environment for powdery mildew.

You can sometimes find sellers that will sell just a few mL of the Forbid since it's pricey by the bottle. In colorado we have some grow stores that do that.

If you had a more advanced infestation with lots of eggs I would suggest adding some TertaSan 5 ovicide to stop the eggs.

You can use neem oil or azamax up to 3 weeks before harvest.

Lacewings can easily eradicate a small spider mite infestation.

Since your plants are portable ... as part of a routine you can begin with simple debugging methods such as mixing a simple dish soap / water mix in spray bottle ( insecticidal soap ) and spraying entire plant down ... then rising with a good water hose misting to knock off bugs.

Then when leaves dry out hit with neem or other said products. This way you are regularly disrupting the bugs life cycle until you get good control.

Repeat as necessary.

Renfro said:

Depends on the product used but generally you are pretty limited. If the plants had been treated with Forbid 4F prior to entering flower then it would be safe to use. Once you start flowering then you should avoid it IMO. I never have mite problems because I use the Forbid in veg.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice, going to make getting rid of the mites my no.1 priority now

Budzbuddha said:

Since your plants are portable ... as part of a routine you can begin with simple debugging methods such as mixing a simple dish soap / water mix in spray bottle ( insecticidal soap ) and spraying entire plant down ... then rising with a good water hose misting to knock off bugs.

Then when leaves dry out hit with neem or other said products. This way you are regularly disrupting the bugs life cycle until you get good control.

Repeat as necessary.

Click to expand...

I'll look into it but sadly no water hose or water tap in my backyard so not sure how doable :/

Any advice on the timing of the LST? Should i keep them like this into flower or let them go a bit more vertical?

Renfro said:

You can sometimes find sellers that will sell just a few mL of the Forbid since it's pricey by the bottle. In colorado we have some grow stores that do that.

Click to expand...

I'll have a look online, Im in the Netherlands so not sure if we have the same access to these products here.

Do you have any advice on the LST i did, timing-wise? Should I have LST'd the stretching plants?