I use the beaded strings for this purpose. I just love the way they glisten and throw the light in so many directions.
I made myself some of these. They're not as pretty as Sue's but they do the job and I had fun making them... and they work
and the final product! for 18" and 24". For those of you who spot the stoner mistake here... I've since rectified it!
And on to the plant. Ok so i did a bit of LST since last time and it's been a bit iffy. I've trained plants before but only photos and only outdoors.
here i was worried about light penetration so thought I could at least even the canopy a bit. I probably was too late (for an auto) and then tried to go too fast. Like I said above, I've posted over in the Auto thread and will get some good advice over there too I hope. Anyone here with insights I'm all ears. And hey - it's still kicking'! And still looks good. Sue, don't know if I'm letting it dry out completely enough. I'm really trying to, today I watered it because it looked a bit witty, and the bottom of the pot was full dry to touch - then it looked a bit waterlogged afterwards. Hopefully it's all good.
I'm pretty sure my last update here was day 25 so here's day 26 to today (day 32) and an LST attempt full of embarrassing newbie mistakes I'm sure! But mistakes are how we learn right, so if I don't share them, no-one can assist me.
A lot of this is copied straight from my own post at the Auto thread (also 420mag) - hope it's ok to do that!?
Day 26 - was dry, got a full soaking. Looked like the lower branch sites were in the shade quite a bit and I was getting concerned about trying to even out the canopy for better light penetration so I set up to gently pull her over a bit.
This went fine,
(Day 26)
but I think I then didn’t wait long enough before doing more. The next day, in the morning, I bent it a little further, and then tried to send the top around a bit and i think it was later on the very same day (or the next day - in any case I reckon it was too soon).
Noticed this day and the next there were pistils everywhere.
(Day 27)
Also on this day I lowered the light down to close to 18” and pretty quickly (within 12-24hours) the pistils became pre flowers and the top started looking like it was flowering.
(Day 28)
Trying to turn the top around was a bad idea! I blame this - which was also going on over these few days!
when it straitened up it was shading the lower branch site again so I let it loose from the attempted turn and just let it be laid down straight again.
(Day 29)
Then I vowed not to touch it for a bit.
And spend some more time reading the Auto thread. Looked at threads on 420 and elsewhere again about training autos and that’s when I realised i’d probably started LST too late. Or that this strain is not suited to it maybe.
It’s now Day 32 and the top was leaning out of the pot too much so today, a few hours after I watered, I’ve turned the top gently towards the other side (opposite to my first attempt a few days ago) so the new branch(?) is on top and those higher budsites/branch sites are open to the light. I can see that the lower branches have shot up under the light since the first training and the higher ones are starting to now as well.
(Day 32)
I'm also holding a leaf gently out of the light path of a lower bud/branch site.
This is the left lower branch - i think it has about quadrupled in length and developed 2 more bud/branch sites since pulling the plant over.
This is the main top - it looks to me to be fully into flowering mode.
These 2 little bud sites under the main top have really come along the last 2 days...
I'm concerned that the spot where these pistils are is on the underside now, away from the light...
To my eye it doesn’t seem to be getting any more nodes or branches. Although looking through the pics has been good - i’ve seen more change.
So my questions now are about structure, growth, timing and what I should be doing (or NOT doing!) going into the second half of the grow. I’m not sure if I should let the top come up again or keep it where I’ve got it now. Or undo all the LST and let her (maybe) bounce back. I was worried about light penetration but I’m not sure I haven’t stalled her by trying to address it (a bit clumsily - ‘L’ plates!)
I’d thought it was a 90 day strain but checking the Dinafem site it says 70 days so i'm definitely halfway through that. I know heaps of people say they always go longer than 'advertised' but basically there’s not much time left. If I let it stand back up I’ll have to raise the lights too far away from everything else. Will it veg more while it transitions into flower?
I think in those pics of today it looks overwatered droopy - it did get a soaking today so I hope that'll turn around as she drinks it all up. it was dry all over before that, and looked woolly this morning - plus it's been hot over the last week. I also added some Seasol to the mix today as I'm not certain her roots are going to access the higher concentrations of the Osmo+ which I distributed more towards the sides and bottom of the pot. Auto growers seem to often say, Ive recently discovered, that any bigger than 5gal is a waste for an auto, and my pot is 7gal.
Oh, and I’ve slid the whole pot arrangement over so the plant is centred under the light.
The breeder (Dinafem) states that it is an Indica dominant hybrid with Sativa appearing vegetation and Indica size and shape buds (“more compact and numerous” they say).
And - I don't mean to sound like oh it's all gone horribly wrong! I'm pretty happy to have a plant! And all its parts look healthy and happy, and it smells excellent
. SO i'm sure the bud sites that are there will flower up really well. I'm just needing some guidance going forward and wanting to understand maybe why it didn't fill out as much as it might so I can go better next time.
So that was a bit of an epic update! Thanks for hanging with me if you did.
