How do I Low Stress Train my plants?

[TimmyHaHa]

Hi Snid! I've been following your journal since I started my first grow and I decided to give some light lst a go. I wasn't going to do it, as I wanted to keep things as simple as possible for my first grow, but after reading this thread (great job, btw!), and getting some encouragement from others on my grow journal, I thought "what the hell?"

Would you mind letting me know your feedback on what I just did? It's a C4 Auto strain, which is mainly a sativa and it's currently Day 19 in veg. I'm using hydroponics and the PPM is 339. At first I was concerned about the weird bend in the main stem, but then I thought it looked like it was almost asking to be bent at that spot.

Thanks much for your feedback (and anyone else's!) and thanks for running such an awesome and informative journal!!

 

[Stinky Snid]

Hi Snid! I've been following your journal since I started my first grow and I decided to give some light lst a go. I wasn't going to do it, as I wanted to keep things as simple as possible for my first grow, but after reading this thread (great job, btw!), and getting some encouragement from others on my grow journal, I thought "what the hell?"

Would you mind letting me know your feedback on what I just did? It's a C4 Auto strain, which is mainly a sativa and it's currently Day 19 in veg. I'm using hydroponics and the PPM is 339. At first I was concerned about the weird bend in the main stem, but then I thought it looked like it was almost asking to be bent at that spot.

Thanks much for your feedback (and anyone else's!) and thanks for running such an awesome and informative journal!!

First off, I love the user name... And thanks for the kind words, I'm glad my journals are helping others find their way in cannabis cultivation.
Your little plant is looking great, sometimes there's a natural bend in the stem as it's trying to point itself toward the light (atropism) much like trees do in the wild. It's good to use that natural bend to your advantage. The only thing I would suggest is having a counter acting tie to keep the base of the stem vertical. Other than that... Bang up job Timmy haha... Lol if you need anymore clarification I'll do my best to answer your queries. By the way, good on you for trying something new.

KiG cheers

 

[JM26]

Subbing up


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[TimmyHaHa]

Thanks for the feedback, Snid!

Here's the anchor I attached:

It looks so big in the picture but in reality the plant is still so small. Haha.

 

[Stinky Snid]

Thanks for the feedback, Snid!

Here's the anchor I attached:

It looks so big in the picture but in reality the plant is still so small. Haha.

Perfect

 

[PacificPeach]

As the limbs extend outward. Your stakes will create a bend/bulge upward at the first node. The secondary growth tips emitting from there will be at the pinnacle of the plant. Your stakes will be holding down the og end tips.

Check my how do I Top my plants... You can see a pic. There...but here's what I mean. See the stakes are beyond the node where my new shoots will start. Keeping the ends down will promote the new tips to grow.

Hope that helps...

KiG cheers

Hey Snid,

I have been going through this journal and I just realized that I might have made a big mistake today. I topped 2 plants and then started the LST on them, but I didn't spread the new nodes apart like you show here. I kind of started to do the spiral formation. Did I mess up? Here's a pic:

Thanks,

Peaches

 

[StoneOtter]

Wo Hoo Snid Sir! I'm coming up on lsting in the next few days. Your (How do I Low Stress Train my plants?) is just perfect. The best you are!

 

[gonemad]

Looking forward to seeing more on this! Nice tutorial.


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[Stinky Snid]

Hey Snid,

I have been going through this journal and I just realized that I might have made a big mistake today. I topped 2 plants and then started the LST on them, but I didn't spread the new nodes apart like you show here. I kind of started to do the spiral formation. Did I mess up? Here's a pic:

Thanks,

Peaches

Yes and no Peaches. You didn't ruin the opportunity for more Colas at all. Is it too late to stand her back up? If it is, then just keep spreading the growths shoots to create an even canopy. But this strategy needs more attention and adjustments. If it is still possible to re-erect the stem then maybe you can still do a star shape. Brace the stem up with a stake she should still be malleable. But again, take my atomic bomb for example. She's wasn't even topped and is a giant beast of a bush. If you can maintain an even canopy then you'll have good success

Wo Hoo Snid Sir! I'm coming up on lsting in the next few days. Your (How do I Low Stress Train my plants?) is just perfect. The best you are!

Thank you Stoneotter

Looking forward to seeing more on this! Nice tutorial.

I've always hoped to add to this, but time and effort are a rare commodity these days. If you like the training here check out my journal to see it in practice. Thanks gonemad

KiG cheers

 

[PacificPeach]

Yes and no Peaches. You didn't ruin the opportunity for more Colas at all. Is it too late to stand her back up? If it is, then just keep spreading the growths shoots to create an even canopy. But this strategy needs more attention and adjustments. If it is still possible to re-erect the stem then maybe you can still do a star shape. Brace the stem up with a stake she should still be malleable. But again, take my atomic bomb for example. She's wasn't even topped and is a giant beast of a bush. If you can maintain an even canopy then you'll have good success


Thank you Stoneotter


I've always hoped to add to this, but time and effort are a rare commodity these days. If you like the training here check out my journal to see it in practice. Thanks gonemad

KiG cheers

Thanks I am going to try to straighten it out

 

[PacificPeach]

Ok so here are my changes - I tried to undo the spiral and make it more like a star. Everytime I do this I get a little scared:

Narcotic Kush

White Widow

Afghan Kush 1

Afghan Kush 2

 

[Stinky Snid]

Ok so here are my changes - I tried to undo the spiral and make it more like a star. Everytime I do this I get a little scared:

Narcotic Kush

White Widow

Afghan Kush 1

Afghan Kush 2

Looking much better, you don't need to hold the leaves down with stakes. Let them rise up and soak up the light. Just train the little new growth tips in a couple days, they'll be lovely for sure

KiG cheers

Ps. As long as you're able to keep things spreading out and level you'll have great success with whatever form of training you use.

 

[PacificPeach]

Ok thank you so much for the tips - I would never have tried all this without all the help from everyone here)

 

[Kevinhayes]

It's now time to make the left turn. It's getting a little busy in there with all the stakes. But this is what a call Shepparding my plant. I'll figuratively hold its hand and guide it around to where I want it to go.

Not too complicated here, just adding one more stake.

I place it slightly off center in the direction I want to make the turn. Only a few millimetres at a time, I'll adjust it a couple times a day making ever so little adjustments. This is the first one I did.

The secondary nodes have not really started up yet, so I'll focus on the left turn only for now.

This an autoflower plant I'm growing, you can see that secondary growth is much faster then the specimen above. You can train these new branches too.

Feel free to leave a comment or ideas for how to improve my strategy. Thanks for reading

Keep Training, Keep Learning, Keep Sharing
​

KiG Everyone cheers

Loving this so far. So help.

What are the stakes for on all the new growth.

 

[Hdinkleman]

Truth is that I didn't plan on doing these tutorials. These plants are less than free for me since I've got hundreds of seeds that are s1 og Kush (self pollination) so I didn't care if I lost them.

I would ideally sprout the seeds closer to one side which will give you room to make the turn. Although most of the time you are training limbs above the pots rim, unless they're small like this one.

Short answer is yes! Starting closer to one edge of the pot than the other is beneficial.

KiG cheers

this is great, im going to follow this spiral type of lst from now on. its a lot better and less stresful on the plant . and exaclty like your saying you will end up with just as many tops.

 

[Nickystickybuds]

OK then, many of you asked for it and here it is. I had to grow a practice plant just for this Low Stress Training tutorial. just kidding, but here's a little one I'm going to be putting outdoors soon. It's an og Kush S1 offspring, of my first ever grow. It's being grown out to determine its likelihood of herminess©. I've got three of them and I'll do different grow strategies for each of them. Others will follow soon. But for now here is the beginning of a properly low stress trained ONLY plant. This plant's training was started after the third node cleared.

Step #1 Fasten a counter acting yarn, string, etc... to the base of the stem. I like to put it just below the first set of true leaf stems.

You can see I've use a stake and a pipe cleaner to secure the stem in a vertical position. I'm not bending anything yet, just creating a counter force to balance it out when you pull it the other way. This also hold the plant in place so the you don't uproot the seedling while you constantly pull the stem more and more sideways.

Step #2 The double tap... No no that later. Step #2 is limber up... (zombieland) what this means is that you just bend the stem back and forth a little eventually leaning it to the direction you're planning on guiding it around the pot.

Just us a finger and bend it towards your destination. You'll see that it doesn't take much and it will want to stay bent over.

Step #3 attach counter string for larger plants or place a guide/stake to secure the stem I'm the desired position

I used a length of coated wire to pin the stem near horizontally. With the next node that grows at it end is clear of the previous the stake can be moved up the stem and by then you should be growing horizontal.

You can see that the very bottom node will become new auxiliary shoots. And the growth at the node above(at the bend) will know become my secondary shoots. The main stem will continue around the pot.

After a few more days we can add a stake further down the stem. Notice the small shoots are starting to pop out from the nodes all along the stem. It is good if you can keep the stem from twisting, I remove the leaf facing downward to prevent it from doing just that. But I leave the top leaf so that it shades the new nodes, which like to stretch in the shade to find light... Correct?

Here's a top view of the same stage

NOW were again a few days further along for this next stage of training. I've removed another downward facing leaf and I am spreading the newest leaves at the locomotive end to help keep nodes tight. Notice the "hump", this is ideal for creating temporary main shoots. The shoots coming from the top of the hump are now actually my main stems. Although the majority of energy is still going to the primary growth tip.

You can see the little leaves still clumped together, I use I mini screwdriver for repairing glasses to pry them open gently to expose the next set to the light.

NOW I've got everything pretty much levelled out. I've added an extra stake to make it as straight as I can. Won't be long before I'm training the secondary shoots.

This is merely the beginning of this this tutorial. Hope this helps those who were wondering where and when to start.

Stay tuned for the next instalment, we're about to make a left turn around the pot. Thanks for making me do this, I'm having fun with these practice plants. Poor little thing...

Keep Training, Keep Learning, Keep sharing
​

KiG Everyone Cheers

Yes it is VERY helpful ill be watching!

 

[mojuan]

Everyone should leave THEIR OWN examples of how they low stress train their plants. You don't have to describe the pics if you don't want to. But I'd love to see more examples of ways people achieve the goal of a low plant. Same for if you have questions, leave a pic and we can all determine where you should train from there.

Please add your OWN low stress training pics for all to benefit.​

KIG cheers

Here's a few of mine

 

[Kevinhayes]

Oh yeah, I understand that. I feel like I'm a slow learner with lst. Visually it's been difficult i mean.


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Same, I've read so much on LST on here but I find it hard to comprehend what's going on through pictures/descriptions although they help. I learned along time ago seeing it in a video or in person goes along way to helping me understand. Going to start my 1st journal (once the seeds arrive) for my first serious grow. I'm sure I'll get plenty of tips along the way.

Gonna just start with a little bending lst for now. Maybe Ill try topping one of the free seeds they send.

FYI Fastbuds is doing a anniversary promo. Buy a 5 pack and get a free 5 pack (same strain )