- Thread starter
- #361
GHOST TRAIN HAZE UPDATE
FINAL Heavy Training Session
Setting Her Up For the Stretch
A Pictorial Step by Step Tutorial
September 14
Grow/Veg Day 60
To my surprise, I have actually gotten a couple requests to show my final training set up for the stretch in as much detail as possible. Well, today was going to be training day for both the GTH and the Hulkberry. Instead, we decided to do just the Ghost, and leave the Hulkberry til her next watering either tomorrow or Thursday and let her grow a bit more to catch up to the others. So I went ahead and documented my process step by step, and here it is for those who are interested. Btw - I don't recommend this method to any sane person. The ONLY reason I do it this way is due to my reality. If I were walking I would use a screen as it simply makes things way easier. What I try to do is to scrog an individual plant using just the plant. And yes, it's very very effective. It's also the most work intensive way to train a plant that you could possibly choose. It takes constant, daily checking and working just about for all of veg, from around Day 14 on. And also yes, when you're done the hard part and all completely set up for the stretch and you look at what you've done, it does (gotta be honest here) make you feel like there is nothing you can't do. That's about how I am feeling right now, and I believe by the last picture it will become CRYSTAL clear as to why. Here we go.
The first picture is the plant as she began the process, before I touched her. You guys saw this yesterday but I include it for the sake of the timeline.
The next picture is the first step. Work the outside ring of buds to completion. I pick one of the largest main branches (not colas, they're all large), and decide that's the starting point. We begin flattening, pulling out as far as possible, and as we get that branch set, before we move on to the next, we do a primary defoliation on just that branch. I use skewers with a piece of scotch tape around a twist tie that is tied and taped near the top of the skewer. You will see them in the pictures. Make a hook on one end, find your spot to hook, bring the branch to where you want it, and push the skewer into the dirt firmly so it stays flat. If it won't, add another skewer at a spot lower on the branch so you are doubling up the tie down. Be patient. And even if you use mono-silicic acid, I strongly suggest you go slowly and carefully so as to not do any unintentional supercropping or worse. With your larger branches it likely will be necessary to use more than one skewer to hold the branch as flat as you want, but if you like you can save that for the tweak step. I do. So cut the leaves you need to on the branch to expose every single bud site no matter what you have to cut. The name of the game here is cutting, not tucking. It only works as intended if you are not shy in this part, and have no fear. I assure you, in fact guarantee it, that in a couple days this plant will look like this never happened and beyond that. The leaves will grow back. There are PLENTY to power the plant. Take anything that shades a cola, ie, every single emerging node of new growth. It can be scary and daunting but trust me, it'll be more than okay. This is essential to the process. There are three goals here: to widen/to flatten/to max bud sites. That's it. By taking the leaves I describe you are opening every potential bud to the same amount of light, because you're ending up with a perfectly flat canopy. Also by the time you're done you will see that those bare spots that scared you cuz you followed these directions to the letter and it seemed so bare will be filled in by the branches above it from the middle. Don't worry. But then you want what you open up, all those buds, to actually become legit. And believe me, there are a trillion. More than you will believe when you look. You gotta defol in this process. So the plant, at this point, needs more moving air than she's had to this point, and I will be rearranging fans and engaging the big boy fan when the Hulkster gets this treatment. But you have to defol both for air flow through the plant and also for proper growth of the nodes you just exposed. So in this picture I have gone around the plant one time completely til I got around to my starting point. I go in a circle, not jumping ahead, and this is also my strong recommendation if you're nuts and try this. Reason is that you don't know what else you're going to expose as each branch finds a home. There will be much more than you anticipate. So it's one by one, rotating the plant as you go so you are never reaching and always looking down from above on the plant. Your eyes are the sun and if you see a bud site it sees you. Light = Growth. No exceptions. As you can see, this leaves a flat ring on the outside and a tall round mass of growth you still have to deal with in the center of the ring.
Picture 3 is halfway done the next step, which is working the center. I think @Tokin Roll would agree with me that this is the part that can be confusing and leave you in fits trying to figure it out. What the hell are you going to do with all that? This is what you do: Start hunting bare spots. Or spots where you have a few branches pulled out with hardly any nodes. And pull it out and to there so it crosses as little emerging growth as possible. Get creative, it's necessary here. I did a little very small branch supercropping, some bigger branch supercropping, and several "half supercrops" where I didn't really break the interior cell wall but pinched the branch just enough to place it where I wanted it. You can also cross other branches here in the middle it's no problem. Just don't put extra tension on one you already tied down. Again, you defoliate as you do this step too. Same thing. Every single site, if not it gets cut. I probably took off in the neigborhood of 100 leaves in this session. At the same time as you do this you are finally getting to see what you have in the middle of the plant. The defol targets will become obvious by now. So when I get to this step, I pick a half and do that half first. Then the other. Here's the first half done in this pic.
Picture 4 is all the way done the tie downs and defol and the whole plant is complete. All I do here is simply the identical process on the remaining half center growth mass. But also before this picture was the tweak step. So you're finally done, you think, and you're wondering if this is gonna work. Now you tweak. If there is a branch that has a bit of a hill in it, flatten it out if you can. Pick very carefully through the plant seeking new growth that you missed on the first pass defol. When you're done this step you are 90% done. Check the sum of what you're looking at. See if a paper plate will sit flat on the canopy you have established. Eliminate bulges. Tweak like crazy till you're satisfied. Also by now, you should be able to see your original topping spot in the middle of the plant. This had led you to....
Picture 5 - the undercarriage step. Now you're going to clean out underneath the plant, exactly as many of us have seen many do many times. This part is easy! When this is done you're all the way DONE. I don't believe this cleaning out of the undercarriage is necessary to explain, that one we all know.
Picture 6 shows the original topping spot of the plant, her only one, using Uncle Ben's method and topping between nodes 2 and 3 after 5 or 6 is out. That's where all this craziness got started.
Picture 7 shows something extremely beautiful. A PERFECTLY flat canopy.
Picture 8 made my jaw hit the floor, and it was at this point I decided OK, you may have developed a skill or two. I'm going to let you guys figure out for yourselves why. But when you look at it, remember that this is not an auto. This is a badass, completely mature, 60 day old, ready to rock and roll, PHOTO, and one of the baddest sativas on the planet. The picture shows something that has to be seen to be believed.
So what should be the end result?
- As close to a perfectly flat canopy as possible
- Every new growth site exposed to direct light
- Air moving supremely through the plant with no difficulty
- A clean undercarriage
- And DOZENS of skewers, lmao!
This is exactly what I try to establish before the flip. You have all the buds pulled out in a ring and all the center pulled out or filling in gaps. And all of it gets exactly the same amount of light if you have done it well and correctly. Everything is well secured and not moving or going to get pulled out from the upward force of the plant stretching (push those skewers in deep!). This is going to allow you to train through the stretch. That's another day.
Phew!
Oh, and then there's Picture 9, which it the results of my other effort today, to prep the grow room and tighten it up for mixing a bunch of soil and prepping the pots for the outdoor grow.
BONUS PICTURE 10, I tossed in cuz it's amazing and it brought me back down to earth. Lol. This picture was sent to me today and shows one of my Oregon Yoda's four greenhouses and a tiny fraction of his current grow. This is serious as hell and will make you salivate. He has four long troughs of soil in each greenhouse, front to back. This is half of two in one greenhouse if that helps you see the scale he's operating on. The dude has used the same soil for the last 10 years. @Emilya would LOVE this dude. I thought it the perfect picture to complete this post.
That's it in as brief a nutshell as I can. Hope it's detailed enough. Commentary welcome and encouraged as are criticism, critique, or questions. Thanks.
FINAL Heavy Training Session
Setting Her Up For the Stretch
A Pictorial Step by Step Tutorial
September 14
Grow/Veg Day 60
To my surprise, I have actually gotten a couple requests to show my final training set up for the stretch in as much detail as possible. Well, today was going to be training day for both the GTH and the Hulkberry. Instead, we decided to do just the Ghost, and leave the Hulkberry til her next watering either tomorrow or Thursday and let her grow a bit more to catch up to the others. So I went ahead and documented my process step by step, and here it is for those who are interested. Btw - I don't recommend this method to any sane person. The ONLY reason I do it this way is due to my reality. If I were walking I would use a screen as it simply makes things way easier. What I try to do is to scrog an individual plant using just the plant. And yes, it's very very effective. It's also the most work intensive way to train a plant that you could possibly choose. It takes constant, daily checking and working just about for all of veg, from around Day 14 on. And also yes, when you're done the hard part and all completely set up for the stretch and you look at what you've done, it does (gotta be honest here) make you feel like there is nothing you can't do. That's about how I am feeling right now, and I believe by the last picture it will become CRYSTAL clear as to why. Here we go.
The first picture is the plant as she began the process, before I touched her. You guys saw this yesterday but I include it for the sake of the timeline.
The next picture is the first step. Work the outside ring of buds to completion. I pick one of the largest main branches (not colas, they're all large), and decide that's the starting point. We begin flattening, pulling out as far as possible, and as we get that branch set, before we move on to the next, we do a primary defoliation on just that branch. I use skewers with a piece of scotch tape around a twist tie that is tied and taped near the top of the skewer. You will see them in the pictures. Make a hook on one end, find your spot to hook, bring the branch to where you want it, and push the skewer into the dirt firmly so it stays flat. If it won't, add another skewer at a spot lower on the branch so you are doubling up the tie down. Be patient. And even if you use mono-silicic acid, I strongly suggest you go slowly and carefully so as to not do any unintentional supercropping or worse. With your larger branches it likely will be necessary to use more than one skewer to hold the branch as flat as you want, but if you like you can save that for the tweak step. I do. So cut the leaves you need to on the branch to expose every single bud site no matter what you have to cut. The name of the game here is cutting, not tucking. It only works as intended if you are not shy in this part, and have no fear. I assure you, in fact guarantee it, that in a couple days this plant will look like this never happened and beyond that. The leaves will grow back. There are PLENTY to power the plant. Take anything that shades a cola, ie, every single emerging node of new growth. It can be scary and daunting but trust me, it'll be more than okay. This is essential to the process. There are three goals here: to widen/to flatten/to max bud sites. That's it. By taking the leaves I describe you are opening every potential bud to the same amount of light, because you're ending up with a perfectly flat canopy. Also by the time you're done you will see that those bare spots that scared you cuz you followed these directions to the letter and it seemed so bare will be filled in by the branches above it from the middle. Don't worry. But then you want what you open up, all those buds, to actually become legit. And believe me, there are a trillion. More than you will believe when you look. You gotta defol in this process. So the plant, at this point, needs more moving air than she's had to this point, and I will be rearranging fans and engaging the big boy fan when the Hulkster gets this treatment. But you have to defol both for air flow through the plant and also for proper growth of the nodes you just exposed. So in this picture I have gone around the plant one time completely til I got around to my starting point. I go in a circle, not jumping ahead, and this is also my strong recommendation if you're nuts and try this. Reason is that you don't know what else you're going to expose as each branch finds a home. There will be much more than you anticipate. So it's one by one, rotating the plant as you go so you are never reaching and always looking down from above on the plant. Your eyes are the sun and if you see a bud site it sees you. Light = Growth. No exceptions. As you can see, this leaves a flat ring on the outside and a tall round mass of growth you still have to deal with in the center of the ring.
Picture 3 is halfway done the next step, which is working the center. I think @Tokin Roll would agree with me that this is the part that can be confusing and leave you in fits trying to figure it out. What the hell are you going to do with all that? This is what you do: Start hunting bare spots. Or spots where you have a few branches pulled out with hardly any nodes. And pull it out and to there so it crosses as little emerging growth as possible. Get creative, it's necessary here. I did a little very small branch supercropping, some bigger branch supercropping, and several "half supercrops" where I didn't really break the interior cell wall but pinched the branch just enough to place it where I wanted it. You can also cross other branches here in the middle it's no problem. Just don't put extra tension on one you already tied down. Again, you defoliate as you do this step too. Same thing. Every single site, if not it gets cut. I probably took off in the neigborhood of 100 leaves in this session. At the same time as you do this you are finally getting to see what you have in the middle of the plant. The defol targets will become obvious by now. So when I get to this step, I pick a half and do that half first. Then the other. Here's the first half done in this pic.
Picture 4 is all the way done the tie downs and defol and the whole plant is complete. All I do here is simply the identical process on the remaining half center growth mass. But also before this picture was the tweak step. So you're finally done, you think, and you're wondering if this is gonna work. Now you tweak. If there is a branch that has a bit of a hill in it, flatten it out if you can. Pick very carefully through the plant seeking new growth that you missed on the first pass defol. When you're done this step you are 90% done. Check the sum of what you're looking at. See if a paper plate will sit flat on the canopy you have established. Eliminate bulges. Tweak like crazy till you're satisfied. Also by now, you should be able to see your original topping spot in the middle of the plant. This had led you to....
Picture 5 - the undercarriage step. Now you're going to clean out underneath the plant, exactly as many of us have seen many do many times. This part is easy! When this is done you're all the way DONE. I don't believe this cleaning out of the undercarriage is necessary to explain, that one we all know.
Picture 6 shows the original topping spot of the plant, her only one, using Uncle Ben's method and topping between nodes 2 and 3 after 5 or 6 is out. That's where all this craziness got started.
Picture 7 shows something extremely beautiful. A PERFECTLY flat canopy.
Picture 8 made my jaw hit the floor, and it was at this point I decided OK, you may have developed a skill or two. I'm going to let you guys figure out for yourselves why. But when you look at it, remember that this is not an auto. This is a badass, completely mature, 60 day old, ready to rock and roll, PHOTO, and one of the baddest sativas on the planet. The picture shows something that has to be seen to be believed.
So what should be the end result?
- As close to a perfectly flat canopy as possible
- Every new growth site exposed to direct light
- Air moving supremely through the plant with no difficulty
- A clean undercarriage
- And DOZENS of skewers, lmao!
This is exactly what I try to establish before the flip. You have all the buds pulled out in a ring and all the center pulled out or filling in gaps. And all of it gets exactly the same amount of light if you have done it well and correctly. Everything is well secured and not moving or going to get pulled out from the upward force of the plant stretching (push those skewers in deep!). This is going to allow you to train through the stretch. That's another day.
Phew!
Oh, and then there's Picture 9, which it the results of my other effort today, to prep the grow room and tighten it up for mixing a bunch of soil and prepping the pots for the outdoor grow.
BONUS PICTURE 10, I tossed in cuz it's amazing and it brought me back down to earth. Lol. This picture was sent to me today and shows one of my Oregon Yoda's four greenhouses and a tiny fraction of his current grow. This is serious as hell and will make you salivate. He has four long troughs of soil in each greenhouse, front to back. This is half of two in one greenhouse if that helps you see the scale he's operating on. The dude has used the same soil for the last 10 years. @Emilya would LOVE this dude. I thought it the perfect picture to complete this post.
That's it in as brief a nutshell as I can. Hope it's detailed enough. Commentary welcome and encouraged as are criticism, critique, or questions. Thanks.
