LST stunted growth

N

Nicotin

Active Member
Hello people,

This season I'm growing a single autoflower outdoor (Afghan Kush Auto by Fastbuds) and I think I messed up with too agressive LST.

Everything was going smoothly up until day 20, where I bent her up like this. A few days later I pushed the arc further down, but then regreted it and pushed it back up since growth seemed minimal. Now I'm on day 28 and this week's progress worries me. A few new leaves and that's it. No real side branches developed which was the whole purpose of the LST, the main stem didn't thicken, and compared to what I see on the breeders website, on day 28 the plant should be about double the size.

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This is now (day 28):

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As you can see progress in the crucial part of veg was minimal. I'm confident that sunlight (5 hrs. direct, not great, not terrible), soil, watering, feeding and T° are on point. I think I just stressed it too much with that agressive LST and now I don't know if I should do something. Flowering should start anytime and I'm thinking I will not even get 40 grams out of this. Any opinions? Is this size normal for a 28 day plant or am I screwed?
 
For LST to work properly, the main stem must be lower than other branches on the plant. From the pictures above, it looks like the main stem is still higher than the rest of the plant. Therefore, growth is still directed at the main stem instead of the lower nodes (one of which has an LST wire on it).

As for the size, that has more to do with proper watering, feeding, and light. It's possible to stunt a plant some with LST, but my guess is that she wants a lot more than 5 hrs of direct sunlight. That said, she looks healthy and happy so you never know what will happen.
 
LKABudMan said:
For LST to work properly, the main stem must be lower than other branches on the plant. From the pictures above, it looks like the main stem is still higher than the rest of the plant. Therefore, growth is still directed at the main stem instead of the lower nodes (one of which has an LST wire on it).
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Yes that's what I aimed for when I pushed the arc down (it was literally horizontal) but I aborted after seeing the plant stopped growing at the rate it previously had been. I though that the stunted growth was partly because the plant would have to thicken it's stem at the base first to support a completely horizontal structure (form a hard callous basically). I figured that making it grow diagonally instead of horizontally would destress it and bring growth back.
 
Your gonna get a slight decrease in growth as the plant changes sending most of its growth hormones/nutes from the main tip to the side shoots, which is what you want. Give it few more days. You could also top or FIM it, but that's your choice. Since it's an auto I would not top more than once.
 
Should still be OK, but LST on an auto doesn't achieve much, just interferes with it's short life cycle
Simply pinching out the tip at node 3 usually gives a wine glass shape with a flat canopy of 6-8 major colas
 
Nicotin said:
Hello people,

This season I'm growing a single autoflower outdoor (Afghan Kush Auto by Fastbuds) and I think I messed up with too agressive LST.

Everything was going smoothly up until day 20, where I bent her up like this. A few days later I pushed the arc further down, but then regreted it and pushed it back up since growth seemed minimal. Now I'm on day 28 and this week's progress worries me. A few new leaves and that's it. No real side branches developed which was the whole purpose of the LST, the main stem didn't thicken, and compared to what I see on the breeders website, on day 28 the plant should be about double the size.

full

full


This is now (day 28):

full

full


As you can see progress in the crucial part of veg was minimal. I'm confident that sunlight (5 hrs. direct, not great, not terrible), soil, watering, feeding and T° are on point. I think I just stressed it too much with that agressive LST and now I don't know if I should do something. Flowering should start anytime and I'm thinking I will not even get 40 grams out of this. Any opinions? Is this size normal for a 28 day plant or am I screwed?
Click to expand...
U didn't stunt her u slowed her down her hsveing to recover from being bent takes time outta her life span don't have much time LST is fine so is pruning then auto flowers are very touchy
 
I LST and TOP from smaller size and they seem barely affected in most cases. My guess would be its either just got slower genetics for that particular seed or its the fact its only getting 5 hours of direct light. Plants are usually under the sun 12-16 hours in veg when planted the correct time out doors. 18- to 20 for indoors. For 5 hours... to me... it looks quite healthy.
 
Looks like they've been watered too little volume too frequently. Need to water to saturation and then let dry out otherwise your roots won't be able to support her in flower.
 
hoonsince89 said:
I LST and TOP from smaller size and they seem barely affected in most cases. My guess would be its either just got slower genetics for that particular seed or its the fact its only getting 5 hours of direct light. Plants are usually under the sun 12-16 hours in veg when planted the correct time out doors. 18- to 20 for indoors. For 5 hours... to me... it looks quite healthy.
Click to expand...

I think this is the case, I haven't done anything stressing this week and growth is still minimal after 7 days. This also has been an extremely odd rainy and cloudy year where I live, I'm getting maybe 3 days of sun a week whereas previous years it was like summer at this point.

One thing I won't be doing in the future is trying LST without topping the plant first, it seems pointless after this experience. I've kept the main stem 100% lateral all week by tying it down and gently bending the top so it's pointing down every morning and night, and still all of the growth is happening there and not in the popcorny lateral stems which have not developed at all. This is the one regret I have about this grow, having listened to the advice that autos should never be topped.

Day 35 (end of week 5). I'm thinking that if I'm lucky I will get 20 grams out of this grow.
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Nicotin said:
One thing I won't be doing in the future is trying LST without topping the plant first, it seems pointless after this experience.
Click to expand...
You can see in pic2 how the bottom branches now have as much light as the top...seems pointless now but wait till week 4...just remember it takes 2 weeks for the Auxins to go back to normal after topping
 
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