Lst what do i do now?

[JokerJohn]

hey guys so i recently started to Lst a few of my plants ( first timer )
Now i read so many different posts on how to Lst and it seems there are more
ways then youd think.. now im kinda stuck with mine i started it i just dont know how to finish it
or where to go from here do i keep tying it down all the leaves are they gona grow out and fill the pot themselves?
all i really want from the LST is alot of bud sites to maximize my yeild and harvest i have quite a big tent so space isnt that much of a problem.. anyway heres some pictures hopefully someone can give me a few tips that i need

that was day 1 of the LST

now 2 days later heres what there looking like today

thanks guys i hope someone can help me

 

[LittleAbigH]

Hey buddy, what I usually do is bend the top growing point so that the nodes under it are exposed to more light. It looks like you made the bends at the base of the stalk, in my opinion that is too low. It might have seemed like a good idea as I am guessing you were trying to expose the nodes near the first few set of true leaves. Depending on growth rates, the top shoot will continue to grow towards the light anyways shading out those very low node sites. By bending the top cola only, you are exposing nodes closer to the light and they will have similar growth rates as the main shoot. What bending does is send hormones (primarily auxin) away from the main bud because the plant thinks there is a new growing point so it will focus sending nutrients and what not towards the new top buds. This is basically the same thing as topping without having to remove mass. I use a super crop method along with topping as needed to increase yield. Your plants are still young and I do not think your stuck with how your doing it. In fact I would have let them vedge a while longer before even thinking about trying to increase yield. Let some shoots grow on their own and remove leaves/bend/ whatever you have to do to increase node sites exposed to light but also keeping them approximately the same height. Keeping nodes relatively at the same height will increase light efficiency when they are budding thus increasing yield.

Hope it helps good luck.

 

[JokerJohn]

Hey buddy, what I usually do is bend the top growing point so that the nodes under it are exposed to more light. It looks like you made the bends at the base of the stalk, in my opinion that is too low. It might have seemed like a good idea as I am guessing you were trying to expose the nodes near the first few set of true leaves. Depending on growth rates, the top shoot will continue to grow towards the light anyways shading out those very low node sites. By bending the top cola only, you are exposing nodes closer to the light and they will have similar growth rates as the main shoot. What bending does is send hormones (primarily auxin) away from the main bud because the plant thinks there is a new growing point so it will focus sending nutrients and what not towards the new top buds. This is basically the same thing as topping without having to remove mass. I use a super crop method along with topping as needed to increase yield. Your plants are still young and I do not think your stuck with how your doing it. In fact I would have let them vedge a while longer before even thinking about trying to increase yield. Let some shoots grow on their own and remove leaves/bend/ whatever you have to do to increase node sites exposed to light but also keeping them approximately the same height. Keeping nodes relatively at the same height will increase light efficiency when they are budding thus increasing yield.

Hope it helps good luck.

hey Littleabigh

thanks for all the info yeah i was thinking maybe it was a bit too early atm i have 4 sativas in the flowering room and if there anything like there sister there gona take atleast 11-15 weeks to flower so i was hopping to get a fast start on veg so i could move them into the flower room and have them finish off around the same time. im also i bit stuck now as the stems i did bend where the bend is now is pretty hard and i dont think ill be able to bend them back or even loosing it up?

what do u think about if i were to top them now? that would set the top growth back a few days and would also free up some light? but im also thinking there too young to be topped?

so my options are really just keep tying down the top and fan leaves etc and just try get as much light as possible to them?

thanks again buddy

 

[LittleAbigH]

You could always bend the top shoots back in another direction to keep the plants centered over pot (not a huge deal since you mentioned space is not an issue). How far are your other plants into flowering? How tall are they? Do you have flowering room pics? I almost like to bend the tops down below (if possible) the nodes growing underneath. If you continue to bend the tops like you are maybe try bending the tops in a circular fashion around the pot instead of continuing to go out. It seems if you keep bending in the same direction you will have a horizontal plant which is good for increasing node sights but compromises the strength of the plant which is a plus with heavy colas. I would hold off on topping for now, I usually try to avoid topping but sometimes bending wont cut it when I need the other nodes to catch up in height.

Keep it up, talk to you tomorrow bed time

 

[urmom]

Joker,
Here is what I have done in the past and I get superior results...I can show you a picture (they look alot like yours...) if you want to demonstrate as well. I have a few tips for you and you can use them or not, up to you. I am sure the others on this forum will pseak up too and you can pick whatever method you like or you can do 4 different methods, one on each of your plants...

1. You anchored the base and that is your first step in a good direction. With young plants you run a risk of an imature root system and this will help you in that aspect.

2. Your first bend is horizontal. While I agree that you could have waited longer to bend them and/or you could have bent them deeper (getting the terminal shoot below the middle of the plant mass), you have done it and it is not wrong but a technique you can use.

3. What comes next?
3a. You can continue to bend the tip around the ring of the container. Every couple of days bend the tip clockwise towards the ring of the container and tie it down. You can use wire, bread ties, pipe cleaners, butchers twine (my favorite)...whatever you want, just keep the ties loose and always bend a little less that you think you should and you will get to know how far you can bend on your girls.
3b. You can now bend just the top with bread ties or short pieces of wire. You just turn the top 3-6 inches of fleshy, flexible growth over and secure it to itself with a bread tie. In about 2 days the tip will be facing upwards again, lower branches will start developing faster (depending on the strain) and you will have a little "S" started in the stem. You wait 4-7 days and bend it 90 degrees to the right and resecure the same bread tie from the tip to the "S" below it. This continues until you either have plenty of lower shoots to flower or you have taken all the shoots as clones.

Both of the methods in the above segment have been used for generations and it works great. You can use them for a few weks and then flower what should be a thick, sturdy bush with a dozen flowering sites. You continue to bend any tip that grows taller than any other one on the plant, developing a canopy that can be as large as you want (or have the time and space to allow).

4. The above methods can be and should be combined with another technique called super-cropping. With super cropping you crush or stress the inner stem of the plant, increasing the plants growth hormones and developing a larger, more efficient highway for nutrients to reach the budding sites. I e would advocate for 2-4 sessions of super cropping (depending on how long you will veg them for). I would start at 4 weeks into veg and then every 2 weeks after that or as needed. Super cropping can be a useful tool to develop healthier, more efficient plants and it will also control your height. Every time you supercrop a branch it will slow the growth for a few days as the plant recovers.

These methods can all be used independently or in conjunction with each other and will topping or FIM'ing your plant. I would recommend only topping half of your plants the first time out (1/2 at the most) so you can decide what methods work best and what gives you the best results as far as quality and quantity of medicine at harvest.

Check out my indoor journal for pictures of topped and LST'd young plants. I should have more picture up tomorrow of the progress. I guess I will also do a "how-to" photo journal on bending unless I can find one in the search box...That will take a few months though as I need to grow the plants out first!

 

[WizHigh]

I use LST just to expose the side of the plant more so they will grow faster. If you want to up your yield then start topping each grow site you see after the 4nod. They will grow 2 tops depending on how you top them and if you FIM then you will get 4 tops.

 

[JokerJohn]

wow guys GREAT INFO here thank you guys really so much for helping me out i have all the info i need now so thank you so much!!

heres a picture of the flowering room its a pretty big tent with 2 meters in height and 1.5 m2 in width

ill post a picture of the Lst plants in a few days so far i have been slowy curving them around the base of the pot
seems the most easiest option to do atm

Again i cant thank you guys all enough for the time and effort to write back! thanks again