Rooftop Garden

faster

Well-Known Member
Hi all, decided to start a journal to share my progress.





Plants are Super Silver x 2 the two biggest plants and 1 Durban Poison which has a 2 week delay because of slow delivery.
I sprouted the seeds directly in soil, in one of those compressed soil capsules that you dip in water and it expands, holds moisture and I had 100% success.
Soil is organic, plants are in 7 gallon 30l fabric pots.
 




These are latest photos on the 2 Super Silver. I got to a stage where I want to start LST the two plants.
One is topped, the other FIMed.
What I would like to know, is which branches to start bending?
I watched and read all the videos and stuff I could find, but it’s a bit confusing to me.

I think I mentioned that I grow on a roof top and need to have 50cm or 1’ 6” max high.
I will take som profile photos so the branches are more visible.
 
Just stopped by for a fast welcome.
Looks good. Maybe more about the set up? I see a organic soil grow. You growing out doors on a roof top?

Hi @DV-travis thanks, yes rooftop, which is actually a part of rebuild building where they converted the attic into an apartment and it shows in bedrooms and toilet where the roof drops.
Soil is organic with lots of nutrients and ph balanced for cannabis.
Anyway, first time grower, got my plants “hidden “ in tomatoes .
 
I saw alot of windows in the back ground. I have seen six foot long plants that never got more than 2 foot high. Just a stealth way to grow. You already topped. So now you continue with the LST. Go look at some other grow journals. I'm not the best guy to talk to about LST. I'm on my first indoor grow. Still in shock over the transition. Ended up doing organic soil grows as well.
 
The answer to which branches to LST is “all of them”. Lol

I typically start with the lower branches, pinning them down so they grow laterally to the edge of the pot. Once the inner branches are grown enough to bend over and pin, I do those as well.

Since these are photos, you should have plenty of time to bend and pose them before bloom. Trimming and defoliating are options for you as well, since photos have lots of recovery time from pruning.
 
It's looking great!

For a stealth grow, LST will be critical, because the strains you're growing will likely get quite tall otherwise.

I've used heavy topping, pruning, and LST during the veg stage to keep sativas quite short, very wide & bushy w/ great results quality-wise for my stealth grows in the past. Yield will be compromised, but one can't optimize both yield and stealth.

Many folks on this forum advise against topping, but I've had good experiences with it in stealth grows & for sativas that want to be 6+ feet tall, it's not easy to reign them in any other way.

Based on my experience, you'll want to stay on the LST and/or topping. Best not to prune/top once flowering starts.

There's a ton of info & photos on LST here. There's a bit of a learning curve to LST and topping, but that's part of the fun. I'm still learning on my outdoor grows.

But most importantly, they are looking great & those are two great strains you're growing. Enjoy the ride.
 
Thanks @andIhalped, @BigBearNTexas, @DV-travis , for the encouragement, appreciate it.

@BigBearNTexas, THANKS, the phrase “lol all of them” is what finally clicked....because I thought that I have to wait until the 2 new branches will get bigger and I’ll be bending only the top....lol, now I get it...they all have to grow sideways....started on it already...

Be gentle with the small new branches, because they can snap off pretty easily, but you’ll find that you’re going to be adjusting the pins or ties every few days. As they turn and grow up toward the light, just adjust so that the branch goes lateral until it’s time for them to go vertical!
 
Be gentle with the small new branches, because they can snap off pretty easily, but you’ll find that you’re going to be adjusting the pins or ties every few days. As they turn and grow up toward the light, just adjust so that the branch goes lateral until it’s time for them to go vertical!
Yep!

But there's a sweet spot. If one goes too long, larger woody stems also have a tendency to snap.

But there's pretty wide latitude & learning by doing is the best way to go.
 
Yep!

But there's a sweet spot. If one goes too long, larger woody stems also have a tendency to snap.

But there's pretty wide latitude & learning by doing is the best way to go.

You are right, I have been adjusting every other day, just small adjustments, and it seems to be growing almost horizontally.
Since the pots are cloth or fabric, I got safety pins and old shoe laces to tie them down.

Amazing how much the plants smell already, not terribly strong, just nice “deep” scent.
 
Looking good!

I'd consider LST-ing that main stem before it gets too much bigger, because it will be a bit more difficult to do so as it grows, and if it isn't trained laterally, it's going to head for the sky in a big way. As Big Bear noted, you want all of them growing somewhat laterally at this point.

You can always train that central stem incrementally, as you've been doing with the others.

Don't be afraid of bending the stems a bit, they'll be fine. But if you wait too long, the stems will get quite woody and tend to splinter or snap in response to training.

I had to learn this the hard way with a Jack Herer sativa I grew a coupla years back. I waited too long to strart training & ended up both losing branches & a plant that was a beauty, but way too tall for my situation--about 1.8 m (& I have no doubts that if I hadn't topped & done LST, it would have made to 2.2m+, which would have been kinda cool to look at, except not in my setting).
 
Looking good!

I'd consider LST-ing that main stem before it gets too much bigger, because it will be a bit more difficult to do so as it grows, and if it isn't trained laterally, it's going to head for the sky in a big way. As Big Bear noted, you want all of them growing somewhat laterally at this point.

You can always train that central stem incrementally, as you've been doing with the others.

Don't be afraid of bending the stems a bit, they'll be fine. But if you wait too long, the stems will get quite woody and tend to splinter or snap in response to training.

I had to learn this the hard way with a Jack Herer sativa I grew a coupla years back. I waited too long to strart training & ended up both losing branches & a plant that was a beauty, but way too tall for my situation--about 1.1 m (& I have no doubts that if I hadn't topped & done LST, it would have made to 1.5m+, which would have been kinda cool to look at, except not in my setting).

Thanks for reminder, actually I didn’t know that the main stem has to be bent too, I thought once topped, only the branches has to be trained, it’ll grow sideways...that kind of scares me to start bending the main stem.
I’m going to start tomorrow morning.
In your opinion, did I start too late? Will the plants still finish flowering etc?
 
Thanks for reminder, actually I didn’t know that the main stem has to be bent too, I thought once topped, only the branches has to be trained, it’ll grow sideways...that kind of scares me to start bending the main stem.
I’m going to start tomorrow morning.
In your opinion, did I start too late? Will the plants still finish flowering etc?

You did not start too late. If those are not autos, you've got at least about 2 months before they start flowering.

But you do want to do the topping & LST before flowering starts. And stop topping once flowering starts.

You can just train the branches after topping, but whatever is the tallest branch will continue to get taller still, because that's the plants character, especially with sativas.

For a stealth grow, though, you'll probably want to keep it relatively short with lots of tops, which can be done with both topping & training.

I do both topping and training (not everyone does). I always start the training with tallest stem first & as DV-T notes, letting the sun do the rest.

There's lots of tutorials on line, & probably on this site, for LST/topping.

Just do what you comfortable doing, pay attention to the results, & adjust. These are very durable plants, yours are very healthy & there's no reason to fret much.
 
That might have been a good note for me to put in. Haven't started flower. Now the one that is back to 8 inches tall it has 24 " to stretch during flower before I need to super crop. If I need to that is.
 
@andIhalped, thanks they are feminised, not autos, we had bad spring, but now the sun is shining,and weather is good until beginning/middle of October...anyway, started bending...

@DV-travis , do you grow indoors, in fabric pot? I mean grow lights only?

Ouch on the June 9 pic. Must have hurt

I snapped a little branch this morning too, stupid accident.
 
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