Tnoldons Indoor Lemon Skunk Grow (Poor Man's Grow)

with topping...what you are doing is stopping the vertical growth by cutting off the growth section of the plant. then the plant will think that the two side shoots are the tops of the plants and will shift growth elsewhere in the plant. energy will be redirected to other areas of the plant and instead of vertical growth, the plant will grow shorter and bushier. the plant will have improved light penetration and the lower bud sites will develop better buds.

the location you marked is where you would make the cut. between the two branches.

i hope this made sense....
 
Made perfect sense thanks uglymuppet! So since I am waiting and I'm sure my plant won't grow to tall in he next week would when I top it will the rest of the plant continue to grow out? Even know the bottom leaves have stopped growing from what I can see?
 
Here's a great way to top, don't top until the plant has at least 4 nodes. Somewhere between 4 and 6 is a good time to do it.

When the new growth starts to emerge at the top of the plant, wait until it's pretty much emerged but is still tightly folded around itself. Take a sharp pair of scissors, I use the one in my little swiss army knife, and cut on an angle about 1/3 of the way up. In other words cut off the top 2/3's. Just a slight downward angle on the cut.

This is called fimming and if you're lucky you'll get multiple tops from the cut. If not you'll still get 2 tops. I usually get 2 or 3 but I've gotten 4.

You can repeat this on the new nodes that will start growing out, but let them grow a couple of nodes first. Don't go too crazy, at some point it won't work anymore. If you can get 6 or more good tops going you're golden.
 
So toping and Fiming are two different things right? Toping stops all vertical growth and fiming just creates more nodes is this correct? The plant is actually on her 5th node at the moment I think I said before in a post it was on its 6th but I checked again and it's really only the 5th,but I missed the opportunity to FIM the plant the leaves are already to spread apart I think. I will wait until this weekend for a new node to start then I will attempt this method of "fuck I missed" lol lets hope I do it right.
 
Ok so here is the pictures update from this morning. I did have a little problem. My one cat decided it would be fun to play with the rocklock plant he didn't do much damage that I could see but it was knocked over and out of its pot there was soil everywhere! But I just re planted it and it looks to be fine so far. Anyway here are the pictures.

Lemon Skunk:
LS28.jpg

LS17.jpg


RockLock:
RL23.jpg

RL15.jpg


Lemon Skunk next to RockLock:
LR3.jpg
 
SmokeyMacPots said:
Glad to finally see you with your grow under control, and everything looking happy! +reps for not giving up!
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Thanks Smokey! Yeah I've come a long way and I have learned a ton. I'm not at harvest yet but from what I've learned from the people on this site I am confident I will get to harvest. I have also stopped worrying about every little thing as much (I still worry a little though lol). I have my one lemon skunk in hydro not looking good but I'm not worried I'll watch her and do what I can to help her out and I'm sure she will pull through!
 
Ok so I just have a few questions (whats new) 1st. where the nodes are on the plant I see what looks like little pistols around the stem but its only by where the nodes are is this where more leaves will branch out or is it something else? so where the nodes are will anymore leaves or branches come from there?

2nd Where do the buds form? I know this is a dumb question but in all honesty I don't know where to expect the buds to form, is it on the nodes or the branches or maybe on the stem?

3rd The oldest lemon skunk has a very tall stem from stretching I will be transplanting it again soon to a larger pot, should I burry it to just under the first node or is it fine the way it is?
 
tnoldon said:
Ok so I just have a few questions (whats new) 1st. where the nodes are on the plant I see what looks like little pistols around the stem but its only by where the nodes are is this where more leaves will branch out or is it something else? so where the nodes are will anymore leaves or branches come from there?

2nd Where do the buds form? I know this is a dumb question but in all honesty I don't know where to expect the buds to form, is it on the nodes or the branches or maybe on the stem?

3rd The oldest lemon skunk has a very tall stem from stretching I will be transplanting it again soon to a larger pot, should I burry it to just under the first node or is it fine the way it is?
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Ok, first question. What you are seeing between the leaf stem and the main stem is the beginning of a branch.

Second question, the buds form at the tops of branches, and at any nodes. When nodes are close together, the buds will sometimes interlock with each other to form one large bud. This is how colas are formed.

Third question, you will not hurt the lemon skunk at all if you plant some of that stem under the dirt. I wouldn't go to the first node, but an inch or so under the first set of leaves should be sufficient.
 
Looking good! Topping and fimming are really the same. Topping won't stop vertical growth, it will just created 2 new tops from the original.

All that growth you see at the nodes? As smokey said those are new branches/bud sites. When you lst the plant those that are exposed to the light become new colas.
 
Thanks for answering the questions Smokey and Blue! ok haha knowledge is power right? Ok well I'm glad I know what all that stuff is and where to expect buds to form. I can't wait to try fiming and then LSTing to the rocklock plant and see what happens! I'm hoping when the steam splits the plant will get even bigger.

One thing I noticed and its probably because I've never grown before. For every new set of leaves the plant is making they are always a good size larger then the leaves below it. I am hoping it doesn't become a problem making it top heavy or restricting to much light from the rest of the plant.
 
tnoldon said:
Thanks for answering the questions Smokey and Blue! ok haha knowledge is power right? Ok well I'm glad I know what all that stuff is and where to expect buds to form. I can't wait to try fiming and then LSTing to the rocklock plant and see what happens! I'm hoping when the steam splits the plant will get even bigger.

One thing I noticed and its probably because I've never grown before. For every new set of leaves the plant is making they are always a good size larger then the leaves below it. I am hoping it doesn't become a problem making it top heavy or restricting to much light from the rest of the plant.
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Leaves during the veg stage are very important. They do block light from the bottom, but at this stage it is much more beneficial to the plant for all the fan leaves to receive light. Once you start budding, you can prune any leaves that are blocking bud sites from getting light. In flower, you want the buds to get the most light. With LST, you are increasing light penetration to the whole plant. And as far as being top heavy, as long as you have a fan blowing and gently shaking the plants the stems should get strong enough to support itself.
 
Awesome thats makes sense :) so is it possible to LST and Top a plant at the same time or is this way to much stress for the plant?
 
tnoldon said:
Awesome thats makes sense :) so is it possible to LST and Top a plant at the same time or is this way to much stress for the plant?
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Actually it is quite possible. Check my current grow. I LST'd all my plants, and topped 2 of them on top of that. But after doing this, I realized I can get the same result with just LST. Although, topping did promote my lower branches to grow more vigorously. But that's why we do these things, to learn!
 
SmokeyMacPots said:
Actually it is quite possible. Check my current grow. I LST'd all my plants, and topped 2 of them on top of that. But after doing this, I realized I can get the same result with just LST. Although, topping did promote my lower branches to grow more vigorously. But that's why we do these things, to learn!
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Great I was looking at your grow and by the way everything looks awesome! So if I go about the LSTing how do I do this? how will I know when I bent the plant enough? I mean she is tall enough to start bending know. and also how tight do I tie her down?
 
After looking closely at your plants again I missed how much they grew from the LSTing and toping you did I went back to look at when you first did it and then looked at the later pictures and WOW that was a ton of growth all over the plant! So I think my best bet after know really thinking about it all is starting the LST and then toping this weekend if its ready for that!
 
tnoldon said:
Great I was looking at your grow and by the way everything looks awesome! So if I go about the LSTing how do I do this? how will I know when I bent the plant enough? I mean she is tall enough to start bending know. and also how tight do I tie her down?
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tnoldon said:
After looking closely at your plants again I missed how much they grew from the LSTing and toping you did I went back to look at when you first did it and then looked at the later pictures and WOW that was a ton of growth all over the plant! So I think my best bet after know really thinking about it all is starting the LST and then toping this weekend if its ready for that!
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Thanks man. This is my first attempt at LST, so don't think I am some expert! All I can say is it worked for me! As far as bending, I would bend the plant over until I felt a small resistance and tie it there. Then the next day you should be able to tighten that piece of string up to get the plant completely horizontal. Slow is better with LST. You can always go back and tighten down where you want to. It's as easy as that!

So far I am really happy with this method and I plan on implementing it to all of my future grows. It really utilizes all of your available space. Mine are still less than 12" in height, but I have at least 8 main colas forming!
 
Thanks for the info Smokey and expert or not you sure know what you're doing! Ok so Whats with the bottom tie at the base of the steam? How exactly is that doing anything I see all LST'd plants with that is it to help it from snapping or something?

I used your picture as an example lol:
asa1.jpg
 
That is the all important anchor my friend. I put that there to make sure the plant doesn't rip out of the soil when you are bending it over. I highly recommend it, because it would suck to have gone this far and then you go and pull her up by the roots accidentally.

And I thought that picture looked familiar! :grinjoint:
 
Ok Smokey I am going to attempt this tonight if I get time and I will post pictures when I'm finished. Hope it all goes well :)
 
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