I put down a couple tomato cages today. On Peaceblaster #1 and the mystery sativa. Both big plants adding bud sites fast, and both have pretty wimpy stems.
Figured id better post how i do my tomato cages, i do them pretty different. Someone out there will likely find this useful/interesting.
I wait a lot longer to put cages down then most, and i put them down upside down. Sometimes a plant wont actually benefit from a cage so i wait and watch. There is a VERY easy way to put a cage on a larger plant, you just squeeze the plant from bottom up like its a christmas tree being netted up to drive home on top of a car.
After putting the cage over and getting branches where you want them, they just open right back up under gravity, completely unharmed.
It makes tomato cages not just useful, but actually practical for use with cannabis, and allows making much wider plants much earlier without fear of broken limbs later on. Im sure some have been cringing at the way ive topped them lmao.
I use 8-12 of these per cage to hold them to the ground. They are the little stakes that hold down landscaping fabric.
I use the cages upside down, because the conical shape better suits a cannabis plant topped early this way. And because you can bend the legs however you see fit to aid in holding the limbs up.
And like i have said many times, im a cheapskate.... This is my usual method for pushing plants more open outside... I find a stick of the appropriate size and wedge it. Even in the wind, its very rare they fall out because the entire plant moves together once you install a couple perfect sticks lmao.
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On an unrelated note, the plot thickens on my mystery sativa. Very unexpectedly it's my first plant to have fully developed pistils and calyxes. There are also glandular trichomes present on the calyxes and pistils both.
@Captspaulding im becoming less worried its a seed originating from industrial hemp pollen already. It is also a lot more willing to branch out then hemp pollenated canna seeds usually are. Instead im wondering now if it's about to autoflower on me. I dont think it is, but i def have a raised eyebrow now.
Ive had a bunch of these little spiders move in as well. Haven't seen these ones on my plants before. Very cool lookin critters. Had lady bugs and mantises recently too, but they seem to have moved on already, or just like to come out on my plants during overcast weather.
All
pyrethrin spraying has been stopped for close to a week now not to return until next spring.
Got a bunch of wild shamrocks growing in. Leaving them, but weeding out the vultures. Will be cleaning up the bottoms of the plants very soon as well.