My plant has been in the soil for 22 days and to combat the initial stretch I decided to LST it by pulling the main branch to the side. Unlike my expectations, there's no side branching happening. All the leaves are very close to the main stem, am I training it wrong? Growing with CFLs and the main stem is growing fast.
The plant has to already have branches. Bending forces them to grow up while the top is tied down. That plant has no side growth yet. Maybe it needs more light so it wont be thin and stretchy.
You have to top it to release the side branches from dormancy. Topping it removes the apical meristem which the hormone auxin is produced that suppresses side branches from growing. Once topped, those side branches will grow.