LST Made Easy!
Hey guys!
Im going to do a quick update on how I LST my plants.
I know a few of my farmer friends on here were both curious and a little nervous as to how exactly the whole thing works, so I thought i'd make a small tutorial. Its pretty simple.
I know there are a few other threads out there with a litttle more complicated and different ways of doing LST. But to me, I like to keep things simple, and if you just take a look at the pictures you'll see that you can't argue with the results.
Im keeping this in my diary for now, but if people like it I might post it as a thread.
Welcome to LST made easy.
To begin, Im going to quote the section on "training" from Chapter 11 of Greg Green's "The Cannabis Grow Bible (4th Edition)".
"Training is done by simply attaching a piece of thread to the
stem and bending the plant over. The thread is then locked down to
either another part of the stem or a piece of the growroom frame.
People have managed to grow all kinds of shaped plants using this
method - from cork screw shapes to complete full circles. Some
growers even like to grow their plants horizontally across during the
vegetative stage of growth. During the flowering cycle the light is
moved above the plant to encourage thicker bud growth along the
main stem. Sometimes this method does not work so well, but when it
does the overall bud production can be excellent.
If during your training a stem should break simply hold it in
place again using a stake/stick support and bind it with cheesecloth or
a cloth bandagewrap with pours. Applying honey to the wound also
has its benefits. If you rub honey into the wound the plant should be
able to heal itself a bit quicker. Watch out for any new growth at the
break area and try to trim these away should any be produced because
they will try to break away the upper part of the stem, effectively
TOPPING your plant."
So with that basic summary im going to show the difference between plants that were not LST'd versus plants that were.
The plants on the left were just grown naturally without any LST.
The plants on the right have all been LST'd.
Notice the difference!? In the picture on the left the plants are tall and thin. The picture on the right on the other hand, there is giant canopy's on all of them. Keeping in mind the plants on the right were also quite a bit younger in age.
All you have to do to get started is use a piece of thread or string to tie your plant down to one side. Whatever works for you.
I personally use Pipe Cleaners!
You know the ones you used when you were a kid for Arts & Crafts!?
Ya! Those ones! You can get a pack of 200 at Wal-Mart for like 3$.
After you bend your main stem over to one side it should
look something like this.
(lights were off during this pic. Hence why it looks sad)
After your initial bend you have a few options, you can choose to only bend it once and let it grow. (Topping also works great along side LST'ing)
Your results will look something like this.
The pictures were taken 23 days apart from the first bend.
Notice how all the smaller side stems that used to be along side the main one have now grown themselves just as tall as the main stem. Amazing.
Now you wouldn't have to wait 23 days if you wanted to do a 4 way bend.
I only wanted to demonstrate what the plant would look like had we only bent it once. But like I mentionned above, we have another option.
After about 10-15 days or so, you should have significant growth from the time of your first bend. Little side shoots will have started to get more light and grow stronger and bigger upwards towards the source. Which will in turn create more stems. But now that we have a few other stems,
if we want to get a little more creative we can do a 4 way bend and bend those as well.
You results will look like this!
Once again after 23 days your results for the 4 way bend should look something like this!
In conclusion! As you can see there is a pretty massive and bushy canopy with allot of main stems now which will result in more colas and more bud sites!!
You always want to keep trimming your bottom leaves and smaller branches which might not be receiving as much light. (Yellowing leaves are an indicator)
This ensures that leaves and branches which will never reach the top anyways wont take up as much nutrients and energy from the rest of the plant. Never remove all the branches. Cannabis plants need at least 50% of the leaves to continue growing without fatal stunting problems. If you go less than 50% you may end up killing them.
Hope this was helpful!!
Grow safe and keep em green!!
-Producer
