No problem guys
dr-stevo, you can LST plants without topping them but then you have to make sure that the main shoot is tied down as low as possible, near the pots. You don't have to remove the main shoot in order for the plant to send up the secondary shoots. If the main shoot is tied down, you also cancel out the apical dominance and that will have the same effect as removing it altogether. You sort of trick the plant into believing that it's gone.
Still, topping the plant makes things easier because then you don't have to mind the main shoot at all. Doing so also gives you symmertrical plants.
The other option is super cropping. Then you just pinch the central stem and bend down the main shoot. You can continue super cropping as the secondary shoots grow taller etc. You just keep bending stuff out of the way and the plant finally grows into a large bush. This method has its benefits because you never remove any growth from the plant, you just bend it out of the way. Plants spend precious energy on every part that grows, so removing something, also means that the energy is lost.
Topping and LSTing is however a very simple method for getting bushy plants. If you prefer neat, symmetrical plants, then this is the option for you. Since you will only remove the main shoot, it's not a big loss but you have to top them early on, before they invest a lot of energy into the central stem and main shoot.
It's your call, really. Try the method that you like best.
I like topping and LSTing because I've gotten very used to it but I sometimes also super crop plants when they grow very tall. You can get away with at least 90 degree bends on the stems, sometimes more. The plant repairs the damage quite rapidly and it will also grow thicker in that location, like broken bones. You'll end up with these round "knuckles" on the broken stems. Sometimes female plants produce buds that are so heavy that the stems cannot support them, and they break under the weight. Keeping fans in the grow room is a good idea, because the stems grow thicker when they rock back and forth in the wind. Weak stems is only a problem indoors, which is why you sometimes have to give them additional support. Super cropping takes care of that problem to some degree, because the stems grow thicker when you break the inner cellulose network, and the branches can thereby support more weight.
Training is a relatively slow process, so you need to give the plants some time in veg and remain patient. Most regular indoor strains will remain in a vegetative stage until you flip the switch and change the light schedule to 12/12. In other words, you can keep the plants in veg for as long as you need.
The scrog net is a very handy tool indoors, especially if don't have room for fans. It provides support for the buds and also gives you the opportunity to redirect the shoots, so that they cover the entire grow area. You place the scrog above the growing shoots and then allow them to grow through it. You adjust the location of the shoots at the same time, thereby making sure that every hole in the net is occupied by buds.
Like this:
You can also use string or gardening wire to support the buds but using all of these things together will give you better results. The scrog is handy no matter which method you use. I usually tie the buds to the scrog, for additional support and control. You can also tuck and tie fan leaves beneath the scrog, thereby allowing more light to pass down the the lower leaves, without actually removing any fan leaves. The fan leaves produce most of the energy that the plant needs, and they are also used to store up energy for later use. I've tried different approaches and leaving the fan leaves alone seems to produce the largest and healthiest buds.
As a matter of fact, the less you mess with the plants, the better they seem to do. I apply the training and when the work is done, I leave the plants alone. Nature takes care of the rest. I train them during the vegetative stage and sometimes early into flowering, but you should be done by the time the plants start putting on real weight. Then it's best to just let them do their own thing.
It's good to keep an open mind and to get creative while training the plants. You will find that most things will work in one way or the other. The plants will adapt to almost anything. I try new things all the time and the good plants always seem to bounce back. These plants grows extremely fast and they also seem to handle most things that you throw at them. Then ones that don't, weren't really worth keeping in the first place. You need to look for strong, stable female plants that can handle a lot of environmental stress.
I also use plant growth hormones to speed things up a bit. Basically we're talking about steroids for plants. They cause rapid cell division, cell elongation etc. You have to train the plants at the same time or they will get out of hand. Look for products that contain kelp/sea weed extracts.
Growth hormones can however mess with the sexuality of the plant, but only if the plant is genetically predisposed to the dual-sex condition. You can't turn a plant into a hermie because if it becomes a hermie, it was also a hermie from the start. It's genetic. Dioecious plants apparently evolved from more simple, monoecious ancestors, so the trait remains active in these plants today. All female plants (and some males) are more or less prone to this condition. Stable female plants will not turn on you, even when subjected to high levels of stress. That's the plants that you want. The more they can handle, the better. You then clone the good plants and grow them several times over. Later on, you might want to crossbreed good plants, in order to get even better plants.
The goal here is to create lots of shoots and frequent nodes. You usually end up with more shoots than you need, so you can pick the best ones and remove the rest. Usually, you'll need about 5-6 dominant shoots per plant. When the nodes are close to each other, they buds will eventually interconnect. They will cover the stems completely and you'll end up with basically one huge bud on each branch. That bud can grow extremely fat, the size of large soda bottles. That is why you have to train the plant, so that the nodes are frequent and not spaced too far apart. I also try to push the production towards the top shoots, by removing lower "pop corn" buds.
The amount of growth on a plant also determines the energy distribution. The lower buds will need some of that energy and that slows things down. By removing them, you also free up more energy for the top colas. By doing so, you enable them to grow larger in less time.
For now, I recommend that you keep things as simple as possible. Top, train, scrog and see how that goes. We learn new things from every grow and some things have to be seen, in order to be fully understood. So, you might as well focus on a few things and then deal with different scenarios, when they arise.
dr-stevo, you can LST plants without topping them but then you have to make sure that the main shoot is tied down as low as possible, near the pots. You don't have to remove the main shoot in order for the plant to send up the secondary shoots. If the main shoot is tied down, you also cancel out the apical dominance and that will have the same effect as removing it altogether. You sort of trick the plant into believing that it's gone.
Still, topping the plant makes things easier because then you don't have to mind the main shoot at all. Doing so also gives you symmertrical plants.
The other option is super cropping. Then you just pinch the central stem and bend down the main shoot. You can continue super cropping as the secondary shoots grow taller etc. You just keep bending stuff out of the way and the plant finally grows into a large bush. This method has its benefits because you never remove any growth from the plant, you just bend it out of the way. Plants spend precious energy on every part that grows, so removing something, also means that the energy is lost.
Topping and LSTing is however a very simple method for getting bushy plants. If you prefer neat, symmetrical plants, then this is the option for you. Since you will only remove the main shoot, it's not a big loss but you have to top them early on, before they invest a lot of energy into the central stem and main shoot.
It's your call, really. Try the method that you like best.
I like topping and LSTing because I've gotten very used to it but I sometimes also super crop plants when they grow very tall. You can get away with at least 90 degree bends on the stems, sometimes more. The plant repairs the damage quite rapidly and it will also grow thicker in that location, like broken bones. You'll end up with these round "knuckles" on the broken stems. Sometimes female plants produce buds that are so heavy that the stems cannot support them, and they break under the weight. Keeping fans in the grow room is a good idea, because the stems grow thicker when they rock back and forth in the wind. Weak stems is only a problem indoors, which is why you sometimes have to give them additional support. Super cropping takes care of that problem to some degree, because the stems grow thicker when you break the inner cellulose network, and the branches can thereby support more weight.
Training is a relatively slow process, so you need to give the plants some time in veg and remain patient. Most regular indoor strains will remain in a vegetative stage until you flip the switch and change the light schedule to 12/12. In other words, you can keep the plants in veg for as long as you need.
The scrog net is a very handy tool indoors, especially if don't have room for fans. It provides support for the buds and also gives you the opportunity to redirect the shoots, so that they cover the entire grow area. You place the scrog above the growing shoots and then allow them to grow through it. You adjust the location of the shoots at the same time, thereby making sure that every hole in the net is occupied by buds.
Like this:
You can also use string or gardening wire to support the buds but using all of these things together will give you better results. The scrog is handy no matter which method you use. I usually tie the buds to the scrog, for additional support and control. You can also tuck and tie fan leaves beneath the scrog, thereby allowing more light to pass down the the lower leaves, without actually removing any fan leaves. The fan leaves produce most of the energy that the plant needs, and they are also used to store up energy for later use. I've tried different approaches and leaving the fan leaves alone seems to produce the largest and healthiest buds.
As a matter of fact, the less you mess with the plants, the better they seem to do. I apply the training and when the work is done, I leave the plants alone. Nature takes care of the rest. I train them during the vegetative stage and sometimes early into flowering, but you should be done by the time the plants start putting on real weight. Then it's best to just let them do their own thing.
It's good to keep an open mind and to get creative while training the plants. You will find that most things will work in one way or the other. The plants will adapt to almost anything. I try new things all the time and the good plants always seem to bounce back. These plants grows extremely fast and they also seem to handle most things that you throw at them. Then ones that don't, weren't really worth keeping in the first place. You need to look for strong, stable female plants that can handle a lot of environmental stress.
I also use plant growth hormones to speed things up a bit. Basically we're talking about steroids for plants. They cause rapid cell division, cell elongation etc. You have to train the plants at the same time or they will get out of hand. Look for products that contain kelp/sea weed extracts.
Growth hormones can however mess with the sexuality of the plant, but only if the plant is genetically predisposed to the dual-sex condition. You can't turn a plant into a hermie because if it becomes a hermie, it was also a hermie from the start. It's genetic. Dioecious plants apparently evolved from more simple, monoecious ancestors, so the trait remains active in these plants today. All female plants (and some males) are more or less prone to this condition. Stable female plants will not turn on you, even when subjected to high levels of stress. That's the plants that you want. The more they can handle, the better. You then clone the good plants and grow them several times over. Later on, you might want to crossbreed good plants, in order to get even better plants.
The goal here is to create lots of shoots and frequent nodes. You usually end up with more shoots than you need, so you can pick the best ones and remove the rest. Usually, you'll need about 5-6 dominant shoots per plant. When the nodes are close to each other, they buds will eventually interconnect. They will cover the stems completely and you'll end up with basically one huge bud on each branch. That bud can grow extremely fat, the size of large soda bottles. That is why you have to train the plant, so that the nodes are frequent and not spaced too far apart. I also try to push the production towards the top shoots, by removing lower "pop corn" buds.
The amount of growth on a plant also determines the energy distribution. The lower buds will need some of that energy and that slows things down. By removing them, you also free up more energy for the top colas. By doing so, you enable them to grow larger in less time.
For now, I recommend that you keep things as simple as possible. Top, train, scrog and see how that goes. We learn new things from every grow and some things have to be seen, in order to be fully understood. So, you might as well focus on a few things and then deal with different scenarios, when they arise.
You could consider leaving the lower shoots alone for now and transplanting into larger pots. Extend the vegetative stage and you'll end up with monster crops from those plants. Continue LSTing and flower them when they get big. If space is an issue, train more horizontally as the shoots grow. Keep them low and wide. Anything is possible.
