Experiment in vertical no stress training

[alltatup]

I did some stem bending this morning, exposing bud sites. Shiva the big girl on the left definitely needed a little bending to approximate where the other two are. Then I put on the screens, as all plants are getting wide and it would risk damage to wait any longer:



Here's a closeup of big Shiva so you can hopefully see the colas:


I will try to wait this week out to lollypop, defol flip the switch and the nutes, unless the situation gets dire.

[SoOrbudgal]

How old are those now alltatup?

[alltatup]

SoOrbudgal They are 32 days old--almost 5 weeks from germination.

[DingusKhan]

That's impressive growth since you started this thread 8 days ago!

[alltatup]

DingusKhan One reason I dearly love my hydro setup...

[alltatup]

Switched to 12/12 yesterday.

They rebelled against being framed and constrained. They howled and cried all night, so I took off the cages today. They heaved a sigh of gratitude and spread out.

[SoOrbudgal]

I like the freedom you have given them too. Very lush and green.

[LurkingInTheGrass]

No assembly line bondage for you

Bespoke bondage for all 😁

[Farmall]

So what is your plan now? I know you were hoping to change things up in this new grow. Conventional tie-down? They do look lush

[alltatup]

No tie-down: this is a VERTICAL grow, I want to see the colas get taller, so I'm minimally training them. I bend the stems back and forth to give them strength and because they like it, I bend them away from each other, and I'm tucking leaves, exposing the shorter colas. It is different this time because I removed the tie-down thingies I had attached to my net pots, so I have nowhere to tie them down. I'm letting them go free-style with just a little guidance from me. No horizontal training at all.

[SoOrbudgal]

Alltatup I think you did a good thing this time around. If I may say abit about my 2 photos I got nearly done. I took the ties off them 3wks ago. Had arms and center trunk strapped down with wire. After removing them at approx. 35days into flowering the arms slowly extended upwards the colas seem to be swelling more without restraints. I figured stretch was nearly over and I had plenty of height left. You may of found the key component on your cola lengths. Just a thought, anyhoo sorry if I rambled. Party on!

[alltatup]

SoOrbudgal I've condluded that in my setup, on my time schedule, less horizontal training is better. My first consideration has to be the limited amount of space I have, so I have to make that work. We'll see how these babies shoot up over the next 3 weeks, and take it from there!!

Girl, you really need to get a smart phone and post photos.

[SoOrbudgal]

No kidding about the phone, i'm going to work out something with a member here to show me how to set this up cause i'm not able to. I'm going to talk with him later. Yes the space I get it. And yes I think what I've noticed with my grow on release is that the harvest time is on track per seed strain info.

[alltatup]

Day 18 flower:


Day 20 defol:


I did some minor floral arrangement to spread colas out in a couple of places. Main colas were all basically good to go on their own--showing, once again, that Cannabis plants are smarter than humans.

[SoOrbudgal]

Looking very strong alltatup I think you may of done a good thing this round. Beautiful job.

[Obi-Wan]

Stacking very nicely, looking like they’re about 2/3 to where you want them....I think they have a little left in them to reach the finish line!!

[alltatup]

WEEK 5 FLOWER STARTS TODAY:

This is before and after today's defoliation. I'm delighted with the bud growth, and the colas are looking strong. The buds have been growing very vigorously all along. Somewhat short, yes, but I'm quite happy with them.



Blue OG, which has definitely become one of my favorites. I'm vaping some that's been curing for 13 weeks: kick ass.


Here's the other box, rounding out week 4 of veg. I finally found the solution to my LST problem: I tied down those screens to the pots, and now I can really train them correctly. I've been experimenting for most of the time I've been growing to find the solution to allow me to train like y'all do in large soil pots, and I have finally found it.

Before and after some defoliation and training:

Kosher Kush (rear right): I didn't top her, I'm just letting her grow herself. She is definitely much more Indica than the other two, and she won't get very tall. But she's chugging away.

I've also finally been able to mobilize a mind set I've been stuck in for around 3 years, and I extended the veg. period. I was indeed trying to get to harvest a little quicker than I should have, and now I understand what I've been sacrificing by rushing--HEIGHT and WEIGHT. Nebula says the key to great flowering is great preparation during veg, and I finally understand what that means for my grow room and my grow boxes. That and the screens have transformed my game. I hope I got a lil bit more. It's funny to me how hard it can be to figure out a problem in growing, and then to suddenly really understand what I've been doing wrong. I'll say it again: GW isn't easy. There are like 5 billion details that have to get put together the right way.

[SoOrbudgal]

Good Saturday to you alltatup sister those colas are looking fantastic they look taller than the other grows. How's school treating you? You have some powerful strains there do you know which one you vape and which one you'd make tincture when you buy your seeds?

[alltatup]

Hello sister budgal, thanks for the kind words. School is... 2 weeks down 13 to go. Love my students, can't stand administrators.

I always mix all the strains to make tincture; the more terpenes, the merrier. I don't discriminate against any strain for tincture or vaping!!!! ;-}

[SoOrbudgal]

Ya know it's always admin. LOL fuckers no matter what career. OK good to know. I just do dry herb and make kief balls from my grinder. I love the description of one haze I think. Oiley greasy my favorite, kinda like my cooking

[alltatup]

Start of week 7: The two in back are Shiva Skunk; the shorter one has golden stigmas, and the larger one is still growing, buds swelling a lot. Two more weeks or so...



And here's the other box, starting week 2 flower:

[LurkingInTheGrass]

LOL

She makes the appropriate oohs and aahs (even when she doesn't understand) when I make her look at the garden

Definitely,a keeper 😍

[JohnEmad]

mine too, lol, She says appropiately that I am a mad scientist with ocd and focused on my plants...

[alltatup]

JohnEmad Another wise and all-seeing woman!!!!

[Greengringo]

They are looking fabulous..can't wait to see the final product..you go girl.

[alltatup]

gracias, gringo.

[Obi-Wan]

Plenty of full colas, looks like your experiment is starting to pay off.

[alltatup]

I'm learning on this grow that if I decide on 8 main colas and I train them enough that they are each in their own space, I'll get better results. No shorties. Let all the energy and auxins go to the big ones.

[Greengringo]

De Nada alltatup.

[alltatup]

Muy amable, gringoverde

[Farmall]

Come se llama... se llama Farmall.... (high school 1967)

[alltatup]

Wk 9 flush: Shiva Skunk on left, Blue OG on right. I harvested the small Shiva a week ago; amazing the differences between the two phenotypes I grew this time. She was small and ripened quickly; the big Shiva still has a way to go to ripen, and the Blue OG will be ready to cut down in 2-3 days.

Big Shiva has some huge buds on her, some of the biggest I've grown; I'm really convinced that it's like 80% genetics and 20% grower skill. I just tend to them while they express their genetics. I grow Small Shiva and Big Shiva side by side, and it's the only explanation for their differences. So now I see a packet of seeds is like 5 kids from the same parents--all siblings--and each one is different from the others, though some sibs have overlapping traits with some of the others. There's variety. This also leads me to conclude that I've been deceived by the pics the breeders put up to sell their product: OF COURSE they aren't going to put up the runts. They'll show us the cup winners. But I'm understanding better that: a. this is another reason to germinate more than one plans to grow, and to choose the strongest growers; and b. I make some mistakes along the way, but I luck out with the good genetics, and grow a runt with the "other" genetics.

So Big Shiva has been a magnificent plant all the way through the grow, and continues to fatten; she's amazing, taking her own sweet time to ripen.



Starting week 4 of flower over here. The rear two are new strains by Garden of Green, the high THC & CBD strains. Kosher Kush, right rear, has been weird all along. She's very short and kushy, and her leaves have been weird. Meanwhile, the other two plants are humming along. I will definitely pop more than one of this strain next time. And I have to take better notes on how each seedling comes along so I can see if there's strong corolation between early signs of vigor or slowness, and later growth.

[Farmall]

alltatup these plants have been manipulated well and look like mega producers. When was the bottom photo taken in relation to the monster colas developing in the top two pics? These look like your biggest yield yet

[Farmall]

Well there is no scale item to compare in the photo but you’re only at week 4... I see bigger

YOU ? Looking stupid.... NO Fu^#!ng way.... NEVER !

[alltatup]

Hah!!! Famous last words!!! I can be the biggest stupid dummbo in the world. Can't we all?? I am sooooo totally human.... and neurotic at times....

[Farmall]

😂 😂. 🤫