Autoflower training

[Catfish22]

00 Kush, Northern Lights x 2. First two are Kush topped, second two are NL bent over, third is the runt that insisted on growing at a 45° angle.

[SleepyTibbs]

Decided to take the tie downs off of the branches for now and just let her show me the way she wants to grow, other than the bend in the main stem. I'm still going to be following this thread closely though for future grows lol

[SleepyTibbs]

Canuck147 I bent the whole plant over just to cut down on height. I'm letting it grow up from this point on though. With the bend, plus the small amount of horizontal growth it did before continuing to grow vertically, I saved about 3-4 inches of vertical space in the tent. That was the idea anyway. So, I still have just the one apical dominant cola growing and now my goal is to just help the future flowering sites branching from that spread out a bit so they can receive equal light. Maybe I should just let her grow as she wants to from this point lol On my next grow I am definitely going to be topping after the 5th node and attempting to grow 2 colas and spread it out from there on at least one of the plants.

[Canuck147]

Tuff question SleepyTibbs - had to think about it - just my opinion but topping is definitely different and more absolute and final - instead of having one atypical dominant cola - you get two that generally reduce the e height the plant will grow. Then it's a bit easier to bend them both down.
Your plant is hard to see what you're doing - I imagine you're trying to bend the whole plant over ? LST is difficult for experienced growers - let alone the first time growing .

[SleepyTibbs]

Canuck147 Thank you, that makes sense. With all the new growth over night, shaping it is starting to make a little more sense to me. That's why I took the one tie down off a lower branch because I realized I wouldn't mind it growing vertically from where it is. With the tie downs I have on the 6th node I was planning on removing or adjusting them later today or tomorrow after it has grown out a bit. I just wanted to make space for the growth coming in from below the fan leaves and allow light through. Is there anything you might recommend I do differently?

[Canuck147]

Main stem won't stiffen up as you wish - it'll just go back to growing the way it wants.
I reset my bindings every day sometimes twice a day - I n still check and reset everyday - one has to allow for vertical growth. I've moved my light up 4 inches in 3 days.

[SleepyTibbs]

Canuck147 I am completely new to growing any type of plant lol So I am really just going off of what I have read and I kept seeing "never top an auto" but then I see people like you doing it well. Im hoping the 2 seeds I have left for Gorilla Glue both germinate for my next grow so that I can grow two using topping and compare the differences to this grow where I am using just LST with some pruning. I also have 5 Critical purple auto seeds left over but those were boasting averages of 27%THC so I wanted a couple of grows under my belt before growing those. Back to the training though, I was wondering when I can remove the wire. For example, the 1 I have holding the stem in place as it bends and the one bending it can be removed when the main stem stiffens up and applies that bark like skin right? Threw in some pictures of what I did this morning. Tied down the 6th node now that it has developed enough to make room for and let light to the 5th nodes future flowering sites, and I took a tie down off of one of the future flowering sites coming up from the 4th node because I wouldn't mind it growing vertically from where it is at. The whole point of LST is to space out the flowering sites in an attempt to get them equal light right? Was looking at the smaller one this morning and felt like its smaller branches could mature just a little more before I start tying down, so maybe later today or tomorrow I'll start on her

[Canuck147]

I asked cuz just wondering why not topping?

[SleepyTibbs]

Canuck147 The bigger one has a 6th node developed and the 7th node is coming up, the other one has a 5th node with a 6th popping up. I trained the bigger one in the same way a couple of days ago when it was at the same stage. I just went in and tied the 4th node branches slightly closer to the stem on the bigger plant so that they will grow in the opposite direction of the others and then I tied the new growth coming from above the 4th node down so that it will grow out from the main stem a bit more. Does this look like it will put her under too much stress? Shes been pretty tough so far when it comes to adding nutes or the previous training. Leaves are a little heavy, hopefully just from when I watered this morning when I pruned them. Canopy on the smaller one seems to be reorienting properly I'll start training branches tomorrow though. I dont want to stress her too much.

[Canuck147]

Which nodes are your plants up to?

[SleepyTibbs]

Wow I must have been way too stoned the first time I came and checked this thread. lol Canuck147 when you first told me to check it out my phone only showed me the first page and I was really confused on what I was supposed to get out of it. Just skimmed through the whole thread and realized this is all extremely useful info. This is definitely a forehead slapping moment. Reading all of this could have helped mine bush a little more over the past few days. Im guessing I should go in and tie down some of the branches at this point to help her spread out? They are both on day 18, the one on the left has been a little behind her sister so she was just pruned and bent this morning, where as the other was 2 days ago. Apologies for completely missing what you were trying to show me before. Your girls are beautiful and look very happy. How old are they? I'll be following closely now though. Will benefit my next grow big time. 😁

[Canuck147]

I follow manufacturers guidelines and nitrogen is backed down when I've seen the end of the stretch

[Catfish22]

Canuck147 , do you continue the N at the same dosage as veg or do you back them off. Most nute schedules I have seen back it off for autos at about week 4 or 5. I have cut mine a little but it seems they could use the N in the stretch.

[CaptainWiese91]

How many days now ?

[Canuck147]

Not bragging - but - i think I've got the right nutrients mixed into the correct soil mix that my cannabis plants thrive in. Just gotta watch out for bugs or other stuff