It's day 14 for my autos, should I think about LST soon?

[SleepyTibbs]

My setup is as follows:

• Vivosun 2'x4'x5' growtent
• Vivosun 4" inline fan system with carbon filter
• 2 Viparspectra P1000 LED lights 2' above plants
• 7" 3 speed fan for circulation
• Vivosun 3gal fabric pots
• Fox Farm Happy Frog potting soil

I have 3 gorilla glue autos growing right now. Two of them are growing pretty well and are on day 14, the one on the left is at day 15 but unfortunately is doing very poorly right now, which I cant seem to figure out as they are all under the same conditions. The reason I am posting though is to ask about LST for the 2 that are doing well. I have read that for autos it is a good idea to start LST right around week 3 so I was hoping for some input before getting to that point. Currently the lights are 24" above the canopy at 100% intenstity. I only have 10.5" of height above the lights to work with for raising them, so the plants can only grow about 12"-14" taller before height becomes an issue. I am completely new to growing anything so the idea of bending it a little and tying it to the edge of the pot is a bit frightening. With the plants entering their 2nd week I was also wondering if it might be a good time to start adding nutrients to the water, like Fox farm's Grow Big or something. Thanks in advance, this is a very helpful community and I appreciate all of you who take the time to answer questions.

[SoOrbudgal]

Yes sir SleepyTibbs go ahead and LST those healthy ones. Just anchor the bottom to the soil as to when you bend over top she won't move in the soil. Water before or after doing it. Take some deep breaths weed hopper you can do it.

[SleepyTibbs]

I gave them each about a SOLO cup full of water on the 24th, should I wait until tomorrow to start LST when they are more likely to need water?

[Canuck147]

Yup you can start training now.
Check out a thread I started - autoflower training - I have 3 plants i am LST ing.

[SoOrbudgal]

Sure if you want to SleepyTibbs another day won't hurt an it will make them stronger. These little plants once they start going grow fast an get real firm snappy branches. So OK to wait till tomorrow.

[SleepyTibbs]

SoOrbudgal Is there a specific direction I should bend them, for example, perpendicular to the last node or anything like that? Was planning on doing something similar to the picture here but I have poly-coated wire instead of twine and I am going to use those little tie fighter looking paper clips clamped to the pot as the tie down point.

[SoOrbudgal]

Hey no real direction which way. Look at quirk he's showing a very good example of LST SleepyTibbs.

[quirk]

In your post you mentioned that you read it's a good idea to start around week three. I wait until a well developed fifth node and that's typically Day 20-24 from sprout, Then I remove under node 4 and start training. It's grower preference and this works for my autos. Here's a training tip when using fabric bags. Grommets. Good luck

[SleepyTibbs]

quirk Thank you the pictures help a lot. I was also asking a friend of mine for input and when I sent him the pictures I attached here he was saying the stalk looks pretty thick for their stage and recommended I turn the intensity of the lights down to 50%-60% and let them stretch vertically a bit. He also recommended topping around the red line in the other pictures after they stretch a bit instead of LST. They are familiar with both autos and photos but I think they are much more familiar with photos. In your pictures your autos look great so I think this grow I will try LST as you have shown it. When you prune the lower nodes do you do it all at once then tie down?

[quirk]

All at once SleepyTibbs .Takes a couple of minutes, from removal to tie down. I rarely top my autos, but when I do, I top above five and remove under four.
Glad the pics help. Example of both training methods.

[SleepyTibbs]

Definitely going to do LST on this first grow after seeing your examples. I noticed that top right picture has nodes very close together like mine do. Is that a good thing or is there something to what my buddy was saying about turning down the light intensity and letting them stretch a bit?

[quirk]

You're plants look just fine for their age. I'm not familiar with lowering light intensity to promote distance between nodes. I hit every strain with max light after day 14 and begin training when the fifth node is well developed, no matter the distance between nodes. Here's a couple of pics showing the anatomy of the finished product. First two pics are LST with the first showing one rough trimmed, one not. You can see nodes are tight. The last pic is of topped plants. LST yield was little under an ounce more than the topped plants.

[SleepyTibbs]

Those look beautiful! I would be extremely happy getting anywhere even close to that this time. I had the lights at 100% for most of the day and then down around 70% for a few hours, but after seeing your autos in comparison to others ive seen i'll stick with my first instinct and keep the lights at max unless the leaves start telling me they dont like it.

[Puglover1]

quirk My autos have been in pots in the closet on 24/0 veg for 10 days. They were 'born' on 4/11. Do you flip to flower mode after two weeks, and how many hours/day of lights? Thnx.

[PRIMO]

Top em at 3 weeks wait 2 weeks top em again tie em down,spread em out, defoliate once in a while, wait for the magic. It adds a few weeks to your grow ,but you'll love it. If you drop the tops you cut off in some rapid rooters you can grow some gnarly clones too! Just saying,.... "oh yeah you can"

[PRIMO]

quirk You were posting while I was typing "slowly" but I agree. Don't be afraid to abuse em a little, or a lot, they love it, and it pays off.

[SleepyTibbs]

I thought autoflowers started pre-flowering sometime soon after week 4 regardless of what you do to them?

[quirk]

Now you're talking SleepyTibbs and thank you.

[SleepyTibbs]

Do you use dry or liquid nutes at all when you grow autos? Apologies if I am annoying with all these questions, you have been a well of information for me today.

[SoOrbudgal]

Morning SleepyTibbs your questions are not annoying cause they show intelligence LOL sorry but it's true. It's just a matter of growers preferances with dry or liquid nutes. Me, i've always used a liquid with soil grows indoors but i also build my soil prior so that really don't need much food till after few good waterings an soil gets deplieted you'll know if they begin to yellow alittle bit or get much lighter green. Anyway.......autos need to start gradually feedings 1/4>1/2 then if no real Ph issues like leaf burns or spotting heavy, you can feed more. It's just getting to know them an how they react less is better. Small leaf tip burn is no big deal.

[SleepyTibbs]

Lol I know questions are part of what the forum is for but I dont want to bombard anyone. I was planning on using liquid nutes at 1/4 of the suggested schedule. I have been watering with distilled water from walmart though up until today and just read last night that when distilled comes into contact with oxygen its PH can drop from 7 all the way down to 5.5, im hoping i didnt mess up PH too bad in the soil as I dont have a tester but im going to get some spring water and some FF liquid nutes today. Plan on watering today with just water then when i water next time in about 3 days i was thinking id add nutes

[Canuck147]

Distilled water has no buffering ability.

[SleepyTibbs]

Canuck147 meaning it shouldnt negatively affect the soil PH?

[Canuck147]

Not sure about that - but if one tries to change the pH of distilled water one will make it either too alkaline or too acidic.

[SoOrbudgal]

SleepyTibbs yes don't use distilled use spring water or Ph drinking water.

[SleepyTibbs]

Canuck147 that sounds similar to why I decided to switch to spring water today. What i was reading said that when distillled water comes in contact with air it starts pulling in CO2 which can drop its PH down to 5.5

[SoOrbudgal]

Exactly SleepyTibbs