I have not 'trained' any of my plants (first attempt at growing) but I've got a list of mistakes I've made already. My plants (at 9 weeks from seed) SEEM to be doing very well but they also seem to be much shorter than others on the forum (about 2 feet tall now). I have done some major defoliation about 3-4 times, usually 10-14 days apart, and the plants have rebounded vigorously each time, but I'm sure the plants were stressed and possibly stunted as well. I defoliated to provide more light to node sites and to encourage more bud locations, it seems to have worked well. I 'topped' all plants at about 4-5 weeks and that worked out well. I'm thinking now that the plants may be 'root bound' in 5-gal smart pots and 3-gal plastic pots. I'm growing in soil (50/50 happy frog/organic, 10% pearlite) and would do so again, but I think I need more pearlite to keep the soil from compacting, seemingly a serious problem right now. I'm considering trying to loosen the soil somehow but don't want to damage the root system. Loosening the soil would also allow more efficient watering IMO, as the water would get into all parts of the soil bucket. I'm not complaining B/C I'm extremely excited by what I've achieved so far, and truly believe I'll be harvesting some fabulous home-grown flowers soon. I'm growing mostly sativas along with a couple of mostly indicas. Planning to flip to flower at 10 weeks or so, just want a little more height from these girls before that. I actually didn't need to 'train' for height (my tent is 7ft tall at least) and my light footprint seems adequate. I would consider jumping from 600W MH/HPS to 1000W MH/HPS though.
I'm trying to put together an article and want to make sure I cover the most common mistakes!
