Low Stress Training, as well as nipping and bending to increase yeild.

[Guest guest]

Some Techniques to increase yield

A paraphrase from Marijuana Growers Guide, Mel Frank and Ed Rosenthal.

Each time you pinch, with thumb and forefinger a growing stem or tip, or cut it with a knife, two shoots begin to form from the nearest leaf axial( where the next step of leaves are).

This form of pruning allows the plant's side branches to develop earlier than they would have.

By doing this the plant has more branches and can present a greater area to gather more light, and grow larger.

This does set the plant back a little and not all strains do well with this technique, but this is the technique I use.

Plants grow from the tips of their stems and branches.

The growing tip produces a hormone, that prevents the lateral branches from growing, and this gives the plant its distinctive shape, as the further the branch is from the growing tip, the less the affect of the hormone.

That is why many strains have the distinctive Christmas tree shape, with the longest branches at the bottom of the plant.

This is another way f doing the same thing, but this technique does not cause stress to the plant:

Many people do not like to cut the growing shoot on the main stem, so they reduce the affect of the hormonal inhibitor, by not cutting the tip, but bending it over instead.

This forces the plant to grow outwards rather than upwards, as the top growing tip is now lower and this causes the lateral branches to develop more.

The first few inches of the stem are flexible, and using a wire twist or string it can be bent down and secured in that position, but the wire twist must be removed after a few days so there is no damage to the plant, as the branch turns upwards towards the light..

The tip is secured a number of times for a few days, over a period of weeks, and this forces the plant to grow outwards rather than upwards.

This technique develops large, bushy plants, with dense growth.

What the grower is after here, is a space full with a cubic layer of flower clusters, rather than a lot of stem.

This technique can more than double your yield, as long as you give the plants enough light.

This is the way I increase my yeild.

After nipping the growing tip on the main stem, the two bottom growing tips form two main branches.

I leave it until they have grown another two internodes or so, and then I nip each growing shoot on both branches.

This means each branch develops into 2 branches, so that I now have 4 main stems.

As these new branches are flexible, I bend the branches by hand slowly until they are horizontal, and train them to stay in that position,by continually bending them back into that position, as they grow towards the light.

I have to do this a number of times each light cycle, until they stay there.

It not only opens up the plant, but also causes all the lateral branches along the stem to grow upwards.

Given some time, using this technique, one plant looks like many plants in a sea of green.

The plant grows outward rather than upwards.

I visualize the plant as a sculpure, and imagine how I want it to be when it is in full bloom, and train it to that end.

while at the same time, opening it up so more light can get to the lower and inner branches.

The plants do need lots of light, and the more you give them, the more sucessful this technique will be.

When flowering, you will have a plant that is very large in area, but not very high, and this allows the light to penetrate the canopy, as it will only be a foot or so deep.

Here is another way to do the same thing, no one way is right or wrong,and each of us will favor a particular method, and modify it to suit own needs:

LST Low Stress Training

Well here we go, LST (Low Stress Training) the ultimate way to maximize your yield. It is important to start your grow with high potency marijuana seeds genetics, with LST you can even go for tall sativa cannabis seeds strains.

Before we begin lets get some knowledge on what you will be looking at:

Light Brown: Pot Outline

Green thick Lines: Main Stem

Small Thin Lines with Green Balls on top: Fan leafs

Yellow Lines: Side Branches

Red: Tiedown Metal Hooks (or thread whichever item you use, i use Hooks - it's easier)

The Text in the box: First digit is Step No. and Second Digit is Pot Size, below the numbers is the type of view your looking at (either from the SIDE or from the TOP)

STEP 1: Grow your plant from a potent marijuana seeds strain of choice to 3 or 4 leaf sets, some use 5 but i always use 3 because after 3rd leaf set the main stem starts to harden and it will be harder to bend over your plant properly without breaking the main stem.

STEP 2: Using a metal hook (i cut small sections of cloths hanger and bend a U shape at the end as a hook) bend over your plant with metal hook at the last internode (space between the last set of fanleafs and the next to last) and stick the metal hook into your dirt to hold down the stem.

STEP 3: This is really not a step, just waiting time... Take note of how the top of the plant that was bent down will bend back upwards towards the light, this could take anywhere from 3 hours to 1 day. Under my 1000 Watt Metal Halide light it does it in under 3 hours.

STEP 4: Veg and dont tie down until you have a new leaf set. You will notice Side branching has started already because good light is getting to the main stem areas next to each fanleaf stem intersection with the main stem.

STEP 5: Depending on your starting pot size you may have to transplant. If you started out with a large pot, repeat step 2 over and over again holding the main stem down with hooks until you reach the end of the pot. In this illustration to save time and drawings, i started out with a small pot and it reached the end of the pot after the first tiedown. I repotted it into a 10 inch pot which will be my final pot size for this plant in order for me to continue the LST Bends around the inside edge of the pot.

STEP 6: Now that your new leaf set has formed you have enough length in growth since the first bend( to allow you to start bending the stem horizontally around the inside edge of the pot. Use metal hooks again to keep this bend in place. Side branches should be coming along very nicely. Sativa cannabis seeds strains grow faster and produce more stems, indica marijuana seeds varieties will grow half as much.

STEP 7: Continue repeating steps 4 and 6, allowing the plant to grow and then keep tieing it down along the inside edge of pot using metal hooks (or whatever your using) Side branches should be forming and growing up towards the light.

STEP 8: Continue to repeat step 7 until you are all the way around the pot... when you reach the point where your plant first met the edge of the plant Top the plant (cut off the very top of the plant) and hold it down horizontally with a metal hook... During all this time of repeating step 7 you should also be tieing down horizontally the new branches that have formed from the main stem as much as possible until you use up as much space as possible inside the pot as well , the outter branches growing over the outside edge of the pot you can hold down as well with string to keep those tops even with the inner branches.

STEP 9: After you have used up all possible space inside the pot (or your eggcrate) its time to just let it flower.. This is a side view of how it will and should look by that time with all the side branches growing upwards towards the light... these will all become Collas unlike a non LST plant will only have one colla.

During flowering and even before due to lack of light on the main stem fan leafs which is all the way to the bottom almost against the soil those fanleafs will die off anyways, i usually cut these off the main stem right after the branch has grown out in that area, keeps things neat down below where you will need good airflow during flowering.. so go ahead and take off any fanleafs coming off the main stem that is going around the inside edge of the pot.

Set your timer to 12/12 and watch it bloom. There is no Step 10 in the picture but we all know what that is HARVEST!!!

Sativa indica hybrids or sativa marijuana seeds strains are suitable for LST as they grow fast and low stress training helps to control their height. Choose a potent, high yielding cannabis seeds variety for LST!

Here is another link on training by Ed Rosenthal:

forum.sensiseeds.com/forum_posts.asp

good luck and happy growing

[liljohnbigslick 0]

I'm a little disappointed I would have liked to see the yield. but it looks like an interesting idea

[Romeu9 491]

Excellent, John!

[anguscr 290]

Very nice... I saw something similar in an article, it was not a perfect circle, check the multicolas pic:

You're making me thing in doing this procedure with the Crystals:

We'll see my friend.

[Count42Zero 5]

I really loved this information, I have been thinking of trying a few different methods of pruning and bending and seeing what works best for me. I will definately be referring back to this post. Thanks.

[Romeu9 491]

Hey Guillermo

in the pic in the top from thcfarmer.com, the one with the multicolas, does someone knows what's those round white "rollers" mounted in the pot?

[Romeu9 491]

they look great! Thanks Fuzzy!!

[Guest superbluehaze]

Hello anguscr,

Now that is a loverly plant.

I am doing something similar with my Haze 1;

I have nipped it once, and it is now around 60 cm, but I have bent the two top main branches over so that now it is around 40 cm. I wil post some pictures soon of it.

happy growing,

john

[anguscr 290]

Hi John... I was thinking in doing the LST with the Crystal METH who seems to be a very agressive Sativa plant, here's some info from the Dr. Underground seed bank

http://www.drunderground.com/crystal-meth-2-p-9.html

The touch has made an ancestral mother selected Destroyer (Cannabiogen), crossed with the famous Critical + (Bilbo) cut. The result ... although we believe that the parents speak for themselves, this is a heavyweight.

Flowering has been shortened with the introduction of the Bilbo cut, keeping pure and devastating effects of the Destroyer, the increase in production is very significant, coming out of 800gr 1 kg of dry weight per plant outdoors. Indoor be careful because you can burst closet. Ramifies thus far is perfect for saving a mother and clone up to infinity.

I was planning in doing the LST in a 5 galon bucket with Sprayers, but the only time I did LST was in a F&D & I did the all bending process during veget, I was wondering if u can start the LST during veget & in a 2 of weeks change it to flowering, Is it doable with a strong strain like this one?

[anguscr 290]

They're using the yoyo's Fuzzy's refering too, I used fishing weights on a wire & it work ok... of course the yoyo's are better, but just in case u cannot get those, this can be an alternative.

[Guest superbluehaze]

I am not sure what you mean anguscr.

can you be clearer,

thanks

happy growing,

john