Trouble reading today's article? Click here: Issue #159 - Sunday, May 3, 2015 Dear Fellow
Grower, In today's issue... - Cannabis training directly translates into bigger, better, happier
plants! Get the low down on some of the most popular techniques!
- Apparently, many growers think we're a seed breeder/bank. We're actually not...but we do know some experts in the field!
- One of our
regular readers shows us how she took a yellow pic of her beautiful plants and turned it nice and naturally green!
Nebula Haze & Sirius Fourside (founders of
GrowWeedEasy.com)
"Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school."
~Albert Einstein
Quick Guide to
Marijuana Training Techniques by Sirius Fourside |
Once a grower is able to successfully take a plant from seed (or clone) to harvest, a common new goal is: “How can I do it better?”
The answer: efficiency!
Although cannabis is a weed and has an easy time growing, it doesn’t do so in an efficient manner for indoor growing.
Cannabis naturally tends to grow in the shape of a christmas tree which works great outside with a sun that moves through the sky. Yet inside the lights stay in the same place so it unfortunately means that parts of the plant are getting much more light than the
others.
Cannabis training is when growers use established or improvised techniques to alter the natural growth pattern of a marijuana plant, usually to increase efficiency and yields when growing indoors.
There are already many methods available to train your plant, and growers are experimenting with new techniques all the time. In fact, there are so many methods available that many people get confused or intimidated and
opt to not try any of them.
But you're not one of those people! Instead, you're reading infomation on how to take advantage of these techniques to get the most out of your cannabis plants!
Below, I’ll give you my cheat notes on some of the most popular methods of training plants. We'll be reviewing:
LST (Low
Stress Training) |
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What It Does: Low Stress Training - or LST - allows growers to change the actual shape of the plant by slowly bending the stems downward in a deliberate
fashion. The stems will then grow vertically again, but now they will be better placed to allow light to contact more bud sites.
How To Do It: Anyone who has done LST will agree that it’s an art in its own right. The basics are to use twistie-tie, twine, or something similar to tie to a stem. Next, the other end of the twistie-tie/twine/etc. is anchored in such a
way as to bend the stem downward. This can be accomplished by tying the twine/etc. to the pot/bucket the plant is growing in. The stems are meant to be pulled away from each other to maximize growing space. Think of spreading out the stems from the middle like a star. LST is most effective when done in combination with topping, fimming or other training methods that break apical dominance (the tendency to grow in a christmas tree shape)
Who Should Try This? Indoor growers of all skill levels can and should try LST. If you're doing a small grow or just trying to maximize on your indoor grow lights, LST will become a must after you've tried it once!
Pros: - Drastically increases yields
when done correctly
- Manages height of plants; makes shorter plants with more buds!
- Makes much more effective use of lights
- Works amazingly with topping/fimming
Cons: - Growers can snap stems by bending too much at one time, or by trying to bend woody older stems instead of flexible new growth. If you ever snap a stem, tape it up immediately and it will heal!
- Can take more time than some other training methods since plants will likely need to be LST’d
multiple times (per branch)
Topping
What It
Does: Topping is a method used to essentially force the cannabis plant to have two slightly smaller main colas instead of the single normal one. Main colas almost always have the highest concentration of buds (by weight), so yields are noticeably increased by making two of them, even if nothing else is done besides topping.
How To Do
It: Not only is Topping easy to do, but it only takes seconds and is totally done afterwards. To top your plant, you’ll need to wait until it grows at least 3 to 5 nodes. To finishing topping, simply cut off the newest node right above the leaves of the node below. You can also cut down further on the plant if you need to make it shorter. Who Should Try This? Like LST, topping is a great starter training technique and can be attempted by growers of all skill ranges. I would suggest
topping after you've grown a single plant (just to see how it works), but you can try it on your first plant if you're the adventurous type!
Pros: - Super easy to do
- Increases yields by a noticeable amount
- One cut; do it once and it’s done!
- Works amazingly with LST
Cons: - Can be intimidating to cut off the top of a plant
Fimming
What It Does: Fimming is like topping in that it forces the plant to grow extra colas. However, while topping will make the plant to grow two main colas, fimming usually creates 4.
How To Do It: As with topping, a grower should wait until their plant has at least 3 to 5 nodes before going through with fimming. When ready to fim your plant,
firmly pinch the leaves of the newest growth between your index finger and thumb. You can also cut the new growth instead of pinching it. See the picture to the below for a detailed look. Who Should Try This? Fimming can be tried by all growers as nothing really happens if it isn't done correctly. Go for
it!
Pros: - Super easy to do - you can't really mess this one up
- Noticeable increase to yields
- Works extremely well with LST
- Pinch it once, and the work is all done
Cons: - None! In the worst case (if not fimmed correctly), you’ll have a plant with a few weird looking leaves that still function.
Manifolding
What It
Does: Manifolding is a modified way of topping a plant multiple times to get it to distribute energy equally to all nodes. When done correctly, all remaining branches will get a equivalent amount of energy from the roots, and as such, grow to a similar size. How To Do It: Before attempting manifolding (also sometimes called mainlining), growers should be very comfortable with topping as it involves topping the same plant
multiple times. Below is the abridged version of how to mainline a plant. The point of manifolding is to create 8 symmetrical main colas.
Please note that these steps are just to get you acquainted with what’s involved in mainlining, these are not complete steps!
- Wait for the plant to grow 6 nodes.
- Top to 3rd node and
remove extra growth
- Let each new cola grow 2-4 nodes
- Top to the 1st or 3rd node (whichever is more symmetric)
- Let the new colas grow 3 nodes
- Top to the 2nd node
At this point the plant will have 8 symmetrical
colas.
Who Should Try This? Manifolding is definitely an advanced technique, and we'd strongly advise growers to only try manifolding when they're very comfortable with growing plants. Manifolding can work in most mediums, but it shines brightest in hydroponics since the recovery time is dramatically shortened. It is not a good
technique for small plants, since the plant needs to be at least a few feet tall to get the benefits of manifolding.
Pros: - Equal distribution of energy makes for a hearty, good looking plant
- No small, larfy buds. All energy goes into long, huge
colas
- Makes for efficient use of growing light
- Very noticeable increase in yields when performed correctly
Cons: - Time consuming
- Involves lots of cutting on the plant (topping) which will increase total grow time
- Doesn’t work with fimming
- Not good for small plants - plants should be able to grow to at least a few feet tall after being manifolded in order to take advantage of the 8 colas (otherwise it's
probably a waste of time)
- Not for beginners!
Defoliation What It Does: Defoliation is a controversial technique that involves removing fan leaves to increase energy spent on bud sites. Defoliation is also thought
to limit the amount that a plant will grow vertically.
How To Do It: To defoliate a plant, a grower would use their hands or scissors to remove fan leaves from the plant. These are the leaves that grow right under the bud site and have a long stem with just a single fan leaf on it. It's important to note that this is typically done early in the flowering stage, and
only on healthy plants with an abundance of light.
Who Should Try This? This is another advanced technique, so you should only try it if growing cannabis feels easy, but you want to get more out of your grows. Growers who want to defoliate should be in early flowering (though it can be done in veg for height control) and using lights with enough power to penetrate
to far into the canopy once the big fan leaves are gone.
Pros: - Easy to do.
- Higher yields (more light to more bud sites = more bud)
- Creates more space between branches for bud
sites to capitalize on.
- Tends to shorten the overall height of plants.
- Decreases chances of White Powdery Mold
Cons: - A bit scary/dangerous; one wrong cut can remove
future buds
- Defoliating gives you less room for error and any deficiencies will hit bud sites first
- Some growers claim defoliation actually stunts plant growth instead of helping
- Sirius: I picked up defoliation after
Nebula covered an article about its benefits. Since then, I defoliate in every grow and I’d definitely stand behind it as a valid way to increase efficiency and yields when done right.
Even though we’ve gone through all these training methods, there are still more techniques to train your marijuana plants. In fact, there are two that are VERY popular that were skipped to keep this article from getting too lengthy.
If you want to find out more about them, check out our articles
on:
When GWE needs seeds,
these are the guys & gals we go to! |
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When Nebula or I are in the process of starting a new grow, we pretty much always start from seed.
And 9.5 times out of 10, those seeds are going to come
from the same 2 seedbanks:
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We've
spent money at many seedbanks over the years, some only just to test their services.
But when it's time to spend our hard-earned money (we have day jobs!) and get our grows going, we don't mess around with companies who could potentially take our dough and waste weeks of our time!
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"I love you guys. Some of the best info I've ever read. Please keep it up."
~ Dfellman
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Trophy Pictures of the Week! |
"Dear Folks
Thanks so much for the article on Photography / send pics which I re-read: Pulled out the DSLR, set it to RAW, Tungsten, adjusted Kelvin and then was able to refine it in Photoshop.
Totally stoked to get the yellow & red out-THANK YOU AGAIN !!"
-Tika
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Who Runs This
Newsletter? |
Nebula Haze:
Medical cannabis is important to me personally, and I'm dedicated to showing others how easy it is to grow their own supply of
cannabis at home.
It is my mission to educate and build growing resources to help both new and advanced growers get bigger, better yields with less time and money. |
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Learn which seed sources are personally recommended by Nebula Haze |
Sirius Fourside:
Sirius Fourside is a hobbyist grower who has gained the bulk of his experience growing in water as a medium(deep water culture,
bubbleponics).
"Growing cannabis is a relaxing hobby in and of itself, but it also saves you money and keeps you from having to deal with shady characters. Cannabis is much
easier to grow than people give it credit for, and growing in water doesn't increase the difficulty much, if any. But whether you want to grow in water, perlite, or a different medium, we'll show you how easy it can be!"
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View complete list of trusted seed sources:
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