I am in the midst of my first grow, and I wanted to ask about the timing for starting LST.
Some info:
Strain: ZSkittlez Auto from ILGM
Medium: Fox Farm Happy Frog soil.
This is the 15th day from first sprouting. She is starting to sprout new growths under the foliage, but I’m not sure they are getting enough light there under the canopy.
This starts just under her top growth. You can see some of the inner growth that is starting.
So my questions are, in order:
How does she look in general, do you see anything from these pictures that would be a sign of some problem I’m not noticing?
Does she look good for LST, or not? I’m a little concerned about the amount of leaf I’ll be pushing into the soil if I bend her at all, should I be?
If it is a good time to LST, where should I start the bend, just under the new growth or further down?
Looking healthy and nice size for 15 days above ground. Yes you can start LST, I top and LST my autos and brew 4 Skittlez a while back. I use landscaping pins in the early stages until the sides reach the outside of the pot then soft ties. I would speed her out tieing each side down and bend the main over, creat space between the sides and mains. You can also top or fimm. Topping will take the main single and create 2 tops, fimming 4, give a few days to recover then LST mentioned above
I would go 1 node higher and she’ll also bend over a little more. This will make that main grow horizontal while the sides grow vertical, they catch up to the main over time. Growing with just LST will get a a nice harvest, you’ll have to work that main to keep it growing flat, the branches are easy to manipulate right now and is the time to take advantage of that. You’re doing great, keep her spread out and create that space between the sides for all the new side growth nodes to fill in the center
Looking good imho at this stage.
I just simply tucking leafs to expose the lower growth when mine are short and bushy.
With in a week or so the under growth starts to stretch and then I would start tieing branches down to spread it out.
I only top my autos that are extremely healthy and vigorous. I use different techniques depending on how ever the plant natural wants to grow. Pushing hardy plants by plucking leafs and topping, sometimes lollipoping. But if the auto flower seems stressed easily or not growing fast. I may just simply tuck fan leafs and tie it over and nothing more…
There is really no wrong way to do it as long as you open it up exposing as many bud sights as you can and cause as little stress (damage) as possible…
Go from my profile to my grow journals and you can hopefully make sense of what I’m trying to say.
One pro tip I can give you is, plants don’t like being bent and twisted to much after being water. They are more ridged and brittle when full of fluid. If you plan any major bends, it’s best “from my experience” to let them get very thirsty then do your bends. Water it afterwards of course. But they become like limp noodles when they don’t have alot of water in them…
I’m just lucky I’m doing this towards the end of a wet/dry cycle. I hadn’t thought about the differences the plant would exhibit between just being fed and ready for more water. I’ve moved the tie up a node, pulled her a little farther. Was able to shift a lot of the under growth into direct sunlight. I appreciate the aid you’ve offered.
Looks good
Do take a peek at it every day and check that isn’t growing to tight. It’s probably fine but I have had one hit a growth spurt and break itself because I didn’t check on it few a few days .
The one I talked about earlier that I wasn’t able to fix. That’s why I couldn’t fix it, it laid broken for a couple days. The other happened in my hands while tieing it down so I was able to mend it…
But looks great freind
That 2nd tie down looks better. It will recover fast and when it does tie it down again. Remember the goal is to have an even flat canopy. Your doing good,keep it up!
“We’ll Done”! All the Cultivators giving solid pointers. Send us an over all pic, the underside looks great, daily health checks and LST going forward! I’m not suggesting you get this aggressive for your 1st grow. This Sour D turned out really good and I pulled 8 zips dry weight at harvest
, out of likes! Nice job! Keep manipulating and spreading the sides out and turning them down. Here in the next couple of weeks. We want to get as many lower growth points (future bud tops) to get light and start reaching for it. In several weeks you’ll see these bud producing tops rise to the occasion and that’s when the canopy starts getting nice and full
Plant looks good. The only thing I’ll throw out there that @1HappyPappy touched on. If you could get something other then that twine you would be better off. The way it’s tied any pressure is going to squeeze the plant. A lot of people here use lst clips. I use pipe cleaners because the plant can pull them off if it’s too tight. Just something to consider. Good work so far.
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giving solid pointers. Send us an over all pic, the underside looks great, daily health checks and LST going forward! I’m not suggesting you get this aggressive for your 1st grow. This Sour D turned out really good and I pulled 8 zips dry weight at harvest 
