How to: (L)ow (S)tress (T)raining - LST

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I found this while doing some research for myself. I take no credit for what has been produced but i think it may be educational to the other users of this site! Enjoy. :rastasmoke:

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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)

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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(s) 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!

Thanks for that explanation!

I was doing that to my Mr Nice since it's growing like crazy and I didn't realize it was LST! I'd recommend this to everyone since it's a very easy technique. I use strings and just tape them to the pot with aluminum tape... sticks pretty well.
This is probably better than FIM'ing too, eh? Because you don't stress the plant and remove and parts from it.

I used this method in my "hidden outdoor" in Ohio for 20+ years, but now I am indoor and never thought to use this method I had used for camouflage to train my girls for space, light etc. Thanks man, I love to get new ideas(we never know it all). Happy growing my friend.:jointsmile:

How likely is there to be breakage from bending the stems? I'm worried that I I don't train it right, it will snap or something.

from the beginning if you start lst'ing when there are 4-5 internodes, you won't break anything. Bend it to one side of the pot, insert hook, then wait till there are a few more internodes and begin to rap around the pot. As always handle with care and you won't run into any problems. Here is my plant that was lst'd for a bit, and then I started flowing because I had two others that were ready to go. Definately makes a big difference with some of the nodes, as I have a couple colas on the lst'd. Here is also what the plant looks like just about 7 weeks into flowering. Good luck!

I'd read this and lost it. Thanks for posting it again. :thumbsup:

However I've been working on an LST. I posted a couple pics. Four weeks and two days of veg right now.

Question I've been having is couldn't I just keep going? The plant in the pic it just a trial grow to try LST. So not even sure if it's female or not. If I were to continue to grow it, repot one more time and leave the tip once it goes around the pot once. Couldn't I let the branches grow a couple feet tall. THEN flower? I could even LST a bit more to open all those taller branches to more light.

Oh and if you use string like I did. Keep an eye on how tight that knot gets. As you can see in pic 2. I removed the second bends string today. You can see the strangle spot. Plant didn't seem to care yet but still!

hey vancefish I did pretty much the same technique with the strings with my other two. really works out, especially if you've decided to top the plant. Here are the two other ones that I tied down...pics are of all different stages of the plants. Also included a pic of what the plant looks like right after an lst bend. :thumbsup:

PS you or anyone should try just wrapping the twine or string or whatever you use around the stem, and have the knot on the other end looped to a hook. which in my opinion is perfect for this because they screw in so easily to plastic pots.:D Very effecient for tying back or holding down areas of the plant that just seem to grow to fast for your grow space!

Happy LST'ing

Great thread and greatly appreciated. I was wondering if there is a cutoff date to when you can start LST. I understand you dont want to wait too long is the risk of snapping the stem but is there any specfic cutoff to where it would be too late to start ?

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Originally Posted by ubonicChronic

Great thread and greatly appreciated. I was wondering if there is a cutoff date to when you can start LST. I understand you dont want to wait too long is the risk of snapping the stem but is there any specfic cutoff to where it would be too late to start ?

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Personally i havent tried it but i have researched the topic a lot. I would say the definately in the veg period as the branches will want to grow out towards the light before flower. During flowering my plants slowed growth to produce buds so thats why i would say during the veg period. Also if your plant is at a medium height, to bend it over from the very top gently then train by bending a little more each day and i rekon it would be ok.

ChArBuD :rastasmoke: :rastasmoke:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ubonicChronic

Great thread and greatly appreciated. I was wondering if there is a cutoff date to when you can start LST. I understand you dont want to wait too long is the risk of snapping the stem but is there any specfic cutoff to where it would be too late to start ?

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If your going to LST like the diagram that really should be done in the beginning of growth. I personally would never try to bend the stalk like that if it has more than 7 internodes.

As far as anything else goes, I was restricted for space up until the very start of flowering. Towards the top of the plant the stems become thinner therefore more easy to bend. The second way shown, how vancefish had his and how I had mine, I think is the best way for those looking to LST now in the middle of growth. You can tie any stem back you can fold it over a little, to open up the plant so more light hits the bottom, or just to avoid light problems.

My advice, go to home depot, buy small eye's and hooks (its one thing, its a hook with a screw part at the end), and if you have plastic pots its perfect. I took a small push pin, pushed through the plastic and then screw the eye in. Position somewhere for whatever branch(s) you want to tie back. Wrap a string around the branch, don't tie to the branch but tie one side of the string to the other side of the string to create a slip knot. This will allow you to pull the string tighter to pull the branch back further from the plant, or loosen and have it do the opposite. Just loop the string on the hook and there you go. I did this up until the first week of flowering where I eventually bought small wooden rods to support the branches with buds. Hope this works for you!:thumbsup: