Need help and advice please

we did that because from what we read, 30-50 watts per sq ft was doable, which put us right in that range. they were no where near as bushy as ive seen so crowding wasnt really an issue. im assuming because it was a mostly sativa strain the first time. we had 4 plants our second harvest with a more indica dominant strain but the same issues occurred. unfortunately we dont really have the time for trial and error more than a few times. we're sorta pressed for time so i need to rectify our issues asap.

if someone could just point me to the holy grail of knowledge about growing this stuff that would be great!

maybe i will just upgrade my lighting situation and see if that helps. cant really hurt i guess. thanks guys.

i love your quote!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by richardskinner

I will try some of the things suggested, thanks guys! How and when do i LST "train the plant"... .. And topping, how and when?

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LST (Low Stress Training) can be started as soon as the plant is about 4-5 nodes in height (as small as 6 inches) or even smaller, depending on how strong it is. Just anchor it from one side, near the bottom node, and bend her over, exposing the lower nodes. That will encourage her to put more energy into those parts of the plant, and give you more tops earlier on.

Topping can be a bit trickier, as you're actually cutting the top few nodes off the top (or the top of each seperate top) in order to get the lower 2 developing tops to take off. Topping also can help you maintain your total plant height, and it promotes a 'bushier' plant overall. You may also want to attempt to FIM instead of topping, which (if successful) will encourage 4 tops to develop instead of one. Topping can be done as soon as you see enough top growth. There's a ton of info on the internet about topping and FIMming - search these boards for a wealth of specific info on these methods. Good luck! :rasta:

In case you'd like to see a result of some major LST work...check out my Tangerine Dream journal in the below link. This is ONE plant in a waterfarm, LST'd through about 9 weeks of veg... needless to say, I did NOT expect to see this kind of result from a single plant under a 400w light, but the training is a big part of what allowed this kind of result!

Barney's Farm - Tangerine Dream - Waterfarm!

I topped a plant about a week ago, the lower branches are already taller then the plant was when I topped it so topping doesn't seem to do much in regards to stunting the height of the plant it just gives you four new tops.

Bending has pretty much the exact same effect, on the plants I bent down the side branches took over and were as tall as the original top within a week so between topping and bending I haven't realized any benefit in terms of slowing the rate at which my plants are growing vertically.

I'm at the absolute maximum height I can let some of my plants grow so I'm having a bit of a dilemma here. I'm going to bring two inside and finish them early and a couple others I can probably move around in the back yard between my redwood trees keeping them pretty hidden.

(for DAYZ) HOLY SHIT! thats amazing, great job. well that seems like it took a lot of dedication.

http://boards.cannabis.com/basic-gro...-dankness.html
There you go and read every other sticky that pertains to your type of growing. Every section of growing is covered here. Look under the Basic Growing section to get started