HARD ON'S FIRST LST

Ok.....I went with a scrog version of an LST.

WTF is that you ask?

I have no fucking idea, is my answer.

But we shall see what happens :)

3 plants, all about 29 days old...pulled from the SOG as these were the slwest growers out of the bunch. Healthy just slow growers.

Included is the 3 headed stepchild.

Anyhow here are some basics.

One 24" wide rectangular container.
2 inches of small red lava rock on bottom bed.
2 plants, blueberry X strawberry cough
1 plant, blueberry X jack herrer

Transplanted all three into the same container. Containers sectioned off under soil line. These three plants were transplanted also 5 days ago...this is their 3rd home in 6 days.

It is hoped that I can train these plants to grow low, along the wire mesh, much like a vine would grow. I want the secondaries to sprout up and it is from there that I hope to obtain the finest tomatos.

First some basic pics.

PICS 1 2 3 are of the plants, in their new home, un LST'd

Now here they are post LST :)

NOTE in the pic number 3 there is a hose in the lower right corner. This is for when flower time comes around, I prefer to bottom feed the plants as I believe it makes for bigger tomatos :)

The box is bottom bedded with lava rock, so as the water is poured in, it will flood the bed of lava rock, which will absorb much moisture. Then, the soil will begin to suck up the moisture from the rock, thereby creating almost a drip system effect.

I prefer this method as it is much easier to dictate and control the moisture level of the entire soil bed as a whole as opposed to saturating it with water, letting it dry, saturate, dry, saturate, dry, etc....

This way you can help maintain stable and consistent moisture of the soil.

It is hoped that these slow growing plants will grow and I am able to simply tie down the heads, as they grow, and have them encompass the entire screened area thereby mitigating the height issues.

Thanks for viewing and feel free to add any advise if you have LST'd before.

Sorry no advice but was a good read and i like the post plants are looking good and btw the blueberry X jack herer m ix is that the three headed one?

Yes, she is the 3 headed stepchild.

My god harddon, your shit gets better and better. If you're gonna do this again you should record a log on it, paper or thread, ex : Nutes ( N-P-K ) whenever you change it and @ how many weeks. Anyways I think you know what Im tryn to tell ya, it would make for an UBER thread.

PS : What lights are you using if these LST's are located in a different position than your SOG.

Easy log so far Joel...

Never had nutes at all. .....lol....

Simple enuff?? :)

I am using my CFL's for the LST and the HID for the SOG...

In general, I wasnt neccessarily talking about the nutes right this instant. Im talking about if you're going to do a nuteplan then you should post it up for others to learn from your lush green experience.

slide you some relective material between the soil and wire mesh.

assume you have a little room to move it in and out for watering through veg then left alone due to hose watering.

cut some mylar to 14x14
cut one line half across
placed ontop of 12qt pots like a square pacman

no soil light loss
no light loss below the rims

light being reflected back up is lighting up those 2ndaires.

why are you using that shelf, to keep them upright

"light being reflected back up is lighting up those 2ndaires"

I read that the bottoms of leaves don't have any light receptors so lighting up the bottoms of the leaves isn't going to accomplish anything.

What covering the soil may do though is help promote mold. Not a good thing.

Well I certainly place respect on the assistance and advice.

NOrmally I use white marble chips for soil cover....but in this case, it simply isnt needed. With all those lights running I am producing well over 12,000 lumens per square...

I simply don't need anymore light, as light is plentiful with Kelvins of 6400.

They received their first nutes in life today....3 heaping tablespoons of bat shit and 2 gallons of water.

The lighting and layout as it is I think is working perfectly for two of the three.

Here is one...

BEFORE and 2 DAYS LATER....

Now remember this is 2 DAYS LATER :)

I have plenty of light.......there are now 9 new bud sites.... :)

This LST is FUN :)

9 sites now showing in 2 days.....

BEFORE and 2 DAYS LATER :)

FInally the 3 headed one.

Interesting but it appears the 3 heads now are original secondaries. They are not responding to the LST the way the others are with development of new shoots.

This may just be a 3 budded plant and thats it. If so, I'll just march her main grow tip back and forth up the railing.

I like this type of grow I can tell already. When ready to flower, hell I'll just throw the box below into the flower chamber and have me a field of buds :)

I'm excited again :)

ONe thing with the LST is you need to tie them and then retie them 2x a day. After a few hours of being on their sides, the grow tips upright themselves, stretch a bit and need to be retied.

I have done it twice this evening alone..

Looking awesome.

And this is why plants veg so nice :)

This is 430W of true Full Spectrum CFL @ 6400K...one bulb is 5000K...

You cannot buy these lights at the local harware store or nursery. With the fan on them, they are cool to the touch. Without the fan...ouch !

I'll post an udate tomoro night an you will see a nice growth on at least two of the three.

The 3 headed one will prolly just grow the 3 heads and I'll chop them off for clones maybe?

Harddon.

You suck!

Actually I am green.

Or wish I was green-errrr.

Or sumpin.

:)

hey hd, where do you get your ballast's from???

Looking good HD! You should take a look at Rezzinators 'HST'. A true vine type of a situation. But I had a question. What's the size of your grow area where these plants are growing?

Quote:

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hey hd, where do you get your ballast's from???

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They came with the lights...I got at hydroasis.com

Quote:

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What's the size of your grow area where these plants are growing?

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30" Wide x 18" Deep X 24" tall.

I will take a look at rezzinators HST. Thanks :)

Hey HD. Comment/thought/R&D. I've been thinking of something and Rezinator's 'HST' really made me wonder about it. I think it'd work.

How about if you put a light at the very right (or left) side of your grow. Or maybe all your lights (the more the better) and then allowed the plant to grow towards that light. You basically would be pulling it horizontally along your mesh towards the light. Causing it to stretch yes but as it did nodes would be forming along it's length and once you had it pulled across the entire width of the grow area, put the lights above it and yank those secondary growth shoots straight up! Mega bud sites and all would be just like the main cola. Just a thought.

To go along with that I read where when the main cola is held down so it's basically lower than the rest of the growing shoots that the plant actually goes through a change where all the growth shoots receive the same message to grow the same as the main cola is supposed to. So that's something else to think about.

INteresting thoughts there MB....

I think making the plants grow TOWARDS the light would unfortunately sacrifice the direct light right on top of the secondaries which is really what I want to focus on.
I understand your concept and in theory makes sense if I am growing anything other than tomatos :)

As for the main head being lower than the rest of the plant....I have never thought of that. As it stands right now, I am so happy with the results.... I dont want the secondaries to grow up and tall right now. In a while yes, jsut not yet, as I am looking to get them broad leafed and numerous.

I figure in 30 days they will encompass the entire screen and then.........

I will try the lower head on one of them and compare :)

Thanks for the ideas. :)

Two days later...

The three headed one isnt growing secondaries at all, just getting longer. I suspect a topping is in order :)

The other two are cranking away.... I suspect in 12 more days the screen will be covered.

My others will still be in flower so I will prolly flower these with 5 2700K CFLs....just to see how those bulbs work.

Will solve a lot of probs for peeps stuck with CFL....heat issues and height issues. Will be a good test for these newer bulbs :)

harddon can u top a plant a week an a half in2 flowerin r should i just leave it?
my plants are all lokkin well, i am a bit shocked, i have 18, and unless im terribly mistaken not one is male..... weird is this possible?ill post pic later but as far as i can c they r lookin well, one has produced some nice buds, and this is the one i cut the fan leaves off? weird, all the rest have the right stuff for females and most u can tell straight away, one r 2 im not completly sure bout, but the nxt few days will reveal all, ill post a thread with the pics later and harddon will u give me ur verdict.
peace.

I wouldn't top a plant in flower.

Perhaps others would but I woul never attempt this...I don't see the benefits playing out like topping in veg.

Just my own view.

I agree with HD. You top a plant to get the next two growing shoots to grow more so you have a two headed monster instead of one, but since you're not going to get much growth in flower (just stretching) it would seem like it wouldn't do much good.

thnxs again people, as always very helpfull, i have 2 post pics of them plants, one already looks like a little three with nuggets, lovely. and as i said as far as i can tell all r female, maybe they where all fem seeds i dont know, but i have looked after them.,i look 4word 2 ur verdict on the pics. thnxs 4 the advice again.
its startin 2 get really busy out there a lot of work with 18 plants, but seein the buds startint 2 produce is fascinatin man, its deadly i cant wait 22 taste the flavour of my labour,lol
marc hit me up with an email, wanna presnt u with an offer, hardddon ill mail u 2day
red662athush.ai

Lesson #69

When tieing your LST, leave room on the sides for the new growth to expand. The plants grow up, wide and out as well as longer.

THey jumble up into ibg mass of leaves...looks like a small cabbage plant :)

Hi HD,

please excuse my ignorance...but are u letting he plant grow up thru the screen itself, or are u helping the branches / leaves thru it ?

I let the plants grow first, then i placed the screen over it. Then I tied down the plants to the screen...

Now i let it grow a bit, tie it down....

let it grow a bit, tie it down...etc etc

It goes to the very first node so all new growth is now on top of the screen. I use the screen also to tuck under the larger fan leaves.

Hey HD is that your gut sticking in the bottom of the last photo??!! Or is your wife taking the pics and with child? snicker snicker snicker

Goddamnit MB.

You know how many pics I had to take to get the toes outta the way??????

I busted my ass sticking my gut OUT to cover the toes.

I just had a huge meal and was really stretching to stick it out for that pic :)

Really.

Honestly.

I promise.

CHICKS HERE: DO NOT BELIEVE I HAVE A BIG GIANT BELLY LIKE FAT BASTURD.

I am a HARD ON :)

HA! I'm just having fun with you HD. I don't have a 6 pack either. More like a pony keg. Shits to be 50. But here's a pic of me that I took just for you. I've come quite a ways since I sent you the tit picture huh!

ewwwwwwww :(


well everything is looking BIGGER, even that BELLY.

nothin like muchies from a Cunt n Whore :p

Man Hardon, these babies are looking awsome. How tall are they now?

man harddon that looks soo cool, let me get this right just in case i'm lame and don't understand, as i am neww to all plant growing, u want to have as many secondaries as possible, so as to have as many tomatos as possible, instead of having a tall plant with a single thick tomato, u'll have a short plant with lots of thick tomatos? i hope that works very well for u, sofar it looks nice and green!:)

A secondary growth node is like an enite seperate plant in itself. That secondary growth will then, with enough time, start to get its own secondary growths. So when you have a secondary growth node growing better than if the plant were to not have been bent, then its like growing another smaller plant along with your main kola. :D Hope this helps. Nice plants as always Limpy.

SWEET!!!!! man i can't wait to see ur babies grow harddon

These were taken two days ago. I just tied them all down again tonight so the canopy is almost full.

Here are most current pics.

This is the last time I am able to tie them down. This will fill the screen completely in another couple of days. The growth has been much faster than I thought.

Also the growth under the 65W CFL is better than under the 125W CFL.

I bought them from two different companies and I think the 65W is more true in spectrum than the 'grow' lights.

I think the medical lights are indeed as advertised. I guess they need to be for medical regulations or something :)

None the less, this is the final tie. After this, I will begin to flower with a 400W HPS light. Maybe I' try one of the new Hortilux bulbs :)

I figure another 6 days and I will be ready :)