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GrowFAQ : Vegetative growth :
Training/Pruning

How can I train my plants for a lower profile?

Added by:
snoofer  Last edited by:
snoofer  Viewed: 516 times

Rated by 17 users:
8.88/10

Contributed by: JamesBonged

I
grow in a confined space measuring 2 feet in width by
3.5 feet in height and 1 foot in depth. This restriction
in height causes most cannabis plants to overgrow the
space within a few weeks.
As documented by many
FAQs, implementing SCROG type propagation techniques
from seed is far from ideal. They are fantastic methods
to maximize yield in a small area from clone though.

As I am growing from seed, I will have to sex
them at the lowest profile possible. This will still
allow a screen to be fitted above the remaining females
for complete control of the plant's profile.

Note: Click on images with borders to enlarge

A few household
items:

A length of earthing wire

Side cutters or wire cutters

A number of self tapping screws

A Phillips screwdriver

The most difficult
item to source is probably the earth wire. This is thick
copper wire used for earthing certain electrical devices
and can be bought cheaply at most electrical suppliers.
This wire has a soft rubber coating on the outside
protecting from the wire. Also the copper is malleable
enough to be formed into whatever shape is required and
doesn't lose this shape with growth.

Staking
and training:
The stake can then be removed and
repositioned to again train the main growth tip
downwards. The lower branch growth accelerates and can
also be trained using the stake method. This again
reduces the overall profile of the plant.

Training continues into flowering until the
males have been identified and removed to leave the
females to be trained into a screen. The plants can then
effectively be controlled using Scrog techniques to
maximize light efficiency and yield.

Here is a dark purple
stemmed LifeSaver from BOG.

This plant has been
vegging for 19 days now and is approximately 9 inches in
height, on its eighth node.

This pic shows where
this crook is placed.

It is positioned above the
first or second node with the other end of the wire
laying against the top of the plant's pot.

Where
it touches the pot, a self tapper is screwed in as high
as possible. This is to reduce the likelihood of a leak
when watering. The wire can then be cut to length and
wrapped around the self tapper.

This pic shows the trunk
tie in place.

It's wrapped off to the self
tapper to a length where the tie is tight against the
main stem to keep it vertical.

This pic shows the
gentle bending of the main growth tip over in the
opposite direction to the main trunk tie.

This
must be done progressively to avoid snapping the main
stem off. A small break in the stem isn't a problem as
the plant will recover.

If it does break off
completely, leave the plant! It takes a week to get over
this shock but they then react as any topped plant
would.

This pic shows the
second length of wire, again with a crook in one end.

This time it is used as a stake to pull and hold
the main growth tip in place. The crook is placed under
the fan leaf stems of the upper most node, with the
other end of the stake being pushed into the soil about
an inch or two.

There must be sufficient
distance between the top of the growth tip and the stake
crook. This is to stop the main growth tip from popping
out from the crook of the stake. The distance the stake
is pushed into the soil determines how low the growth
tip is trained.

It must be trained to below the
next node or further for maximum increase in lower
branch growth and reduction in profile.

This pic shows the
trained main growth tip with the trunk tie and stake to
hold it in place.

This effectively reduces the
vegging plant from an eight to a four inch profile.

All three LifeSavers after
their tying and staking session...

The final pic shows the
plants after 12 hours of HPS light.

They have all shifted the top half of
their profile towards the light and exposed all the
lower growth shoots. This gives them maximum exposure to
the light and therefore potential for
growth.

Last modified: 01:16 - Feb 05,
2003

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faq:1417 "How can I train my plants for a lower
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