FirstGrow - Miss Northern Lights

[VtecHoe]

Well well, Look who it is, If it isnt my buddy Gman.... Yes mr whitehouse confused me a little, You know the score yourself when it comes to communicating with a scotsman its a slow painful process!

Well they just went to sleep for 12 hours, So ill try tie her tomorrow, I like the sound of it looking like a bondage dungeon, Kinky plants are the way forward for me... So you want to kind of make it look like this then, Dig my ms paint drawing below:

Bit scared about tying her, But i dont really have much choice so has to be done... So will it continue to grow sideways? or what happens... Im still a bit confused even after the g master has came in and mashed me over the head with a log... Jesus maybe i should lay off the whiskey!!

We dont do cup's of kindness up here, You get a dram of whiskey or fuck all! lol

 

[ggrant]

Hey Vee,

I took a couple of more pictures. It's hard to see what's going on because the string is green and so are the plants.

Tied Cola

Closeup

If you look at the top of the plant, you can see where it has recently been topped. I cut off a foot long clone from the top. The side shoots are getting tall as well, so I tied them down.

If you look at the closeup, you can see where I tied some string towards the end of the cola and then tied the other end to a stake I put in the pot. I prefer to use a stake, rather than a hole in the pot because it's easier to attach and adjust the string. Also with the cane, the cola gets stetched outward, not downward.

You don't have to freak about freaking your plant. As long as you don't pull too tightly, the gals won't even notice.

Because you turned the cola sideways, it will start to grow horizontally for a short distance, but then it will curve and start to grow upwards again. Plant stems are drawn towards the light - heliotropism at work. So, you have to keep an eye on the cola you've tied down. As it continues to grow, it will stretch towards the light. You can then move the string further up the stem to try to keep the cola horizontal.

If you're still having trouble seeing what I mean from my pictures, let me know and I'll take a couple more. I'll use some other colored string to make it clearer what's going on.

 

[VtecHoe]

Well i tied her down, Decided to tie some leafs out the way as well to let the lower bud sites get some light, hey it wasnt that bad after all! i bent her round so the top bud site is basically sideways and then pulled the lower fans to the side and tied them to the pot, My camera is charging right now but ill get some pics in a bit and ill attach them and mr whitehouse and gman can admire my handy work

Thanks again for your help grant, she looks kind of weird tied up lol

 

[ggrant]

Thanks again for your help grant, she looks kind of weird tied up lol

She likes it, trust me!

 

[ggrant]

V-ster,

Here's a picture by Aston that I found on QueenTokeLove's journal. You can stop by to take a look:

QT's Second Grow - 1st Journal


Tieing Down a Cola

You can see the plant tied horizontally using string attached to the side of the pot on the right. The other string on the left is to keep the base of the plant stable, so that the other string doesn't put on the roots.

You don't have to do this unless the plant is very small. When it's larger, the stem is firmly rooted.

P.S. I still prefer using a stake to tie the plants to. You can use a wooden dowel if you can't find garden canes. (Don't get boarding school canes - save those for your girlfriend!)

 

[VtecHoe]

Yo G-Man, Thanks for helping me out as usual, I took some pics of how ive tied her down, I dont have a drill so i just blacktaped the ends of the vine to the pot not tightly knotted round her, pulled her down at an angle, Moved another fan out the way to get to the lower bud sites, Though i moved another and the knot was to tight and lightly ripped one of the blades on the fan, no biggy right? lol

Pics:

Bondage Girl aka Bondo Bio, Yeaaaaah boyyyy

---------------------

GWS, Are these nana's or am i just a really paranoid scotsman?

Probally me being paranoid but hey, better to ask than worry right?!

----------------

Girls wanted to say hi to grant and whitehouse

 

[ggrant]

Looks like you got the bondage thing working OK, Vee. I have a feeling this isn't your first time doing this, LOL!

It's hard to tell from your pictures, but I think those are just stipules. They occur on both male and female plants. Here are some pictures:

How do I determine a female sex plant from a male?

After 10 Days Flowering what Does a Male Look Like?

It's about time you learned about the birds and the bees.

Sex Ed 101

By the way, stop worrying about the fan leaves. Rather than taping them, you should be cutting them off! The big fan leaves are not only blocking the light to the lower bud sites, they really aren't needed.

The plant has plenty of leaves. The roots can support only a certain amount of leaves. If you cut a bunch off, the plant will grow new ones back to replace them. But not necessarily where you cut them off.

So, if you cut off a few of those monsters at the top, the lower shoots on the plant will grow bigger, and they will also add new growth and buds.

If you're nervous about doing this, cut off one or two leaves and wait a couple of days and see what happens.

If you look at the clones I just posted on my journal, I pruned about half the leaves from them and their mothers. It was quite a pile and I was going to take a picture, but I said, Nah!

 

[VtecHoe]

I love you g, You always pack me full of knowledge, It's stipules and she has female pre flowers ( little white straggly hairs ), Probally be better to tell in the next 2 weeks what the deal is

Yeah i enjoy tying girls up, Just a bit different tying a plant up hahaha

There seems to be mixed views on cutting fans off an autoflower... i dont know what lay to lean, Id like to remove a handful off her to get the budsites lower down sorted... Ill need to dive into some information about pruning an autoflower

PS: Would it be ok to prune the GWS even though shes gone into flower? sure you noticed shes got some bush on her

 

[ggrant]

Hold off on the pruning, Vee!

I think you're right about autoflowers. I've never grown them. Pruning works fine with NORMAL plants.

Seriously, I was going to grow some autoflowers myself, so that I could get a crop quickly that wouldn't grow too tall.

I posted somewhere (can't remember to whose journal) about some guy who bought some autoflowers, found one male, pollinated eight females and collected thousands of seeds!

He said he'll never have to buy seeds again. (You can't clone autoflowers, by the way.)

 

[VtecHoe]

Hey G, I pruned the GWS, Just did all her pruning in 1 sitting, would rather her be stressed for a couple of days than keep picking at her bit by bit day by day, Autoflower BIO on the other hand, seems ok, doesnt look much different, noticed some weird new growth forming from what im guessing is the new top? Ill be able to tell more in the next week, Ill get some pics up then to see how shes taking to the LST, everywhere ive read says auto's can be lst'ed as well so, should be all good

 

[VtecHoe]

Noticed that the growth on the top that ive bent over is now going brown, just some of it, not all of it, some around the new tops that have taken the lead roll... Not sure whats happeneing really as she wasnt like that yesterday before i tied her down, ill keep an eye on her!

 

[ggrant]

When a plant is tied down or bent over, it tries to build a new apical stem. An apical stem is the main shoot that these plants have. When the main one get blocked for some reason (tieing it down or cutting it), a root hormone cause the plant to try to grow a new apical stem.

This is a good thing as it will turn into a cola. So the original stem will keep growing and remain a cola. The people who use LST to wrap their plants in circles (I haven't tried that yet), get many apical stems forming.

Training, whether it be HST or LST, is done for the same reason: to reduce the level of auxins in the tip of the plant. Cannabis is a plant that grows with a characteristic called "apical dominance." This means that, like other plants, it will do everything it can to push a single tip towards the source of light. We call the tip of a plant that grows like this the apical tip or the terminal tip. The tips of the cannabis plants are also where the biggest colas are produced due to their proximity to the source of light.

Apical Bud

The tip of the plant is also where a particular type of auxin (plant hormone) is most prevalent. It's called indole-3-acetic-acid (IAA). Unfortunately, due to the chemical properties of IAA, you won't see it in the rooting hormones you can buy. More than likely, you'll find other auxins such as indole-3-butyric-acid (IBA) and/or a-Naphthalene acetic acid (NAA).

Plant Auxin

Now, the auxins promote growth when they are at certain levels but they can also inhibit, or stunt, the growth of certain aspects of the plants if they are at higher levels. This is the case for cannabis plants. The plant is perfectly happy pushing one bud up as far as it can to the source of light. The other buds, lower down the branch, will remain auxiliary buds and branching is not as likely to occur in these places. This is especially true in smaller, indoor environments. This is because the auxin production within the apical tip is very high, preventing the lower buds from growing out.

So, training, whether HST or LST, is done to accomplish one of two things:
1) Removing/inhibiting the main source of auxins
2) Making the plant think the apical tip is no longer the best source of light

By removing the main source of auxins, the lower (auxiliary) buds are no longer inhibited. The plant will now concentrate on the auxiliary buds and cause branching to occur in order to get itself a new apical tip. In ideal environments, the plant will grow somewhat symmetrically so that means you can very often more than double the number of growing tips.

By making the plant think its apical tip is no longer the best source of light, it will send the message (via auxins and other chemicals) to the auxiliary buds lower down the stem that they need to grow up to get to the light. The tip is not removed, but new bud sites are formed further down the stem. Depending on the length of the stem and strain of the plant, you can get many bud sites to grow this way.

In either case, you end up with more bud sites closer to your light source than before and, most of the time, you'll end up with a more even, bushier canopy to ensure your lights are being utilized to their fullest.

 

[VtecHoe]

Grant Man, Ill read your info after i post these pics, Is this heat stress?

Edit: Read the post, Amazing info as usual, I get what shes doing now.. just dont know how shes managed to be heat stressed within 5 hours, light is the same distance as always, maybe humidty?

^ Main cola that we tied down

What you think sir x

 

[Greenhouse250]

Hey VTH! Glad you went for it, weird that the plant reacted like that? I've never seen this happen before, hard to believe that was heat stress in 5 hrs. Were you a little ruff on the girl? I'm sure she'll bounce pack soon enough.


Here's a pic of some male flowers, in case your not familiar...

 

[VtecHoe]

I was a little rough with her, Its just weird as if you look at the pic's as i tied her up you can see she had 0 of that browning like she has now... Is it serious? or do you think she will be ok?

Maybe its cause she's an auto and doesnt like being man handeled lol

 

[Greenhouse250]

Yeah, don't think its life threatening, what's affected probably won't make it but she should be just fine bro!

 

[ggrant]

Yeah, that is weird, V-Man.

Is it just the one bud? If so, it's no big deal. It could have been heat stress. Maybe something got pinched and the nutrient supply got cut off.

As I said, if it's just the one site, let it die and then cut it off.

By the way, I didn't do a complete search, but it looks like people who grow autos recommend removing the lower shoots, that is, the shoots under all the fan leaves. These will never mature much and the amount of weed you get from them is really small.

If you remove the lower shoots, the plant will spend more energy on the upper shoots. If you want to try this, don't remove all the lower shoots at once, but a few at a time, so that you don't stress the plant.

 

[VtecHoe]

Thanks you two for popping in as usual... G-Man, The browning isnt just on the bit we tied down, there is 4 other bits browning around flowering sites, just seems to be the tips not the actual fans... Its strange :/

 

[VtecHoe]

Hey G, Decided id take some more pics for you to examine her... As i said in my above post, it isnt just one bud site that has gone browny and weird, So ive attached 5-6 pictures to try give you a better idea what we are dealing with here... Im a bit stumped as you can imagine, healthy plant one day, next day, going all weird and brown... Just dont understand whats up, Im thinking wonder if its cause i didnt wash my hands after having a cig, but that would effect all the areas that have browning, Some of the area's i didnt even touch...

PS: Maybe its the ace of buds nutrients ive been giving her via foilar feeding, they are to force flowering or add bud weight, ive maybe misted her twice max, the other 2 are on the same and are loving it... Ive gave the BIO a light misting with Pro Grow, see how she reacts as maybe she isnt ready to flower nor be forced since she is an auto after all


Anyway Pics:

 

[ggrant]

I would stop spraying her with whatever enhancer you are using. In fact, I would use plain water to mist her to wash her leaves.

Apparently, she is reacting badly to that. I guess it's some kind of bud enhancer? I believe most of those are strong in phosphorus and potassium. If that's the case, it may have reached a toxic level.

After you do this, hopefully the damage will stop and the plant will stabilize. Keep an eye on her for a few days. If things get worse, definitely let me know.