Legit Technique, Or Happy Accident?

[R4v3n]

Greetings Peeps, hope all is well?

So I'm just into the flowering stage of my second grow, Amnesia Auto from Seedsman, organic living soil mixed with Happy Frog potting soil, currently day 41'ish. Just water, no nutes, 18/6, 75F, 60% Rh.

The plant was on the 4th node, and I was starting my LST, which after manhandling the stem I broke it at the node just above the node with the first single serrated leaf on it. The sharp intake of breath I made could have been detected by NOAA. I thought I'd killed it in its infancy. It snapped like 98% off, like breaking a celery stick leaves you with a few strands that's still attached?

So with one hand holding the tiny plant together, and with the other I managed to cut some small silver strips of aluminum peel away tape into tiny strips with a pair of scissors nearby, some real Tom Cruise Mission Impossible shit let me tell you, beading forehead sweat and everything lol.

So I did the best I could do with the repair, and fingers were crossed.

Now this is my question, did the plant assume by the break here, that it had been topped? Thus putting a lot more effort into growing the two side shoots as its 2 surviving main colas, ie "topping", right?

However I was able to hold it steady with that metal tape for the original main cola to repair again. 7 days later this is what it looked like. So did this give me 3 main colas, instead of a topping that would have given 2? These are the first nodes that most people end up just cutting off.

It has the appearance of 3 main colas and I wondered is this an actual technique, of breaking stems to mimic topping, but just let the break repair again to regain the cola the plant thought had lost?

This was her about a week ago. (Amnesia left, Bruce Banner right). It makes the BB look empty in comparison, plus it reacts so damn well to LST. The BB would be 50% bending towards the light by the time the Amnesia had twisted and was already facing it, very fast mover.

Since I have you at this point, the Bruce Banner has very dark tops to the leaves, almost like a leathery look, and they curl downwards at the ends, any ideas? Keep in mind its also a full organic grow. The seedling came out with two twisted first leaves though, and there's been something odd about all its leaves actually. Bad genetics, or is this indicative of the strain?

Thank you to all who made it this far.

 

[013]

Hey R4v3n,

Topping is high stress training, every time you top it- the plant slows down for recovery period. Low stress training does the same as topping (breaking apical dominance) but no time is lost for recovery.

Yes breaking stems is a legit cannabis training technique, it’s called supercropping but not the same thing as monster cropping which uses a re-vegged plant for second harvest. Once the supercrop damage has healed it will grow into a fat knuckle and strengthen that limb. We mostly do it by crushing or bending the stem to a sharp 90 degree turn and we try to avoid breaking the skin. Some use padded pliers or bend it around an ink pen or similar device.

Don’t see anything indicative of bad genetics… the dark green indicates plenty of nitrogen in your mix, new growth comes in with lighter shade of green. Your stats look pretty good but bit low in room temp, you could boost that to low 80’s and 84 is perfect. Rh is good for now but will need to lower it in flower.

Looking good, overall I’d give it an A+ … keep doing what you are doing!!

 

[R4v3n]

Thank you my friend, that all makes sense. I'm glad things are looking normal. If truth be told it's been remarkably easier going organic.

My first grow was 3x Northern Lights x Big Bud. I bought nutrients, cal mag etc. Man it was just an uphill battle trying to figure out one problem to the next. I underfed them, under watered them, flushed them too late, and dried them impatiently. Out of the 3 plants I got like an ounce and a bit, of airy, very chokey weed.

Needless to say I made all the mistakes first, as I was just winging it mostly. But organic is a lot less stressful, the plants take what they want, when they need it from the soil. I'm not hoping for a big yeild as much as I want quality this time around.

I have to stick to autos because I'm too forgetful about leaving the viewing window open on the tent for Photos lol.