LST complete screw up: So pissed at myself

[metcalfr]

So I really screwed up. First off I probably waited too long. 23 days. Second of all the stems appear almost too long. I wonder if I didn't have enough light on them and they were stretching. I am using a spider farmer sf2000 and was running at 40 percent or about 80 watts at 22 inches above the tops. Went to try LST. One of the stems almost snapped clean in half. There isn't much holding the poor thing together. She was the runt and then did so well. What a cluster F. One turned out ok I guess. Really frustrated. But I guess this is part of learning. It is my first grow and trying all organic. Before and after pics. The red pipe cleaner one turned out ok. The orange is the one I screwed up bad on. I have one pic that shows the the height of my stems. Very long and narrow. Any input would be great.

 

[metcalfr]

The one that appears alright has about a 90 degree bend on her. Red pipe cleaner. Just want to make sure it isn't too much.

 

[metcalfr]

I also had not watered them in two days. I don't know if they should have been watered first

 

[metcalfr]

The aftermath. I essentially topped the crap out of her. Argh. Lesson learned. Don't f with a good thing.

 

[metcalfr]

Do I even bother with this poor thing or just germinate another?

 

[MI-grower]

Bro you are good. You are in the very early stages of growth.. I did not read everything but from what I see. Its a lesson learned the hard way. Me personally I prefer to top them twice and then start to LST.

Best of luck on your grow man, Much Love from the Glove.

 

[nickeluring]

Next time you try LST I suggest you'd be a bit more gentle. Bend them carefully. Sometimes it takes some time to soften them up first. What you are doing looks like super cropping can look like, but that's something you'd usually do later when stems are hard.

I always top first, then start training them with LST. I typically top above the 4th node as early as possible.

 

[nickeluring]

And yes, they stretched due to low light

 

[skirk]

I employ equal and opposite tension and keep the bend at 80 degrees or less. But shit happens.
Fortunately they heal quickly.

 

[Nunyabiz]

You're most likely fine, just LST whats left carefully.
I've been LSTing without a single mishap for 6 years and even though I carefully bent over one of my current plants it decided to decapitate itself overnight from the added pressure of growing about an inch.
That extra inch grown overnight caused the top to just snap right off.
It was just as bad if not worse than yours, overall I probably lost about 10 buds, but I've still got about 20 colas on her.
Shit happens, use this as a teaching experience, Grasshopper.
Maybe try things on this plant that ordinarily wouldn't do in order to get as many colas from it as you can.

This is mine that decapitated itself.

This is the day before, the top is center top of pic with leaf sticking up.
Plant was 22 days old.

Here is the day after decapitation.

Here it is today 37 days later

Here is the stump, only 4 nodes to work with, so you can still get a fair yield out it.

 

[Nunyabiz]

Oh, and always fill your pots to the brim, and you need more light.
They are a bit spindly.

 

[metcalfr]

Thankyou to all of the comments. These are autos so I don't know what is going to happen. Will keep her growing and see what happens. She did bend fairly easy. I squeezed her first and slowly went back and forth. I'm wondering if the fact that they weren't full of water had anything to do with it. I was letting them dry for two days. I'm still having a hard time with my light. I don't want to burn them. But I also didn't want them stretching. I have sifted through the different posts on lights. I have a spider farmer SF 2000. So watts are just over 200. This whole par value and lux is still over my head at present. I would love to see a post that just states..... germination x watts at a height of x etc. I started at 80watts at 30 inches. I am now at 100ish watts at 22 inches above the tops. This has been the hardest thing for me to get good info on.

 

[metcalfr]

Oh, and always fill your pots to the brim, and you need more light.
They are a bit spindly.

This is what I am looking for. How many watts and height for different stages of the plant life.

 

[Doctor Trevor]

I had the main stalk snap while I was training. It didn't break off completely but, instead, was holding on a bit of green bark. I set the break and put it in a cast made of paper and a bit of tape. It healed very nicely.

 

[Nunyabiz]

This is what I am looking for. How many watts and height for different stages of the plant life.

80 watts was probably fine the first couple weeks, just need to adjust height.
This is going to be different for each light, so best option is to get a cheap Lux meter for about $20 and give them around 7000 Lux the first 2-3 days then up it to 10,000 Lux a couple days then 15,000 within a couple weeks.
And the first 2 weeks lower the light and dim it so the plant isn't stretching for it.
For a photo-period and especially an autoflower I would give them light 24/0 the first 2 weeks then 20/4 until harvest for the autoflower.
And try to keep temps stable which is a good thing about 24/0 light, you should be able to keep the temp within a couple degrees all day.
An 18/6 light schedule where the temps vary more than 10⁰ so say 80⁰ lights on and 69⁰ lights off and 6 hours darkness promotes stretching.
Do a 24/0 light schedule for seedlings for 2 weeks keeping temps between 77-80 with light about 12" off plant and dimmed to around 10-15,000 Lux and you should get tight nodes and short and bushy.

Here is my current grow of 3 plants when at day 15.
I slowly worked up to 15,000 Lux at a 24/0 light schedule and temps stayed between 77-81 the whole time.
The plants will usually let you know when the lights is just right.
If you get too close or too intense the leaves will usually flatten or point slightly down.
When the light is just right they will reach up towards the light.

 

[metcalfr]

80 watts was probably fine the first couple weeks, just need to adjust height.
This is going to be different for each light, so best option is to get a cheap Lux meter for about $20 and give them around 7000 Lux the first 2-3 days then up it to 10,000 Lux a couple days then 15,000 within a couple weeks.
And the first 2 weeks lower the light and dim it so the plant isn't stretching for it.
For a photo-period and especially an autoflower I would give them light 24/0 the first 2 weeks then 20/4 until harvest for the autoflower.
And try to keep temps stable which is a good thing about 24/0 light, you should be able to keep the temp within a couple degrees all day.
An 18/6 light schedule where the temps vary more than 10⁰ so say 80⁰ lights on and 69⁰ lights off and 6 hours darkness promotes stretching.
Do a 24/0 light schedule for seedlings for 2 weeks keeping temps between 77-80 with light about 12" off plant and dimmed to around 10-15,000 Lux and you should get tight nodes and short and bushy.

Here is my current grow of 3 plants when at day 15.
I slowly worked up to 15,000 Lux at a 24/0 light schedule and temps stayed between 77-81 the whole time.
The plants will usually let you know when the lights is just right.
If you get too close or too intense the leaves will usually flatten or point slightly down.
When the light is just right they will reach up towards the light.

Many many thanks. Will do this on my next grow. Thankyou