Need Help on Multiple Topping and Sex Determination!

[Southerncough]

Your input is awesome for me now as I have only one plant left out of 5 that is female. I am currently trying my hand at LST. I already see the little side shoots along the main branches aiming up after only 2 days. Will they all become Cola's now or just popcorn buds? Im excited and hopeful I can get this girl to harvest with some healthy buds for my first grow! Should I keep working the limbs down until they are completely flat/horizontal? Does this process slow down the bud development because of the stress of doing LST? Now Im thinking I should have done the LST earlier but I didnt have the room til now! Thanks a ton friend!

Does this answer your question?
If given the chance to stretch to the top and develop a strong stem the side buds can very well be colas. This plant pictured was topped once and the rest was LST! She's got over 100 colas!

 

[Seniorweeder]

Does this answer your question?
If given the chance to stretch to the top and develop a strong stem the side buds can very well be colas. This plant pictured was topped once and the rest was LST! She's got over 100 colas!

OMG,,, that looks magical, how old is that girl , and how long did u veg her, and at what time frame did u start the LST? SO IMPRESSIVE TO THIS OLE BOY, THANKS!

 

[Seniorweeder]

Sooooo helpful friend, I will be having more fun working them as u instructed!

 

[Southerncough]

She's pretty old! Maybe may or June of last year. She was the only survivor of a BAD pest problem last summer and i was going to flip this weird, skinny plant into bloom and see if i could get an ounce or two off her and then she bolted straight up almost overnight. If i flipped her as is she would've gone straight into the lights so i decided to LST her sideways to get the canopy lower and then I'd flip her. But then i decided to wait until she filled out a little more. Then i decided to fill up half of the cabinet with her. Then i decided what the heck, there aren't any plants waiting their turn behind her yet so I'll have some fun and fill out the whole cabinet, so it was never my original intention.

 

[Seniorweeder]

Just amazing, gives me hope and encourages me to play with her a bit,,,such good info on here. Thanks for your time friend. As a few folks on here know how much trouble I had for my first grow, i.e. loosing expensive first seed to bad germination, then having 4 out of 5 turn male on me, I am considering either "Autos" or feminized beans for my next Fall attempt. Any input there?

 

[Southerncough]

I've got some other plants now that I'm doing intentional training with and hopefully will have some fun stuff to share of them in the future, like a clone from the monster scrog that's growing like a vine so I'm training her sideways into a spiral.
As for seeds I've grown autos, fem, and regular strains even as recent as 2 weeks ago had all 3. They each have their own pros and cons. The regular seeds seem to be the most stable, but you have to go through the sexing process and some will be males and have to be tossed. Fem seeds are a little more money but in theory you shouldn't have any males. However they are produced by plants that undergo hormonal stress to yield only female seeds, so there's a little instability in the mix now. Experienced breeders should be able to produce more stable fem seeds than a novice breeder who may turn out some hermaphrodite offspring.
Then there's autos. I like autos but not enough to go full time. They're usually most expensive seeds and one seed = 1 plant, no clones, etc. Again lots of funny business in the breeding department between desirable weed strains and wild miniature plants that aren't very smokable. If done correctly the breeder can influence the desirable weed plant with the wild rudaralus plants short life cycle to create an autoflower seed. I've grown some decent autos but they've been very inconsistent for me. They're very sensitive to transplanting, over training and over feeding. Anything that stresses them will impact your yields. I've had autos that were on track to produce 4 oz get stressed and yielded 2 oz, etc.
BUT if starting a new garden i usually pop an auto first so I'll have something to harvest and smoke while taking the time to establish my photo or fem plants.

 

[Southerncough]

Lately I've been growing mostly female seeds unless they're not available for the strain i want. For example mrs cough loves mango, northern lights and purple haze which are all pretty easy to find feminine seeds for.
But she wants to try out a rare native Pakistani strain which the breeder only produces regular seeds for so i don't really have a choice in that case.
But if I really like that strain and it's really hard to get i could breed them with confidence that their genetics are pretty stable vs say seeds from a buddy who had an outdoor plant get pollinated by a mystery male in the neighborhood -you have no idea what could happen with those seeds!

 

[Seniorweeder]

Southerncough u never fail to deliver, your input and insight is just amazing to this ole boy. Based on what you said I will definitely get an "Auto" to mix in next fall. Just makes good sense. The "super cool generous " guy on here that saved me this time by donating a crap ton of seeds to help me out after losing my expensive feminized seeds claims he grows the "Mango" strain also and loves it. I did not get any of those, but the only plant that ended up female for this grow is a strain called "Black Water" that he swears by, claiming it is a very uplifting and also sedating high which suits my needs.

I never did ask what is your grow medium and nute regimen especially during flower. I said way back in this thread that my medium is Fox Farms Coco-loco which has built in nutes which worked out great for my dumb but. The only thing I have used is Cal-mag that a grower on here suggested as it fixed a deficiency I had early on. Now Im curious as to when and how much nutes I should use for flowering if any at all? The stuff I have on hand is "Advanced Nutrients" it is a 3 part deal. I am just sooooo nervous to use anything as I have 1 girl now for my 3 months of effort and don't want to take a chance on damaging her now that I have made it this far!!!!!!! I will say that using the LST method has added a bunch of fun for me, after tonights next tie down I will have the limbs almost fall but Im shooting for a curved effect based on the advise of another grower on here!

 

[Southerncough]

I use coco with some worm poop mixed in and feed them the full dyna gro line and feed per their schedule with good results. I like that their products are simple, affordable and pretty decent quality (and my local shop usually hooks me up with samples that make it last a little longer).
For veg i use their protekt, kln, mag pro, and foliage pro.
For bloom: protekt, mag pro, bloom, and zyme.
Then for supplements outside of that brand i use recharge in both veg and bloom, mammoth p in bloom, and some generic bloom boost powder that i forgot the name of.
I'm also going to try out some winter frost by new millennium on my big Afghan girl to see if it lives up to the hype.
I found that by using beneficial microbes i don't need to PH my nutes anymore because they do it for me, which is great because I'm too color blind to use the liquid/drops test kit and my ph meters are always either taking a crap on me or need calibrating or need more storage solution that i have to order because my local guy is always out of or only has a giant bottle of ($$$) etc.

If you're down to one plant I'd say it's time to take some cuttings! It can be as simple as just sticking them in a small container with an inch of water until they root. Lately I've had a LOT of luck using empty spice jars! They offer a perfect amount of support for the stems.
Key to success is a SHARP cutting tool. I picked up a little diamond plated file that fiskars sells for $6 in the garden center and before each use I give my shears a few swipes on each blade and then wave them over a lighter before touching the plants with them amd my clone survival rate is near 100%!