bending vs. breaking

worm9119

Well-Known Member
want to start pruning for a bonzai type mother plant to get perfect clones off her that grow vertical from horizontal branches. when bending leaves, i understand that having tension built over time they can get used to it, but are there any benefits related to growth hormone regulation in the plant if you 'snap' the branch ever so slightly and then let it heal like that.

looking for experienced and sexy growers to answer please
 

Little Tommy

Well-Known Member
If you gently bend the mother over a period of days and increase the tension until you reach the angle you want, you will have good success. The breaking of a branch slows down growth as the plants sends energy there to heal the break. A complete waste of time in my opinion and sometimes you lose the branch. I have seen that first hand and it is awful. The younger the plant is when you start training the better. When young, the stems are soft and supple. I grow my mothers in concentric circles. That has been the most efficient way I have found to have a good supply of clone sites.
 

dirrtyd

Well-Known Member
Read the supercropping thread on this site it will answer your question. I have some pics of broken branches there.
Dirrty
 

superdave5

Active Member
Done both and now a true believer in bending! Dont break just bend you will never see much of a difference between the two beside breaking will slow growth for about a week (like stated above) and you take the chance at losing the branch, so hense how could you go wrong with bending. Look up LST (Low Stress Training)
 

GypsyBush

Well-Known Member
I do both.. but usually the breaking is on accident...

I guess I am pretty rough...

I say a good pinch and then bend...

Here is what I got behind my words....;-) my grow...:lol:














 

MediMaryUser

Well-Known Member
i like the results you get from super cropping or breaking but sometimes i break them too much so i just like to bend them or lst
 

superdave5

Active Member
leetsoup's got this thread in the bag hahahah sorry suppercroppers

And Im not knocking supercropping ITS JUST A PREFERENCE, Why chance a break when you can just bend and tie down (simply makes sense) unless someone could provide sufficient research that proves that pinching, or breaking is a better form of training your plant......... ANYONE?
 

swishatwista

Well-Known Member
lol they're two different things. Supercropping is during flowering when you damage a stem so it comes back twice as strong-twice the yeild-supercropping.

LST'ing,
 

swishatwista

Well-Known Member
huh, pressed enter and it sent it too early

but....

LST'ing is done during veg so you'll have a more uniform canopy surface area, like that one guy had as a pic where it was starting to flower. Personally, i LST'ed my plant and have been cutting it to get it all at the same heighth and as many bud sites as possible, and then during the 3rd week of flowering, im going to damage a portion of my stems so they come back twice as strong, i would damage all but this is my first grow
 

worm9119

Well-Known Member
lol thats exactly it thouhg. its your first grow. and secondly after reading up through many many articles, its pretty clear that breaking them stresses the plant, but if you give the plant time to veg and recover (roughtly 2 weeks for full recovery), it can do some nice bonzai creations. never bend during flower, a very bad decision as you stifle nutrients and stress the plant during the most vital time. LST is great for opening up the capony, but does not achieve the results that breaking does. Supper cropping is better performed on the top leaves as well, and the base branches are better for LST
 
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