Has anyone got any experience or insights about growing as the photo depicts vs the usual topping early and bending the 2 main stems apart? Shooting for better yields and faster growth without high stress topping.
Looks like basic LST-just tie the stalk/branch over with a soft tie and let it grow. I manifold all of my plants-sometimes they will complain a bit but the results are always good. Growing multiple colas is what I'm after.
Better yields and faster growth are 2 different things. Shoot for one or the other. There's two ways to do it: either train out the plants and give time to veg them out or don't train at all and have a shit-ton of plants in queue for a faster turnover rate. (SOG) Topping is not stressful but certainly slows down growth. I would still top at least once even if I was to do a tie-down LST style like this to push the lowers to grow as new colas. You don't even have to top it completely just pinch off the topmost set of leaves and you'll see what I mean. It kinda just slows down the topmost growth; favor the lower branches by leaving them be. Don't be afraid to pinch in between all those bare spots especially the topmost growth...supercropping. Apply pressure between two fingers until it goes limp; then do it again after it heals. Helps increase stem diameter and bud mass but again any training slows growth. They can take a whole lot of punishment if you give them time to recover. If you really want to get fat-ass colas flip to bloom phase and then flip them back to veg again once they show sex..."monster cropping." Another cool trick for bigger buds once they are close to the size you want to flower them is to gradually lower the hours of light by one hour per week until they begin to preflower & then flip to 12/12. All of these techs work best under good lighting; end yield has a lot to do with how the plants are vegged from an early stage. An effortless way to increase yields with minimal training is to induce tighter nodal branching. Not saying you are doing anything wrong here I just want to help you get potentially the most bang for your buck. I see a lot of space in between the branches on this plant. That lowers potential yields like nothing else will. I used to veg under T5s or cfls the same way but found that once they get past seedling stage a 400w MH (or better) light makes for much tighter lateral branching which will give more weight to the flowers down the road. Good luck and happy growing
Top node #4, then you will spur branching, the lower branches get time to catch up with the new split, then you start tying down the dominant shoots to divert more auxins to the branches, then later train each branch lightly to form a bush. Should have sweet structure by the time it reaches 6 week sexual maturity and is due for an up-pot.
I am growing this method now from rescued, neglected party cup plants. Bending them over to form a manifold worked good. Here's proof, of start of transplant/training, and 3 weeks later hitting Bloom.
