LST done right?

I’m new at growing. I keep reading that I want my canopy height to stay the same. I’ve been tying down all the bud sites that keep popping up higher. Should I be doing that or should I be letting them shoot up? I’m really keeping my plants low and bushy the way I’m training them. I don’t know if I fully understand the point of LST so I may not be doing it right. I’m posting some pics so you can see what I mean. Can I get some feedback or advice?

I'm sure someone else can be more precise about it but.. I'll get my feet wet.. Might have some simple questions for you also..
By no means take what I say as gospel.

Fire starter: I don't think you are doing it correctly. Firstly, to do LST you should really have the plant in top health.
This way it responds to the stress better and gets stronger, rather than weaker. The leaves seem to not be very happy as it stands.
Take care of the roots and they will take care of you.

What is the medium and what is the PH of your feeding?

For me LST is mostly during Veg. Try to shape the branches and expose the 'to be flower sites' to the light before the plants enter the bloom.
This way the flower development can kick uninterrupted. Different strains will react differently to stress so you need to keep it in mind..
It looks like maybe you never stop training the plants or maybe you started LST a bit late I am not sure.

Nonetheless.. You got the even thing down lol.. I see the trellis hanging in the back there. Also It looks like maybe you topped them?
The flowers seem to just be setting so hopefully she stretches and bulks out. Consider lowering the light on her a bit once you get the leaves corrected. I am not really sure it's going to be the yield you were hoping for.

What's the strain and are they autoflowers?

They’re autos. Pineapple Express and critical. I topped the Pineapple Express, but not the critical. They’re growing in happy frog soil mixed with a super soil. PH is about 6-6.5 going in. My soil run off is testing closer to 6. I just moved the light to 24” from the canopy tonight. It was 28” from the canopy previously. Should I come down another 4” or so?

The leaves are looking like that as a result of under watering. I only figured that out, with some help off the forum, about a week ago. They’re looking much better than they were. Improving daily

The trellis is hanging back there. I took it down because I was having trouble figuring out how to set it up correctly. I just couldn’t get it taut enough. The loose trellis made trying to scrog it pointless. I’m going to mess with that more and see if I can figure out a better way later down the line.

I will note that I have been doing LST since maybe week 2 or 3 of veg. I’m continuing here in flower. It is not something I only just started during flower.

I hope this answers your questions.

Brellan217 said:

They’re autos. Pineapple Express and critical. I topped the Pineapple Express, but not the critical. They’re growing in happy frog soil mixed with a super soil. PH is about 6-6.5 going in. My soil run off is testing closer to 6. I just moved the light to 24” from the canopy tonight. It was 28” from the canopy previously. Should I come down another 4” or so?

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So I enjoy the ambition. Many will say not to top auto. I maybe would not advise the combination of topping and the LST. Look into the FIM technique. It is less stress. You can top autos but I think best results will be seen in a coco (drain to waste) or hydro system. Because in this type of condition the plant does not need as much recovery time as in organic soil. Do you know why?

Brellan217 said:

The leaves are looking like that as a result of under watering. I only figured that out, with some help off the forum, about a week ago. They’re looking much better than they were. Improving daily

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This can also because of stressing the autoflower out a lot on top of the watering. But it is good you see improvement there.

Brellan217 said:

The trellis is hanging back there. I took it down because I was having trouble figuring out how to set it up correctly. I just couldn’t get it taut enough. The loose trellis made trying to scrog it pointless. I’m going to mess with that more and see if I can figure out a better way later down the line.

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Are you ready to enter the matrix? Next time, count your trellis squares and cut it to size of the tent, +1 square on every side.
Clip each end corner of your square. You now use the loose ends on the corners to tie the trellis on each post giving the first one a bit of slack.
Once you have it up you should be able to go around to each post and final tie it and get her tight as needed. Clip the loose ends.

OR -if you don't want to tie them maybe give some of these a whirl and then clean up the edges of your square after.

Brellan217 said:

I will note that I have been doing LST since maybe week 2 or 3 of veg. I’m continuing here in flower. It is not something I only just started during flower.

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For autos I pinch or start LST much sooner.
End of week 3 they will be showing you signs of flowers.
Are you ending week 4 now?

Brellan217 said:

I hope this answers your questions.

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Very well. By the looks of it I would take this run as a learning experience. Once leaves look better I would lower the light a bit but not until the plant is looking a bit happier and your watering is good. I hope some of the ranting helps you

Thank you for the advice. I do not know why best results from topping are in a hydroponic system. I am very new to this. I read stuff for about 2-4 weeks and took the plunge into growing. I figured I’d learn best by getting my hands dirty.

I topped about a month ago. They seem to be doing ok from that. I noticed the two stems that shot off, which was cool to witness. I also accidentally broke the main stem on one plant while I was doing LST, essentially topping it again.

These are entering week 7. Maybe day 52 or 53 from breaking soil. I may have started LST sooner. I’m just guessing that it was 3 weeks in that I started.

I also did just do some serious defoliation last night. I probably took around 25-30% of their lower leaves and smaller branches. Do you think the leaves could be looking sad from the stress from that too? I have read not to defoliate autos, but I found three grow diaries from this strain. Comparing them suggests better yields from topping and defoliating. One dude lollipopped it.

We will see what happens. I’ll be happy with one ounce per plant to be honest. According to the grow diaries I found I have about 7 more weeks to go.

The person who lollipopped and defoliated that auto was most likely in Coco.

The reason the plants give better results in the coco or hydro when you top or break them it's because the nutrients are immediately available at the roots. Hence the faster, rapid growth from those plants. In soil, the environment must be good and also the roots healthy so that the nutrition in the medium can break down and exchange. This takes more time for the plant to have available food especially when the conditions are not on point. Hence the slower growth.

Week 7.. Maybe something is not right. I also see some of the pistils browning...

I do think you taking the leaves was a mistake, especially being in soil. It is all about timing.

For example: Topping right before a feeding. Breaking branches early in the morning when the plant is more bendable etc.

I do not see an ounce a plant but I will cross my fingers for you. Dial it back and get those leaves perked up.
Consider stopping the stressing her so much to the point of over-doing. The ladies like their freedom

I'm out for the night but hopefully you got something from the stoned

Thanks again. Have a good night. I will stop any additional stress to them. I’ll drop the light to 20” when the leaves are looking 100%.