Aggressive Pruning and High Stress Training

Discussion in 'Plant Training' started by Loki7, Sep 29, 2018.

  1. I haven't seen any posts related to this and can't believe no one talks about this. I guess it may seem counterintuitive to some, but aggressive pruning can dramatically increase yields. And cannabis is a hardy plant and you can use that to your advantage.

    I'd been growing weed for nearly a decade when I came across a guy growing like I'd never seen before and his results were also like something I've never seen before. His plant turned into one huge bud about the size of a large pizza about 8 inches tall.

    The guy's name was Donovan and I call it the Donovan Technique. This guy had mental issues and among them, he was OCD. He'd sit in front of this plant every day with a pair of tiny scissors and cut off any leaf bigger than a fifty cent piece. The whole plant was on its side and any branch that started to grow upwards was rolled between his fingers until it cracked and he'd bend it downwards. It had hundreds of tiny branches and all the leaves looked normal, but one tenth their normal size.

    When it flowered, the buds were normal sized and just enveloped the plant turning it into basically one huge bud. So, consider cutting those leaves off and have the plant spend its energy making more bud sites. Once you do it, you'll be hooked. You'll look shade leaves that are big as your hand and think the energy the plant used to make that could have made dozens of new bud sites... Or plants with popcorn buds and think of all that wasted space...

    And once you're doing that and think now you know everything about growing weed, there's more. Replace your dark cycle with Blue and UV light... Cut your dark cycle in half with the right wavelength of far red light... False flowering, where you re-veg mid flower then re-flower is another personal favorite. It's similar to cloning a flowering cutting, but the whole plant.

    Happy growing Blades!

    -Loki
     
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  2. I was surfing around and saw the HST, Aggressive training and had to comment...I also see this is OLD....Maybe you will see this....
    Been growing since 1979 and learned a LOT in over 40 yrs....I use HST every crop....Its a must to properly fill your space, unless your doing plantlets....I run 6 plants in a 5x4 ft space (small walkin closet)....I BEAT THE CRAP out if mine....They LOVE the results...Cannabis, like many plants in nature, want to survive and reproduce....Your not about to hurt them...They ALWAYS COME BACK with a vengence.....Its a great way to 'profile' your plants with tops that will ultimately stretch to fill your space....Defoliation, lollipopping, branch bending, the whole nine yards....AS LONG as they get a full recovery before inducing flower, your fine...AND THAT HAPPENS FAST....I time mine, so my HST is 1 week before I want to induce flower....Heres some pics showing what I did just last night to my girls.....1st pic how they were BEFORE HST, 2nd pic is immediately after HST (looks like Godzilla stepped on them), and the 3rd pic is 24 hours AFTER HST....The BEFORE pic is why they need it in my crop with my # of plants....They bunch up and completely shade themself....I need to get them to spread, thin them out to let the light in, and DEFINE my main grow tips for each plant....I shoot for 10-12 in this area to fill it efficiently and max my yields...YT 20210130_144202.jpg 20210130_225532.jpg 20210131_214842.jpg
     
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  3. pic of outcome from previous crop...PACKED with full tops....20 sq ft is pulling btwn 30 and 40 jars depending on which strains I run...I have 6 right now...YT 15375588684322981970464058876864~2.jpg
     
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  4. I replaced my 2 day dark period before harvest with blue light, damn did she frost up. I agree with you
     
  5. That monster cropping is NOT for everyone....If your growing just 1 or 2 plants, your ok doing it...Your replacing LARGE tops with A CRAP LOAD OF SMALLER BUDS...the trimming is a nightmare (Thus just doing 1-2 plants)....I've been growing since 1979 and the real trick is to pack in as many BIG TOPS into your space as possible...This is why the SCROG system and plantlet systems are dubbed the highest yielding methods...Both do exactly that...I dont scrog cause It locks the plants into position...In a tent with 4 sided access, thats ok...In a closet (I use) you cannot access plants an further than you can reach from the closet door....ALSO monster cropping can turn out a tangles mess...Its LOT MORE WORK to manage and keep ALL BUDDING sites in good light...Doesnt take much leaf to shade a bunch if small bud sites....There was a time when I THOUGHT I could make monster cropping yield more...NEVER HAPPENED....Your just adding more, OF SMALLER buds in a given area...The net yield is no better, but the additional work is insane...If you apply that defoliation to a properly scrog'ed crop, or similar, you will have better tops...NOT AS MANY, but which are MUCH BIGGER...EASY management while growing and EASY TRIMMING....SO MANY methods have been developed over the decade, but sticking to WHAT IS PROVEN THE HIGHEST YIELDING METHODS (for a reason), will serve you best.....YT
     
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  6. Keep in mind that Monster cropping CAN hermi sensitive plants....The who thing is based on revegging plants that were already in a flower cycle...They push out a MANY new growth shoots...YOUR ALSO DISRUPTING, to what they see as, a NORMAL light cycle....messing with stressing them in and out of flower can cause them to throw nannas...NOT GUESSING THAT COULD HAPPEN, I've seen it happen....You see lot in 42 yrs of growing...YT
     
  7. What kind of system are you running?. I can see it in your second pic I’m currently running an undercurrent dwc but curious to what your setup is if your willing to share. The undercurrent I run uses a lot of water and nutes. I also have a flood and drain which is easy. But am looking to newer system ideas for more efficiency and ease of use


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  8. It is DTW (Drain to Waste)....It set up 'Hempy' style....I'm sure your familiar with Hempy?....Hempy is technically just a DTW system, but leaves 2 inches (with larger containers) of water in the bucket bottoms, to serve the plant longer btwn watering, (ie, the drains are set 2 inches up from the base edge)....Mine MIGHT APPEAR as having some type of ACTIVE watering, but at close inspection, you can see that the PVC is all just drainage for my 'WASTE' water...Its IMPORTANT with DTW to have a decent runoff...it is a self flushing system...I for one, water to about a 40% runoff....Many would think thats a waste of nutes, but the fact is, a crop cost me about $70 in nutes for an avg of 32 jars (oz) return...If anyone cant afford that kind of investment TO INSURE a quality return, you probably are using flashlights from the local flea market for your lighting system...HEMPY CAN, AND WILL get a build up of nutes, AND significant pH fluctuations without a decent runoff....THIS USUALLY will occur before your plants reach pre-flower veg, and flower....Once they are big, with RAPID growth, they are tearing thru water and nutes, and buildup is not common....I have 3 gal utilty buckets and water every 3 days in earlier veg and every other day in LATE veg and flower...The last cpl weeks of flower, they are back down to using LESS WATER AND NUTES....so its back to every 3 days for watering during LATE flower....KEEP IN MIND, all systems are UNIQUE in itself....Mine has 1000w HID over them...My house has central AC/heating so my enviroment is STABLE...Even the medium you chose to use governs how often you might need to water....I opt for 80% perlite mix with Vermiculite as the other 20%...Its a VERY airy mix....I LIKE THAT....Someome might chose a Coco fiber mix at 50% (with perlite loosener)...Coco fiber holds a TON of water...At 50%, it would need LESS FREQUENT WATERING....combine that with a less intense light (maybe 400w or 600w), and you BETTER water less to keep your roots healthy...Even a 50/50 mix of Perlite to Vermiculite is too 'MUDDY' for my liking...Vermiculite also holds a ton of water...Everyone needs to DEVELOPE their own watering schedule BASED ON WHAT THEY ARE SPECIFICALLY DOING....
    Over 40+ years of growing, I have used EVERY SYSTEM imaginable...Even came up with a cpl of my own....BUT FOR BEST BANG FOR YOUR BUCK, EASE OF USE, QUALITY OF RETURN, YOU CANT BEAT DTW SYSTEMS.....Have you ever google 3in1 growers...They demonstrate how they consistently get 3 lbs per 1000w light....EVERY ONE of these 'HIGH YIELD GURUS' run DTW systems....BECAUSE IT WORKS!!!!!....DWC has the most 'moving parts', and is hard to MASTER...one little thing craps out and you can lose an entire crop...Remote rez's, pumps, aerators, chillers, plumbing, YIKES...the set up, AND CLEAN UP IS INSANE, unless your a 1 bucket person.....Fill a small bedroom with that system and your JUMPING THRU HOOPS ALL THE TIME...It takes me about 20 min to water every other day with 6 buckets....I DO IT, not pumps and timers...NO errors of malfunctions....
    Dont get me too wrong...DWC is a viable system, just a lot more $ and work, with MANY MORE possible failures....I started 40 yrs ago with DTW and come full circle...CANT BE BEAT IMO....YT
     
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  9. There are SO MANY benefits to DTW....NO MONITORING reservoirs...Your water bucket is set with nutes, and pH set at 5.7-5.8, and you top water you plants....IF ONE WANTED to get fancy with a larger DTW set up, you could use one remote rez and have water rings on each bucket...I would even manually turn that on and then monitor the amt of runoff...the useage would change with plant size and growth rate......This adds SOME automation to those bent on automation....MANY commercial set ups are DTW with remote rez's with a 'FEED LINE' to each plant.....BECAUSE IT WORKS SO WELL, and has MINIMAL pitfalls...YT
     
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  10. Lol. I see your point. I run hydroton and a chiller and all kinds of pumps and automation. So I already put the money into it. Just thinking of revamping. But I can appreciate the ease of use with the DTW. I’m just not used to not watering very often. Change my nutes out every 10-14 days depending of how fast their eating. Thanks for the insight though


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  11. Wow, I thought nobody else used vermiculite anymore. I germed seeds and then started them in solo cups filled just with vermiculite this year. The roots they grew were amazing...I love the stuff. I've never seen it available in bulk lots however, which is why I'm in DTW coco/perlite after that.
     
  12. I always do.
     
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