H
hydrorascal
Guest
Training. A word most dread almost as much as 'cloning'.
Just like cloning becomes sooo simple after a few successful attempts, training becomes simple once a few things are understood.
First and foremost .... We are NOT looking to make a pretty plant. The total focus of 'training' is to maximize harvest, nothing more, nothing less.
If the plants you are training are the type you would like to clone, now is the time to get all ready for cloning.
Training involves 2 things. Removing non productive branches and removing overcrowded areas.
Using vertical scrog is intended to be a very intense grow using one 2 square feet of floor space and having a screen that is about 10 square feet. If you allow the plant to grow ungroomed you will detract from your final harvest by as much as 40%, proven fact by several who have not and have then done so using the same strain, same mother.
Training or grooming is up to you. Regardless of what your plant looks like when you finish grooming, remember that look until about a week before harvest. If you keep that first mental picture I can almost guarantee that you will not ever grow an ungroomed or untrained plant again.
Ok, break out the scissors and clean them with alcohol first and rinse them with peroxide. Both by the way are from the dollar store.
Starting from the bottom, cut off the 3 lowest branch sets. Yes all three of those fluff generators. If any are big enough to use as clones then save them for later.
Here is the hardest one for most growers. Topping. Yep, that lovely top growth is gonna come off. Count down from the top at least 2 branch sets, often times 3. Cut. Save the clone material.
Your plant should have had about 12 branch sets at the start of this. When ya finish there will be 6 to 8 branch sets. If you truly want to maximise harvest then from the main stem, remove each of the first 3 branch offshoots from each of the remaining branches.
The visual of the remaining plant is ... uuuuuuuuugly. Chopped up... no top, no bottom and little left in the middle. Again, remember that .. take a good mental picture. Your plants will change sooo fast you will be shocked.
Now... training to the screen. The plants will all want to grow to the light. This must be stopped. For the first couple of weeks, its easiest to just grab the plant and pull her away from the res center. Its also a good time to start to separate the remaining branches... guiding each one to where it gets the maximum light while not interferring with its neighbors.
After the first couple of weeks.. they will be large enough that its now time to more guide the individual branches to a place of maximum light. Always aim the upper branches up, the middle branches up and the lowest ones up. The exception being ... always focus on maximum light.
Proof of the effectiveness is at harvest. Untrained, ungroomed plants in this setup will harvest ~1z to maybe 1.5z. Groomed and trained, same strain, same mother the totals will just about double. The other advantage is much less trimming with the larger harvest.
Late last year one of the folks at harvest weighed one rather large bud. Dried the one bud weighed over 18 grams. This plant was severely groomed at the start of 12/12. The next largest one from the same plant was right at 14g. 2 buds.. 32g.... not too shabby for a 250w !! Oh..and plus all the 'smaller' buds from the same plant. The overall net from the one plant was waaay over 3z's.
Just like cloning becomes sooo simple after a few successful attempts, training becomes simple once a few things are understood.
First and foremost .... We are NOT looking to make a pretty plant. The total focus of 'training' is to maximize harvest, nothing more, nothing less.
If the plants you are training are the type you would like to clone, now is the time to get all ready for cloning.
Training involves 2 things. Removing non productive branches and removing overcrowded areas.
Using vertical scrog is intended to be a very intense grow using one 2 square feet of floor space and having a screen that is about 10 square feet. If you allow the plant to grow ungroomed you will detract from your final harvest by as much as 40%, proven fact by several who have not and have then done so using the same strain, same mother.
Training or grooming is up to you. Regardless of what your plant looks like when you finish grooming, remember that look until about a week before harvest. If you keep that first mental picture I can almost guarantee that you will not ever grow an ungroomed or untrained plant again.
Ok, break out the scissors and clean them with alcohol first and rinse them with peroxide. Both by the way are from the dollar store.
Starting from the bottom, cut off the 3 lowest branch sets. Yes all three of those fluff generators. If any are big enough to use as clones then save them for later.
Here is the hardest one for most growers. Topping. Yep, that lovely top growth is gonna come off. Count down from the top at least 2 branch sets, often times 3. Cut. Save the clone material.
Your plant should have had about 12 branch sets at the start of this. When ya finish there will be 6 to 8 branch sets. If you truly want to maximise harvest then from the main stem, remove each of the first 3 branch offshoots from each of the remaining branches.
The visual of the remaining plant is ... uuuuuuuuugly. Chopped up... no top, no bottom and little left in the middle. Again, remember that .. take a good mental picture. Your plants will change sooo fast you will be shocked.
Now... training to the screen. The plants will all want to grow to the light. This must be stopped. For the first couple of weeks, its easiest to just grab the plant and pull her away from the res center. Its also a good time to start to separate the remaining branches... guiding each one to where it gets the maximum light while not interferring with its neighbors.
After the first couple of weeks.. they will be large enough that its now time to more guide the individual branches to a place of maximum light. Always aim the upper branches up, the middle branches up and the lowest ones up. The exception being ... always focus on maximum light.
Proof of the effectiveness is at harvest. Untrained, ungroomed plants in this setup will harvest ~1z to maybe 1.5z. Groomed and trained, same strain, same mother the totals will just about double. The other advantage is much less trimming with the larger harvest.
Late last year one of the folks at harvest weighed one rather large bud. Dried the one bud weighed over 18 grams. This plant was severely groomed at the start of 12/12. The next largest one from the same plant was right at 14g. 2 buds.. 32g.... not too shabby for a 250w !! Oh..and plus all the 'smaller' buds from the same plant. The overall net from the one plant was waaay over 3z's.
