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KathleenBilly you folks can skip the screen all together if you want - Crop Circle Of Bud. It's like an inefficient SCROG that's portable, simple low stress training.
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I don't train like a normal scrog, bending the plant through veg. I top when there is enough height above the third node to make a good clone ~ 2" of stem + 2 nodes on top. After the top I wait until the two stems are 22" each then transplant from a 6" pot to a 5 gallon bucket - at an angle so the stems are easier to bend. I had been putting the plant directly into flower after training because my veg room was in a secret room with a 4' ceiling at the end of a crawl space, nasty to be hauling 5 gallon buckets around that. I framed up a wall in my flower room (32' x 20') and used hay bailing plastic for the wall - very thick tough black plastic. Now I've got a real veg room and I'm vegging the plants for a week after transplanting to 5 gallon pots and training. I'm thinking it will dramatically increase yield and shorten flowering time.
I'm running a test with these two Pandora's Boxes, they're at 16" and 19". The pic is a few weeks old, I've got the taller PB's stem almost trained and the shorter is almost 20".
The topped plant will have stems that are bowed like a cowboys legs, cross the stems so they follow their natural curves when you bend them - right side stem circles the bucket rim counter clockwise, left clockwise.
This Bubblegum's stems weren't crossed and took over a week to train. If crossed I could have done it in a few hours.
This is a 1 stem Kali Mist at 35" and a 2 stem Flo (18" & 19"). The stem is much thicker and more difficult to bend and train. We need to get the stem around the 38" of the bucket rim to get as many branches as possible, so two thinner, shorter stems are much easier. The stems virtually stop growth and stretch when bent horizontal, many more branches than a vertical plant of the same stem length. The Flo trained in about 15 minutes and the Kali Mist took days.
Flo -
Kali Mist
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Flo
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Kali Mist
You need holes drilled in your bucket just below the rim, to anchor your stem tie downs. I drill a hole every 1", 38 around the bucket. Use 1' of twist tie and make a loose loop around a stiff part of the stem, probably 3"-6" from the end. Gently bend the stem in a semi circle - experience will tell you how far you can go each day, you are going to snap a few stems and will have to repair them. I use silicon tubing to protect the stem and duct tape around the tubing. When I started I snapped stems in two that were only held together with the skin and the stems healed. Tough plant. You'll find it easiest to use 3 or 4 training twist ties along the length of each stem, taking the slack off each after one is tightened.
This is a technique you should use out of desperation (my plants were too tall for my secret 4' room when I started growing) or on plants you can afford to throw away. If you don't have any extra clones around use your male plants for experimenting and learning, just put them back in veg so they don't mess up your females in flower. Great use for something you were going to chop and toss out, now you just toss them when you're done training and you know how far you can push your females.
It'll take a few days to train a mature plant, a skinny stemmed plant from a 20 oz cup can be trainned in about 15 minutes but the yield will be low. If you force the plant, or tighten more than once a day, you will crease or snap stems - tighten the twist ties once per day only even though they will feel loose hours after tightening. This is a procedure where you really need patience. Immediately after trainning your plants they'll look like these Jack The Ripper, Pandora's Box and Chemdog, it's normal.
After the stem is trained and held in place with twist ties you have to train the branches on long branched strains. On short branched strains you have an easier time, they almost train themselves, just need a little help. I start at the base of each stem and match branches from each node, connecting them in the middle by a short piece of twist tie. The idea now is to bring eveything towards the middle and to get the branches in order. After the branches of each node are connected with twist ties start from the bottom of the stems and line up each set of branches like a deck of cards that are fanned out - the branches will pull up towards the light. Give them a week or so for the branches to settle in that position and take the twist ties off. The branches have to be twisted slightly and arranged so the branch stems aren't crossed. In the end you should have the two sides of the nodes making a V with the branches that follows the stems like circular track. After a couple of weeks and some training you're plants will look like these Jillybeans.
This is a Super Strawberry Diesel after trimming the leaves during hang dry. The tomato care ring I tied it to is 18" in diameter, it yielded just over 2 liters (9 cups) of 4 week cured bud.
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Super Strawberry Diesel mid (left) and sativa phenos. Between and behind the two is a 2 liter ice cream container for size comparrison.
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Sativa Pheno from the side
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Mid Pheno top view
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The two indica phenos
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Small cola indica
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Large cola indica
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Top view of the 4 plants
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The four SSDs and in the back a Bubblegum and Kali Gum. All four SSDs have outstanding trichome production.
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Side of the two indica phenos, both are under 6" from the bucket rim and each put out over 2 liters of cured bud (8-9 cups, 1/2 gallon).
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Top view. The buds seem to be bulging, about to explode.
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The mid pheno. Big buds.
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Sativa pheno, tallest colas 18".
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https://www.rollitup.org/seed-strain-reviews/211186-pics-my-garden-ssd-km.html
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