What Is Low Stress Training?

Low-stress training is a way to help plants grow a lot of "colas," which are also called buds. It can help you get the most out of a small, indoor grow space.

When plants are grown naturally, they tend to be denser at the bottom and grow into a single, narrow cola at the top. There is only one dominant bud at the top that gets most of the nutrients and light, so you end up with a lot of small buds. Many small buds grow on the lower branches, but they don't grow to the same size or power as the main bud.

With low-stress training, you can make your canopy look like it's flat. As a result, all of your buds will be able to get the same amount of light and hormones will spread more evenly through the plants. This means that there will be a bigger and more powerful final yield.

There are two ways to train plants to deal with low stress. One method, called the Screen of Green or ScrOG, forces plants to grow through a screen. both methods can have a big impact on your plants and make a lot more money for you if they are done the right way.

When the plant's stem and shoots are long enough to be tied down, LST can start. Check to see if the tape you use is stretchy or if it has a rubber coating. These are more gentle on shoots and stems. Regular wire or string should not be used because it could cut into the stems as they grow, causing them to break.

First, make a few small holes around the rim of your plant pot. A tomato ring may even be added at this point. Tomato rings can be useful if the plant grows a lot bigger. The ties will be looped through the holes or attached to the tomato rings, and then they will be attached to the shoots. This is how it works:

1. Bend the main stem, gently secure it to the rim of the pot. Many people grow cannabis by tying the stem around the container in a circle as it grows. This makes the snake-like shape that it looks like as it grows. If you want to grow a plant, you might want to bend the shoots outwards and tie them to the holes in the container. The plant then starts to look like a spider.
2. In order to bend the shoots or stems with care, make sure you bend them slowly. There are times when it's good to have some duct tape on hand. The tape can be used to fix any broken or snapped things. Cannabis plants aren't very strong, so there's no need to be too worried about a broken shoot because it can grow back.
3. Some light defoliation, or the removal of leaves, can help the plants get more light at the start. LST is a methodical procedure. There are going to be new shoots. They will need to be bent and tied down. As the shoots get bigger and more leaves appear, the bends may need to be changed to keep the canopy level.

At what time should you start training your low stress plants?

It doesn't matter when you start low-stress training in the vegetative state. The later you start, the less dramatic your results will be. When your plant's stems and shoots are long enough to tie down, you should start low-stress training. They should be strong enough to withstand being moved around without getting hurt.

Low-stress training in the traditional sense:

Low-stress training in the past used string, pipe cleaners, or other materials to tie down stems so they grew horizontally. To start, make a few small holes around the rim of your plant's pot. As you choose, you can bend the plant's stems and secure it to the container in a way that works best for you. When growing plants, some people tie the stem itself so that it turns into a spiral as it grows. But you can also use twine or string to make the same thing happen.

Be very gentle when you touch your plants. They are still very young, and they will be very weak. Keep some duct tape on hand in case a stem breaks or snap; tape the broken stem together and it should heal itself.

Keep an eye on your plants. Make sure to tie down new shoots and stems as well. You may also want to cut back any leaves that block light from getting to the lower branches at the start.

If you are very careful about securing stems throughout the process, your plants will grow more horizontally, which will make the canopy of your garden look more even. When they start to flower, buds that would normally be small and weak are exposed to more light. Because they'll get bigger and tastier, they'll end up with a more potent harvest at the end.

The Green Screen:

In the Screen of Green method, a big screen is used to encourage plants to grow in a certain direction. A screen can be made out of materials like plastic trellis netting, metal, or rope to start it. You will also need wood posts to keep the screen in place over your plants. You should put up your screen in the vegetative state before your plants have grown too tall.

Then, wait until your plants get close enough to touch the screen. It will be a long time before each plant has 10 or 20 branches that reach through the screen. When you take the outside branch, pull it outward. Then, weave the branch through the screen. Once that branch is in place, move on to the next one. Work your way in from the outside, stem by stem, until all of your branches are woven horizontally across your screen.

If there are branches in the middle that are hard to get to, you can cut off the tops. Lower buds and needles on that plant will get more direct sunlight and air flow this way, so they will grow better. This lets their lower buds grow more fully.

You should remove any branches and leaves that don't reach the screen and block light from lower buds as you go through the process. Between weeks one and three of the flowering state, your plants will grow very quickly. Keep an eye on your screen during this time and move the branches as needed to make sure all buds get as much light as possible.

Is it possible to train with minimal stress throughout the blossoming stage?

At this point in the plant's life, the shoots are more flexible and the plant's growth is easier to control. That said, low-stress training can also be used during the flowering phase of the plant. Bending the stems during flowering can help them get the same amount of light. People who want to move the plant's energy from a lot of places to a few can do low-stress training in the first few weeks of flowering.

LST isn't usually done on plants that are fully grown and flowering. Constant LST, on the other hand, can help mother plants stay healthy and produce strong clones during both the vegetative and early flowering stages.

Low-Stress Training Makes More Buds Grow

The light is more evenly spread when you bend the stems and direct them away from the inside of the plant. This lets more of the leaves get the light, not just the top and outside ones. As the number and volume of secondary leaves grows, the plant's ability to produce energy through photosynthesis also grows, which leads to even more foliage that meets the plant's needs. When you bend the stems, you also make more colas, which are the cluster of leaves at the end of a limb where flower buds grow.

 The more colas there are, the more flower buds you can pick from the plants you grow. When you grow plants inside, it can be very important to keep them under 7 feet tall. This is because LST lets you keep your plants under 7 feet tall, which can be very important if you're growing plants inside.

Conclusion:

Low-stress training creates a more even canopy that allows all of the buds to grow. This allows them to thrive. Most of the air, nutrients, and lighting flow through one bud at the top of the plant in traditional growing. This bud takes up most of the space. By forcing your plants to grow horizontally, you get a lot of buds that are both bushy and bright. When you train with low-stress methods, you can make the most of small spaces, grow bigger plants with many buds, and make a lot more money without having to expand your grow space or buy more equipment. If you treat your plants with care and follow the directions to the letter, any grower can learn low-stress training methods.

As with everything else about growing plants indoors, low-stress training takes practice. Many times, you might have to run through the process before you truly understand it, but it is worth it. It's also possible that you'll come up with your own ways of growing things that could be useful to other people.