Neat gardening tricks

[64tf]

Thought it might be nice to get a fresh growing tips thread started. If you are promoting a product disclose that in the post. I'm not pushing anything so most of my tips are going to be things I've found useful, but I'm not promoting a brand. For my first tip I like using these paper clips, and wire ties for low stress training.

 

[Darksidesam]

have been told zip ties / wire / thin string can cut into a plant but cant confirm if this is true or not?

However , training plants especially in indica varieties is very underrated and can really increase yields

 

[jasperkent]

have been told zip ties / wire / thin string can cut into a plant but cant confirm if this is true or not?

I like to use pipe cleaners or yarn.

 

[64tf]

I agree the ties can cause problems. I straight broke off what would have been a beautiful bud last week. I have some of the long wire ties you commonly see, and training clips. I also use stakes and cages. I didn't really get the LST thing till my second run. Remarkable difference.

I have a pack of pipe cleaners on my desk and I was wondering if they would be better than ties.

 

[64tf]

I've made a lot of good use out of foam board, and basement encapsulation tape like this.
Big ass white tape

I don't use a tent. I have my setup in an outdoor shed. I get the foam board with the radiant barrier on one side, and then you can build temporary walls, or small boxes for veg or whatever.

 

[jasperkent]

I have a pack of pipe cleaners on my desk and I was wondering if they would be better than ties.

I've used them many times with good results.

 

[64tf]

Here are some pictures from the run I'm wrapping up now. One is Gorilla cookie dough, and the remaining 5 are random from fast buds (no affiliation). These are all auto flowers and my first go at autos. Lights are Mars Hydro, and HLG 600 R. This run is in BioAll, from bio365, and I've only used this flowering fert from Supernaturals some hippie sold me for $45 bucks. They are not one of the big nute suppliers, but the price makes me want to try more of their stuff.
Dope shed

 

[foodcrisis]

have been told zip ties / wire / thin string can cut into a plant but cant confirm if this is true or not?

However , training plants especially in indica varieties is very underrated and can really increase yields

i'd think if one of the tie cuts into the stem it's not really going to matter... i've seen people train their plants for low grows by actually snapping the plant to the side and the buds still grow..the plants are pretty versatile, but doing that produces lower yields cause the plant gets shocked getting bent. stupid old technique i'm pretty sure or maybe if you are really lazy and can't figure any other techniques out and have a very small space. not something recommended obviously, but the plant can take a lot of different conditioning.

i used to cut the cop bud off the plant, and then create a clone with it to have all the side buds of the plant be the bigger ones in a lower sized plant, but this didn't really create higher yields for me.. i never got into those techniques where people have really bushy huge buds on small plants. i couldn't figure that out. i made a thread about it. i think it's "super cropping". it doesn't make sense to me. a few people tried to explain it to me. the way it appears to me is that when doing that style of plant, it takes a long time trimming the plant, so you might be able to do a couple regular grows with out trimming the plant in the time a person can get one of those smaller very thick plants. like i've seen people grow buds the size of their arms.... usually my top buds were only a quarter to a half ounce.. when i'd clone the top bud and do the method to get the side buds thicker, it didn't really make the side buds that much thicker and having the top bud was definitely better.. unless you have a small space, it's pretty stupid to do that technique.. some of the stuff trimming plants to grow those really huge buds might be worth it. i haven't really tried. some lights and fertelizer create huge amounts of grow per day in vegetative state, so it could be worth it... from what i see of all the dispensaries growing they don't do any super cropping tehcniques or anything, so i'm kind of doubting the time it needs to be in vegetative states is going to create a higher yield in terms of how long it takes for each to grow... i'm not sure why dispensaries wouldn't super crop stuff.

i always thought about trying to grow a plant like in the movie little shop of horrors... get a pool and fill it with hydro solution to have tons of room for the roots. supposedly you can keep the plant in vegetative state for any amount of time, so i guess you could grow some really gigantic nugs.. it'd be such a pain to change the hydro water and what not.. it'd be really easy to make a mistake and ruin it, but i'd thin someone would try for the book of world records, or it'd make a crazy you tube video.

 

[64tf]

^^I've seen pictures where it just looks like a single giant bud is growing by itself. I wonder if that is someone taking a top and cloning it.

High stress training like super cropping, I've not tried, but I probably should have done one or the other with that branch I lost.

For regular photo periods I use a pretty aggressive trimming right before they flip to flower. Common names like lollipop, or Swayzing. The logic being that this will prevent the buds from getting too airy. That said, I'm not really Confident in that logic.

 

[64tf]

This is one of my favorites. I call it the hillbilly air purifier. It's great for so many things, but it's super awesome the grow room. It's just a 20x20 furnace filter taped to a box fan. I've made fancier versions of them, but this tends to get the job done. I heard a professor recommend it to people during wild fires. I run one in my basement most of the time to keep the air fresh. They make carbon furnace filters as well that will control odor.

It also double as a beef jerky dehydrator.

 

[neversickanymore]

surprisingly topping ended up having little effect on yield. What does have a major effect is trimming shade leaves at specific times during the flowering cycle. Basically you want to remove almost all the shade leaves at specific times.

If anyone is doing large gardens i really recommend this book https://threealight.com/

It’s pretty top notch. The people that wrote it really sold allot of the high end magic and used the profits from the book to fund their grow when CO went legal.

You can get well over three pounds a light.. pushing up near four pounds per even over a very diverse field of strains, including weaker producers.

 

[64tf]

surprisingly topping ended up having little effect on yield. What does have a major effect is trimming shade leaves at specific times during the flowering cycle. Basically you want to remove almost all the shade leaves at specific times.

If anyone is doing large gardens i really recommend this book https://threealight.com/

It’s pretty top notch. The people that wrote it really sold allot of the high end magic and used the profits from the book to fund their grow when CO went legal.

You can get well over three pounds a light.. pushing up near four pounds per even over a very diverse field of strains, including weaker producers.

I thought topping was just for space concerns.

$200 is steep for a book. It looks like they are using the same techniques I mentioned above like lolloping and swanzing (sp?). Most of these tricks are really old, but seem to be getting new names.

 

[emkee_reinvented]

I agree the ties can cause problems. I straight broke off what would have been a beautiful bud last week. I have some of the long wire ties you commonly see, and training clips. I also use stakes and cages. I didn't really get the LST thing till my second run. Remarkable difference.

I have a pack of pipe cleaners on my desk and I was wondering if they would be better than ties.

Wool thread untreated, or un-revel a old wool sweater.
If you are really hardcore, the pots 50/50 are they Felt [wool]
or Petrochemical ?

i advise using Vilt. Or at least a ventilating medium.
Petrochemical seen Polypropylene seems safest.

 

[neversickanymore]

I thought topping was just for space concerns.

$200 is steep for a book. It looks like they are using the same techniques I mentioned above like lolloping and swanzing (sp?). Most of these tricks are really old, but seem to be getting new names.

For sure allot of it's been around for decades. "swanzing' or whatever they call it.. something similar to that is the same thing as stripping. Their are other good tips like dropping or limiting blue spectrum in veg so either rolling all red spectrum or mixing the blue and red. I dropped the blue spectrum in veg other than the shelves decades ago. It's a really good book for beginning, intermediate or even expert growers that are really looking to maximize output. It's a very strong book for growers that are going from a smaller set up and moving into a larger commercial operation. What it does is lay out simple explanations of the techniques and a simple schedule of when they need to be done during the grow cycle.

My technique is similar, like many Master Growers, but there are subtle differences. So that book really isn't about teaching how to grow, but rather how to maximize yields. So it's a book thats designed to teach how to get three pounds (1.4kg) per light. IMHO it's pretty spot on.

I regularly pulled 90lbs per 25 light (3.5lbs per light) over varied fields of 15+ different strains.. some which were not big producers and flowering for 10 weeks. Unfortunately some of the strains were not completely finished as they were 12 weak strains, but because of constant commercial schedule it wasn't optimal to let the twelve weeks finish. I have topped that number coming close to 4 I think 4.5 is possible, but I think thats about the ceiling imho.

The techniques are really old and were traditionally passed down from Master to Apprentice, but these guys decided to fund their commercial grow by selling the "knowledge" in that book. Originally the book sold for $500 and they successfully used its profits to fund their upstart.

After looking at the yields of thousands and thousands of plants it was amazing how many times plants of the same strain that looked dramatically different and had undergone drastically different toppings ended up yielding the exact same amount, like within two or less grams. Topping is good when the grow ceiling is low, but it increases the time and labor of the trim making production costs higher.

edit: checked the numbers and adjusted them as i embellished just a bit. Those yields were off double ended 1000w HPS and passive hydro buckets and either sunshine 5 or coco with a min of two weeks flush.

 

[64tf]

^^Adjusting the blue light in veg is something I'm going to read more on.

I'm curious about your set up. Do you still use HPS?

My setup is more of a lab than a production site.

 

[64tf]

This one is something I'm working on, so I can't personally attest to this one yet. I'm going to build a Aero Cloner like is described in this link.

Turbo Cloner

I started 6 regular photos from Royal Queen. The plan is to clone them as much as I can and then give the clones away in the spring. I want to live in a world where everyone grows dope.

 

[neversickanymore]

^^Adjusting the blue light in veg is something I'm going to read more on.

I'm curious about your set up. Do you still use HPS?

My setup is more of a lab than a production site.

i no longer grow. Given the advancements in lighting i likely would not be using HPS as they generate so much heat it costs so much to cool the rooms.

 

[64tf]

In the winter I run in a shed. I could potentially run HPS there, and let it double as heat. I actually have a couple of the lights I need to get a power supply. That would be a project for next winter.

 

[64tf]

As a follow up on my first post using clamp style paper clips. I found them very useful in the drying process as well.

By clipping the buds to a wire shelving unit. I really don't prefer the hang the whole plant system.

 

[neversickanymore]

In the winter I run in a shed. I could potentially run HPS there, and let it double as heat. I actually have a couple of the lights I need to get a power supply. That would be a project for next winter.

for sure.. how high is your grow. double ended are super fun to grow with but you need the ceiling height to be able to do it.. you can actually rainbow your bud because they have so much power you can purposely light nutrient deprive or shock your crop in a day or so even with a non organic salt crack nuet line. So after producing really high end bud you can roll really quality product and rainbow it in flush.. the quality stays the same but you can paint it rainbow colors using the nutrient bleaching powers of those lights.

They have so much power that you can use extreme crack fert and boost it with regular microb tea to really push the nutrient to a level that the variable of nutrients is maxed.

I’m certainly not saying that i’m a proponent of crack fert lines.. i can pull fire fields off full organic.. but researching max output for a long time it was good to work with crack nutrient lines, combined with double ended HPS, full blanket CO2 as these variables are maxing most of the variables associated with max production. What’s interesting is max production often aligns with quality production as well.

Often times this may not appear to line up with quality.. but that’s because the most important step to ending up with fire is the cure process.