Low Stress training

Ok, Last year I mentioned LST training of chili plants and was going to do a pic thread on it until I broke my camera. Fast forward to this year and I have a new camera so here we go.
I did this last year to my Aji lemons, Bhut's, and Y7's and had great results as far as branching development. More branches and nodes mean more pods and a larger harvest.

So, as an experiment I am going to be doing it to a couple of Jalapenos this year. Basically I have a Jalapeno bed going that is just a bunch of nursery bought plants. They were a little taller and stretched out than what is ideal to start with for LST but it will still work fine, I just have more space between branches this way.
Due to a lack of space I can't LST all Jala's, but I did find one that I hadn't noticed was actually 2 plants close together and it's to far along to do anything about short of killing one of them so I will be putting them in bondage and doing an ongoing side by side comparison of their growth compared to the rest of the Jalapeno's around them that are left to grow however they want.

So, on with the picture show.

This is the whole Jalapeno bed along with 4 Serrano's at the far end, sorry for the weird angle but it's the only way I could get them all in the shot.


Here is a size comparison of the ones that will be tied and the one just to the east of them.




Here is the implement of their bondage session, a simple piece of copper ground wire (You can use any insulated heavy gauge wire, or anything with a soft wrapping to tie them down like this. I have used string, wire ties, and stakes in the past, but this is the simplest fastest method I have found).


And this is all you do with it.


To be continued in a second...

..,. Continued

Here is both of the twins strapped down


Those pics were taken yesterday, here are some from today showing what the plants do as a reaction and how you continue on with them.
Notice how the new growth tips turn upward towards the sun.


And with 2 more hooks added. Yes, she begged for it like a good girl


As they grow you add more hooks to keep bending the main stalk down. This forces all side branches to grow upwards toward the light creating branches of roughly equal mass as the main stalk alone would have been. Think lots of main stalks instead of just one with puny side branches. Do the bending gently, and never push the plant to the snapping/breaking point. Bend until it feels right (You'll know it, hopefully, otherwise you'll break it) and then just hook it.

The hooks I use are about 5-6 inches long and most of it goes down into the dirt. I keep doing this until I get the rough base size I want and then I leave them alone. Eventually once the plant sets in for the long haul you can remove the hooks and it will stay put for the most part. Sometimes I have to stake the LST'd plants to support them fro falling all the way over into the ground, it all depends on the strength the plant develops in the main stalk. My Caribbean's were good and strong, but my Aji lemon's required tying to support stakes to keep them out of the dirt. Don't let the stalk get buried or you'll get disease problems. Different plants react differently to this technique, but for the most part every thing I have tried it on really does well. Apple trees are sometimes grown this way along with a lot of other crops.

I'll probably be updating this weekly depending on growth rates and doing side by side shots with the others to show the difference

isn't this a technique normally reserved for indoor cannabis? i thought they did this because of grow lights limited light penetration.

queequeg152 said:

isn't this a technique normally reserved for indoor cannabis? i thought they did this because of grow lights limited light penetration.

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Works great for outdoor, umm plants too. How does 3.3lb of ummmm "flowers" sound from one plant? Did that one year, could hardly believe it!

Thats where I learned it from, A friend in Norcal in that industry, but it applies to any fruiting/flowering plant, indoors or out. We'll see how Jalapenos respond to it over the next couple of weeks.

Very interesting technique. I read that bending does help, but I don't grow in the ground so I do is drill a few small holes on the top of my buck and tie down the side stalks slightly. The grew a lot thicker and shorter and allowed my light penetration as well.

It basically gives you all of the benefits of topping without causing the stress and slow down of growth that cutting does. So indoor growers with height issues benefit from bigger but shorter plants. Outdoors, you get raging monster bushes. My Aji lemon's last year were huge.

I want to try that. How old should a plant be before you try this? Because my bhut jolokia is 7 months old.

Kite09 said:

I want to try that. How old should a plant be before you try this? Because my bhut jolokia is 7 months old.

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Your bhut is probably to old and firm to try this with. It needs to be done while the stem is still tender and bends easy, otherwise you snap it.
I usually start them younger than the ones in my pictures. If your stem is still green and flexible you can give it a go, just bend it slowly and gently. You should be able to feel what to far is and where it will break.

I just stuck to more orange habs in the ground yesterday that will be getting the same treatment as well. I'll include pics of them when they start showing results.

LGHT said:

Very interesting technique. I read that bending does help, but I don't grow in the ground so I do is drill a few small holes on the top of my buck and tie down the side stalks slightly. The grew a lot thicker and shorter and allowed my light penetration as well.

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That's how I do with when I grow in buckets. Just drill holes around the edge and strap down using those. I did one a couple years back that I spiraled around the bucket all the way. It was a cool looking Serrano plant.

I like the idea of the LST, but hate the idea I will have that many branches close to the soil...I like my plants to be a main stalk with at least 4 inches of clearance to the soil...I suppose I could LST them higher off the ground than what you have shown...

IMO...branches/leaves close to the ground is a superhighway for nasties such as cutworms, slugs, and/or ants carrying aphids...

AlabamaJack said:

I like the idea of the LST, but hate the idea I will have that many branches close to the soil...I like my plants to be a main stalk with at least 4 inches of clearance to the soil...I suppose I could LST them higher off the ground than what you have shown...

IMO...branches/leaves close to the ground is a superhighway for nasties such as cutworms, slugs, and/or ants carrying aphids...

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After they grow for a bit and get where I want them, I release the straps and they stand up a bit. I also usually trim off any leaves that come close to the ground. At this stage I just spend a little extra time with them and look them over closely. So far this year the aphids are only interested in my aji lemon.

i would prefer to replant them, horizontally 20 to 45 degrees from bottom when they are abt a foot tall. that encourages to them to grow more shoots out and got more length of the stem for them to branch out from. ( i give them some chicken manure. it encourages to produce shoots more)
that's what i do to leggy plants

Ok, an update with pictures.

Here is the Jalapeno that is being left alone to just grown and do it's thing.


And here are the LST'd Jalapeno.


So far I am not that impressed with how Jalapeno's react to the treatment. The side branching I am used to seeing using this technique has not yet set in with the Jalapeno's, but different plants do react differently to different stimulus. They also may just be slower than the other types as well.

As an example of what LST does, here is a Hab and some Serrano's that I did the same weekend, that are roughly the same age and size as the Jalapeno's. These kind always do well with LST, along with Aji lemons which become monsters from it.

Hab with very good low branch growth.


Serrano


Another Serrano


Excuse the wilting, it's kind of hot out right now.

do you have any more updates on your LST grow i think thats a great way to trick the plants in producing multiple tops...Im going to try that this year on a couple plants...

ya, let us know what's goin on...

Sorry it's been a bit since I've updated. Been a rough couple of weeks due to family issues, but that's over now and things are looking up.

Ok, so what's going on is I went on a nice little 3 day fishing trip 2 weeks ago for my Wife's birthday, came back and to my horror found I had lost 3 beds of plants some how. They've shown no signs of problems up until then. The heat wasn't bad that weekend, and they go for more than 3 days without watering no problem usually. I lost 23 plants... All but one Jalapeno shriveled up and wilted away. 3 of the 4 Serrano's in that bed look like they were stripped by grasshoppers but are slowly coming back. I lost 6 Habs as well. It's weird, the Jalapeno's and Habs that I lost really look like they were sprayed with weed killer. They shriveled away just like weeds do after hitting them with poisons. Only problem is I don't spray that in my back yard, I pull almost everything by hand. The only thing I can think is that the roots grew into soil pockets that may have still held something nasty from years past, as this was a brand new bed that I dug up this year. Previously that area was a pea gravel side yard with a plastic weed barrier. There were only 3 plants LST'd in there, so I know that didn't cause it either. I'm wondering if my neighbor maybe sprayed something on her fruit trees that might have blown over the fence.

But, even though those plants, and the Jalapeno LST experiment are over for the year, it isn't a total loss. From what I saw I can tell you all this about LST. Some plants love it and respond with crazy side branching and vigor. Some of them slow way down and don't branch or do much of anything impressive at all. Here is the breakdown of what I've found with different types of plants.

Those that Love LST: Aji Lemon's and other similar types, Serrano's, Purira's, My Thai Rat shit plant, and almost all Chinense go crazy with it. I had a few 7pods that didn't take to it, but others from the same seed stock that grew into crazy Medusa branching monsters with several thick stems.

Those that didn't respond or stunted from it: Jalapeno ( I was bummed cause I love Jala's and wanted to bump up production a bit), Bells, Most of the New mex types and Anaheim's. All these types either just slow way down in growth, or just keep pushing the main stem longer and longer like normal. Might be an Annum thing. The Beechez just won't submit and take the straps I guess.


One thing I will say with LST, is you need to time releasing the plants right, or the main stem will suffer and end up really small and unproductive. Once I have several side branches that are looking as thick as the main, I take out the straps/hooks and let them start to stand back up a little. This gets them further away from the dirt.

When my Wife gets back with the Camera I'll snap some pics of my Aji trunk as well as anything else that may be LST'd at one point to show what the branches will do.

Wait a sec, I just realized some of the Serrano's that were LST'd are still alive and well in another bed. I'll post some pics of them once I get the cam.

I am about to order some more seeds here shortly, and will be doing these new plants in those double 5gallon bucket systems so I can move them around and overwinter them easier. I'll be doing some SLT on those once they are ready, and will update with them when we get there.

I like trimming/topping more cause i'm lazy but the outcoming is very variety-dependant as you observed with LST. Some plants just thrive untouched.

Cya

Datil

Dam bro that sounds like my luck...sorry to hear you lost all them plants i wish you luck in the buckets ... i had somewhat of the same problems this year but my late start in pots has brightend my days...NEVER SAY " FU@!! IT I QUIT "