Hey all

A big whats up to everybody from sunny southern California.

I've been frequenting cannabis discussion boards since I was a wee 16 year old, back when Overgrow was still kicking. Lately I've had problems at the other forum I belong to, another well known domain, and decided I'd rather start fresh here with some new people, than stick around and deal with masses of trolls and watch another good board burn.

I grow outdoors, with organic soil mixtures and nutrient schedules. I compost my own nutrients, brew my own teas, and cultivate the different species of plants I derive them from myself (mainly stinging nettles, yarrow, and comfrey). I'm constantly experimenting with new soil mixtures and amendments, new ways of growing, basically fine tuning them to see what works best for me. I've even developed my own training method, a way of causing multiple tops to develop on a plant without cutting, supercropping, or otherwise hurting the plant.

I'm looking forward to learning new stuff from you guys, and maybe even teach a few tricks. Keep it green guys.

Welcome to RIU!

Good luck and good growing.

What is your training method bro? Care to elaborate?

Welcome to RIU! Don't forget, there are a lot of killer growers who aren't from CA

Thanks guys, I think I'm gonna like this place.

NewGrowth said:

What is your training method bro? Care to elaborate?

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Of course, it's called the "Loop Method." Simply pull the growing tip on a plant around into a loop, and tie it off with a twisty tie, works best with younger, thinner plants. Dont worry if the plant is too small to loop completely, the growing top does not have to be pointing straight up to work, as long as you tie the plant off into a rough loop, it will grow straight up towards the light and complete the loop anyway. After you loop it, the plant gives up on the main cola, and within days you will begin to see several new shoots emerging from the loop. I think the amount of shoots depends on the strain, I've had a Bubblegum plant develop only 7, and Super Silver Haze develop as many as 11.

We discovered this one by just training plants for fun when we were about 18, and found out it was pretty useful. We had an OG Kush/NYC Diesel we were training to run like a vine along the side of a planter in my backyard, just for kicks, and one day I got tired of constantly adjusting the stake and just looped it around a broken sprinkler on the side. Week later or so, I noticed the several new tips growing inside the loop, and saw all the other untrained OGK/NYCD clones were growing just the main cola, I realized what was happening. Purposefully looped a couple of the stragglers that were still skinny enough to mold, and confirmed my theory.

I had never trained a plant with yield in mind, up to that point. The looped plants, with the extra tops, produced almost twice as much as the single cola specimens though, and they were the runts to boot. Changed my mind about training plants, especially because it doesn't harm the plant in any way. It does look a bit different, looped plants, but the effects are worth it. I did whole plots of circular plants after that, tripped out my buddies, but produced plenty of extra nug. I don't have to worry about weight anymore so I quit running full looped plots, but now I always loop at least one of my plants, if only to see how the particular strain reacts to looping.

GrowTech said:

Welcome to RIU! Don't forget, there are a lot of killer growers who aren't from CA

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Thanks for the warm welcome. And the compliment as well, although I personally wouldn't consider my growing at the "killer" level yet . I'm still but a youngster, only 22. Maybe once I get a place with enough space for large plant numbers, and begin properly breeding my hybrid, I will feel worthy of that title. All that makes a killer grower is knowledge, and there is more knowledge about cannabis available on these cannabis forums than we could ever read, no matter what state youre in. Just takes time, and will. I personally started researching the plant when I was 16, had my own hybrid by 18, and have been running strong ever since.

I assure you, I am well aware of the growing talent outside of CA. I learned practically everything I know about organics from a guy I worked with from Canada. Where he was from, outdoor organic weed was the standard. Everybody was self sufficient, created everything they needed themselves. Buying nutrients was frowned upon, and people often wouldn't buy the weed if it was grown with store bought, synthetic nutrients. It's so much better if you think about it, turn your trash to awesome nutrients, instead of paying for expensive mass produced shit. And that's just nutrients.

If it came down to it, I'd even say Oregon would beat California in terms of concentration of skilled growers. Crazy hippies

yellowsnakes said:

Hi MountainSmoker, nice intro. Looking forward to any journals you get going, if you decide to start any. I'm still pretty new to all this .
yellowsnakes from Calgary, Canada and welcome to RIU

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Greetings yellowsnakes. I just started some southeast asian sativas, I believe I already have 9 tails out of 10, so you won't be waiting long. Once I find the organics crew here, I'll be back in full swing.

I also meant to include a picture of that hybrid I made when I was 18 in the previous post, that brought up some good memories. Breeding plants before I had begun breeding myself, lol.







Thanks again for the warm welcomes all

Welcome to Rollitup.