How do I get horizontal growth?

[ZeroG]

Here is a Girl Scout Cookie Extreme autoflower. This is about a two week’s growth since germination.
I am growing it outside with Ocean Forest soil.

I’ve never been able to achieve the wide horizontal growth that I see on so many posts. My plants grow straight up, have a five-seven nodes but they never “bush out”

What is the technique?

Thanks.

 

[Capt.Quirk]

Break apical dominance. Separate and tie down nodes around the pot throughout the grow..

 

[tronN00dles]

Training.

Personally, I will typically top autoflowers once (i.e., cut the main growth shoot off) if the plant is healthy (if it has 5 or 6 nodes after 20 days or so). I also do LST afterward, where I tie down the taller sections to try to achieve a flatter more table top-like surface.

There's lots of different training strategies out there. LST and topping are good starting topics to investigate though.

-tron

 

[Frank the Dank]

Once she’s old enough….usually around 20-25 days I do a little super cropping. Basically pulling the secondary branches down and tying them to the pot. I also bend the main over and tie it down, and do a light defol. Here are some pics one week apart.

tip: only train a healthy plant…if she’s stunted or showing deficiencies, it’s better to just let her grow naturally. Hope it helps

 

[Frank the Dank]

Beware…. This can happen :smoking:

 

[GreenBean]

Everyone pretty much summed it up. Training and/or topping. I personally prefer to top and then widen the canopy out by stretching it open as they go. As opposed to hardcore LST. Some plants will demand heavier LST though. Over time you start to be able to see what a given plant needs. Observation in gardening of any type is something that comes in time. When I do do LST, I prefer to start a little later once the plant has some good growth on it.

As Frank mentioned, once you figure it out. You can get some real beef.

 

[Drownomatic]

I top it, and tie the shoots down to spread them out. Wire ties, bamboo skewers, whatever it takes.

 

[ZeroG]

Thanks all!