That is going to be a stellar TD Gonzo nice stretch for day 32
Not really stellar but I hope for a decent grow.
Hello!
Looks like a promising grow, this light & strain combo is what I'm hoping to do as soon as the right time comes!
One thing that intrigues me, is that whenever I see succesfull, high yielding auto LED grows, I always wonder how most of the time there's no LST done. It just seems to me that the lower half (or even more) of the plant would barely get any ligh, as scompared with LST'd grows. I guess the combination of a good LED and a well reflected cabinet are simply enough? Or is there something else to it?
Most probably LST did not bring measurable results to many growers including me.
If you LST, main stem needs to be tied horizontally for some time, so that it loses height priorities (apical dominance) within plant physiology. But that technique requires horizontal expansion and in most cases we do not have enough space. Properly LSTed plant might finish almost at double horizontal diameter as unLSTed one. And lower height, of course. If you grow single plant that might be OK. There is always a possibility to run 2 lights on one wide and low plant instead of having two unLSTed plants in the same space. But stronger light on one plant puts in question growers ability to support that with watering/feeding.
So in my opinion it is better to have narrower but higher plants in places where height is not a problem, but small footprint of grow place is serious limitation in the same time.
You say "It just seems to me that the lower half (or even more) of the plant would barely get any light" and only the first part of your statement is correct. It only seems to you. And everybody else too. Why? Because our eye is not a scientific tool to measure light. It is just a tool of animals/humans to get some impression (in brain, eyes just catch light, they do not interprete it) of what is around and how things look like. To survive in the environment, of course. But we do not see all of the lightwaves that our eyes catch. We do not see infrared and UV-ultraviolet, for example. They are harmfull but we do not recognize them. Why? Because we have survived without that ability, what our eyes could have catched was enough to survive so far. Some insects eyes use only IR wavenlenght to get their simplified impression of outer world.
The fact is that leaves reflect some light, use some light for photosynthesis and the rest passes through. The last article I read about that had said that 85% of light goes through top leaves. Around 10%, I do not remember exactly, of green light is reflected and that make us think that leaves are green. But that is only our impression or better, that is what our brain makes us think. Perfectly illuminated room where red light is dominant (LEDs) looks a little bit dark to us, but plants thrive under it. Because we do not see red light properly with our eyes. Have you asked yourself whyplants do not need eyes? Because they just use light for photosynthesis, they are fixed and do not need information about what is around like moving creatures. But moving creatures, like humans, use light to bring information mostly. That is explanation why we do not experience light in the same way as plants and why we can not see usefull light in lower covered areas.
Different wavenlenghts penetrate through leaves differently and are used by plants differently. But a lot of red light, which is very usefull for photosynthesis passes through. And besides, top leaves cover buds production, lower leaves cover roots production, middle ones can be transfered to buds or roots in different phases of plants life.
I hope that all written above explains why LST is not as magical tool as someone would expect. But I do not say that it does not work for some people sucessfully and I will try it again to compare results side by side.
What I write here was found in as scientifically trustfull sources as possible (they are very scarce). I try to avoid myths, illusions, fantasies and stuff like that.
Hope that this helps to someone, of course it would be nice to hear anybody elses opinion too.
