I've always been a fan of using household items to help me grow plants, as well as to do things like extract their oils. Having the right tool for the job is always a good idea, but that doesn't necessarily mean the tool has to be specially ordered. Coffee filters, cheesecloth, glass canning jars, silicone spatulas, razor blades, even old buckets are valuable tools for the cannabis grower/extractor/baker. Sometimes it's possible to build a better mousetrap, and sometimes the tried and true methods work best. To each their own.
You'll notice they're very bunched up. I removed the early foliage already because it was ugly, but that has left the seedlings topheavy. And because they've been aggressively topped (to create more stems) the stems are too close together, forming a bouquet rather than a nice canopy.
This plant's two main sides aren't overlapping too badly yet, but they could be further apart.
That one is REALLY messed up. Besides the deformed leaf, it's also disorganized and crowded.
I keep any good used twist ties, rather than throwing them away, so I grabbed a couple and used them like spreader bars to keep my plants' stems apart.
This tie is longer than necessary, but that leaves room to make adjustments later. Twist ties are very flexible (pun not intended). You're not tied down (pun not intended again) to one mode, or one angle. The possibilities are endless, and the twist tie stays where you bend it to!
The next day, the plants looked less bunched. The two sides on this one are barely touching now.
And that one is even more improved. It's still ugly, but it's much better than it was.
Soon, I plan to use the same technique to spread the next sets of stems. I will document the process and my results over the coming weeks.
And as always, grow in peace.
DRutter
