Never too late is right! It does change how you do it though. The older the plant and more rigid the stem, the less you can bend it all at once. Some strains have very pliable stems throughout their lifecycle, others will be prone to snapping (and not while you are doing it, half an hour later
Sometimes I stay right on top of the young ones and bend them after a couple weeks in their pot (never in the dixie cups), it really depends on how they responded to the transplant and how much growth I have to work with. The procedure I ideally follow is pretty cut and dry: pick a side of the plant, shear everything off of it, bend the plant over toward that side and tie it to itself. Personally, I do not stake anything off until the weight of the flowers bends the branches, in my mind this keeps the stalks as strong as they can be because they are moving around in the air. Now I will have my main stalk bent over and growing toward that side. On the rest of the plant, I shear off the branches that are within 6 to 8 inches of the soil, so that I can water without it being a pain the the bungalow (and these cuttings are usually my clones if I need them). For the remaining branches that are not the top, I leave the lowest full of all their leaves and nodes so that they will grow fast. The higher branches I prune to almost nothing and they slow down, I'm just trying to get the lower branches to catch up to the top because I want a nice, even canopy. When the lower branches have reached canopy level - through growth and through tying down of what would be higher - I prune them up to the very top as well. Now that main top that we bent will continue to grow and you can continue to tie it off in new locations farther up the stem. You can pick and choose which nodes to let grow, bend off side branches, and really do a variety of things to increase your yield.
Here are some pictures and they do not all necessarily reflect what I have written above (thanks dbag, right?) If anything this highlights that there are so many successful methods, each of their own merit! On another day I will learn how to order the pictures. From what I can see, the first one you will see has my hand in it. This is a White Widow plant that has been gradually bent over and bonsai'd like a mofo (I think that is the technical term). There is another photo that shows the whole bend and subsequent training, but in the one with my hand I was trying to show how I tried to follow a topping method I read on here (was it uncle ben's?) What you see is a topping that was done about 4 days ago. You have to experiment with what a plant can handle. A cheese I have had 22 top nugs from 11 topped branches....So, the bonsai'd plant is the white widow and you see the topping in the photo with my hand in it. I stayed on top of that plant.
There is also a photo in which you can see a wire hanger. This is a train wreck that I just let grow for weeks and weeks before doing any training. The stems are so pliable that don't feel the need to stay on top of it until two weeks pre flower (which is
about 3 weeks into a regular veg if you are doing the math). I haven't felt the need to do too much topping to the train wreck because I can bend it so much and every. single. node. develops beautiful and dense flowers regardless of the size. I play around with a lot of wire hangers and go through a lot of tie downs. Again though, I'm shooting for an even canopy. I'm not sure if some of the lowers are going to make it by flower day....and I also trim a lot up until about the fourth week of flower when each branch has established "who's who"....how many nodes is this branch going to support now that I have seen what is going on after the flowers are showing?
There are two photos of a G13 that was bent over the course of a week if not more. The stem of this plant is quite girthy (to handle all those sweet, tasty, football sized colas!) and will break on you after you walk away! On a side note, I never bend without a full spray bottle to thoroughly soak a stem...ideally I return to spray it every 15 minutes until I am sure it will not snap. While I have seen this strain grow, it is new to my garden and on this plant I am experimenting to determine what it can support without losing density and that big bud appeal. First time? Snapped stem holding on by a thread? Dang man, mad at yourself, disheartened, scouring the internet. Duct tape it, plant tape it, scotch tape it, tie it, use clothes pins and chip clips if you split it....if you get the original two parts touching each other, they will probably re-adhere, spray the break and the foliage freely until your blunder has disappeared, this will be your punishment....and if not, the next lowest branch will take off as top dog! Sigh of relief and pat on the back.
Man, I hope that helps. I do not claim to know a lot but I've had some truly tasty results. A one month veg consistently yields 2.5 - 3.5 oz of top shelf finished product and a slightly longer veg easily hits the 4oz barrier....we're talking 17-24 inch plants in a lot of cases, so I feel pretty good about it and my patients all love what I am doing for them.
Im flowering, and still having to tie my girl down. She just wont stop growing, but now that ive opened her up more shes starting to bush out instead of continuing vertical growth.
