everyone has there opinion, for me, ive trained just about all my plants these past few grows, using LST for the most part, while some i topped early on, and i had a buddy who let his go natural. and in this last season ive come to find out LST is a hassle for what it does. its nice because it keeps your plant low and promotes alot of big colas, but i found i alway have cluttered branching, and towards the end have to worry about proper airflow with my fat buds leaning on on another and end having to pull branches apart with more ties. with my buddy's plant i loved the even symetrical branching of the natural growth, and no airflow problems(some branches were sagging and leaning but that could be fixed with some tressling). not as many main colas but no lack of buds, just more smaller buds, and by small i mean lots of golf ball sized buds or better. one place i do feel training is beneficial is in low light scenarios, with very low light hitting the lower half of your plant, you want to train your plant to have nice level tops. also i like what the FIM technique does for plants(some respond to it better than others). fimming slowths the growth of your main top, and allows your lower branching to grow out more, still keeping that nice symetrical branching i love. also doesnt eliminate any major growth like topping, only a small amount. for me this year, im growing them natural, and fimming if i feel it needs it.
