# Training techniques pepper and tomatoes



## grodude (Mar 24, 2015)

Hello everyone,

This is my first of many posts in this section. I decided I wanted to start growing DWC tomatoes and bell pepper in a grow tent, but I'd like to know what marijuana training techniques can  be used. So far I've mostly been researching about tomatoes and haven't started too much on the bell peppers yet.

I've read in a forum they can be super cropped, definitely going to try that. Can they be topped to produce more sites or would that slow them down? I was thinking of building a scrog net all the way around, but would I be able to main-line the plant instead and then maybe scrog that at the top? Anyone have any experience with this? Thoughts?


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## pandabacon (Mar 24, 2015)

They have some videos on YouTube  of people using cherry tomatoes in scrog i dont think it will  work as well as it does with marijuana as for topping  maybe depends  on how tomatoes  grow the only thing i could  find was topping them to help tomatoes beneath  grow


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## DankColas (Mar 25, 2015)

Welcome grodude

We talk in here about marijuana. If you like sports theres a section for that. Open topic areas are the Young farts and the old farts. That might be a better spot for this. It will also see more attention.


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## zem (Mar 25, 2015)

this thread is in the right place "Gardening General", never mind the newbs lol
anyway, if you are planning to grow under artificial light, i do not recommend tomatoes as they easily overgrow your area. in a greenhouse, you need to make single stems at 16-18" apart, and each variety has its own specific method, but all are basically single stem with details on where exactly to cut it that are different. pepper plants could be grown indoors but the time they take under the lights is too long imo and you can shape them easier than tomato. in greenhouses, it's also made into single stems. topping a tomato plant is not a good idea. it's not like weed in the sense that it keeps stretching after it flowers and if you top it then you will only get a few tomatoes, and if you leave it, it will outgrow the light. + tomatoes are grown for about 5-6 months, too much electric too.


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## WeedHopper (Mar 25, 2015)

Zem hit the nail on the head. Just one of my Husky Cherry Reds would take over a tent. Hell my Peppers would take over a tent .


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## grodude (Mar 25, 2015)

zem said:


> this thread is in the right place "Gardening General", never mind the newbs lol
> anyway, if you are planning to grow under artificial light, i do not recommend tomatoes as they easily overgrow your area. in a greenhouse, you need to make single stems at 16-18" apart, and each variety has its own specific method, but all are basically single stem with details on where exactly to cut it that are different. pepper plants could be grown indoors but the time they take under the lights is too long imo and you can shape them easier than tomato. in greenhouses, it's also made into single stems. topping a tomato plant is not a good idea. it's not like weed in the sense that it keeps stretching after it flowers and if you top it then you will only get a few tomatoes, and if you leave it, it will outgrow the light. + tomatoes are grown for about 5-6 months, too much electric too.



Thanks for the tip on topping. I was going to start growing one tomato plant just to get an idea at first. Would a scrog net in all directions not work in a tent? I have a 4x2 ft tent I was going to put a 400w light in to experiment. I figure it'll be enough light, but wont get too hot in there and I can try around different techniques so I get a better idea of how they grow. I calculated the electricity cost and it is within what I can afford.

Also, I'm not sure what you mean by the time taken to grow pepper plants indoors is too long? I assume it would be faster than growing it outdoors since it has more light and the environment is controlled. 

I guess the only techniques I can try are supper cropping and lst. Thanks for your response


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## zem (Mar 25, 2015)

under a growlight i would grow herbs, lettuces and such things that require less light, so using that light will be efficient. I am saying that, peppers themselves take too long to grow into a big plant, and they grow big, by cutting them you will have trivial harvests under a 400w. and the light needs to be close so it covers much less space. with herbs and lettuce, that same 400w can be raised to cover and much wider area. The way that i picture an efficient indoor grow is by hanging a light vertically with poles around it with herbs and a little floating raft below for lettuce. that would be cool and will yield for you a lot of greens.


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## The Hemp Goddess (Mar 25, 2015)

I did tomato and lettuce DWC last winter indoors.  The lettuce did great, but I ended up transplanting the tomato into soil outdoors.  It was big and like zem mentioned, they take a long time.  I also would not recommend scrogging or topping.


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## grodude (Mar 25, 2015)

The Hemp Goddess said:


> I did tomato and lettuce DWC last winter indoors.  The lettuce did great, but I ended up transplanting the tomato into soil outdoors.  It was big and like zem mentioned, they take a long time.  I also would not recommend scrogging or topping.



Thank you both for the tips. I guess I'll be growing my tomatoes and peppers in my yard; DWC outside! I am not familiar enough with them now, but if down the line if I invested in a good LED grow light would it be worth revisiting potential doing it indoors, or is it still a lot of headache due to spacing, at least for tomatoes.


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## zem (Mar 25, 2015)

grodude, after you grow them in your yard, you will conclude for yourself  get those buckets well insulated or burried, good luck


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## DankColas (Mar 25, 2015)

grodude said:


> Hello everyone,
> 
> This is my first of many posts in this section. I decided I wanted to start growing DWC tomatoes and bell pepper in a grow tent, but I'd like to know what marijuana training techniques can  be used. So far I've mostly been researching about tomatoes and haven't started too much on the bell peppers yet.
> 
> I've read in a forum they can be super cropped, definitely going to try that. Can they be topped to produce more sites or would that slow them down? I was thinking of building a scrog net all the way around, but would I be able to main-line the plant instead and then maybe scrog that at the top? Anyone have any experience with this? Thoughts?




GRODUDE

Sorry for my error here. Please forgive me. I wasn't aware of gardening in general. Thats what happens when you just go through your subscribed topics and not look. Love to talk other herbs. I'm also growing sage, sweet basil, cilantro, and thyme. Smell good and great for cooking. I'm with you. Really sorry for coming on a little strong.
Peace:farm:


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## The Hemp Goddess (Mar 25, 2015)

It may be a little tough keeping your nute solution cool enough outdoors if you get any kind of serious heat in the summer at all.  A buried res would be a great idea.  I loved growing lettuce DWC as it went from seed to eating in about 30-40 days.

Tomatoes just take so long to grow and it takes so much space that growing them inside under artificial light is probably not practical even with an LED.


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## WeedHopper (Mar 25, 2015)

Its like trying to grow 100% Sativa indoors,,,they will outgrow your Growroom. Lol
And so will Tomatoes,,even the Cherries Tomatoes get 4 or 5 ft tall an wide.
DWC would be a cool idea if you can keep the solution cool enough.


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## yooper420 (Mar 26, 2015)

Have grown cherry tomatoes (Super Sweet 100`s) in pots on my porch that I could not reach the top of. Best little eating ones that I`ve found.


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## WeedHopper (Mar 26, 2015)

Yeah im Growing Super Sweet and Husky Cherry Reds,,oh and Whoopers (they get huge). Last yr my Whooper Tomato plant was at my Roof Line. They are some juicy babies.


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## grodude (Mar 26, 2015)

So if I decide to grow greens indoors instead how many hours do I leave the light on for? Do you all prefer DWC or NFT and why? Also for lettuce can I just use an aerocloner to grow it to full growth or will I need to transfer it to another system? Since the net pot are 2 inches in either system I was wondering if I could start and end them in my cloner and harvest from there. Let me know what you all think and thanks for the input so far


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## grodude (Mar 26, 2015)

zem said:


> this thread is in the right place "Gardening General", never mind the newbs lol
> anyway, if you are planning to grow under artificial light, i do not recommend tomatoes as they easily overgrow your area. in a greenhouse, you need to make single stems at 16-18" apart, and each variety has its own specific method, but all are basically single stem with details on where exactly to cut it that are different. pepper plants could be grown indoors but the time they take under the lights is too long imo and you can shape them easier than tomato. in greenhouses, it's also made into single stems. topping a tomato plant is not a good idea. it's not like weed in the sense that it keeps stretching after it flowers and if you top it then you will only get a few tomatoes, and if you leave it, it will outgrow the light. + tomatoes are grown for about 5-6 months, too much electric too.



Thanks for all the information and sorry to bother you, but you give out great advice! Just to clarify, even topping tomato plants early in veg is a bad idea? Meaning I could not main-line the plant? When asking about topping I meant VERY early in veg just to train it to grow a certain way. Basically building a manifold off of a single node. Still a bad idea? Just want to be clear so I don't make too many mistakes when I am experimenting and learning. I assume topping is bad for bell peppers as well or is that a different beast?


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## WeedHopper (Mar 26, 2015)

I have to trim my Tomatoe Plants as they grow. But i dont top them unless they are not producing good be cause of stretch.i always keep my Tomatoe plants clean on the bottom about 8" off the ground. Nothing ever gets close to the ground.

This is some of what i do http://www.harvesttotable.com/2009/04/how_to_prune_a_tomato/


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## zem (Mar 26, 2015)

if you top the tomato, it will give out many side branches that grow too fast, the tomato leaves are huge and require space, and every side branch will be a plant growing, and stretching,  you can top the side branches and wait months and months, with jungles of leaves and they get so many diseases. bell peppers are different, they can be topped and shaped much more easily but will grow quite big, and need a lot of light.


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