The important part to tying plants and spreading them is to be gentle so as not to break the branches or main stem and to use padded tie wire. The stakes don't matter. Any will do. Some people build trellis structures and espalier their cannabis plants!

In this close up of the tied-down tip, you can see that the tie wire is quite loose. As the plant grows, this will require loosening in order to not strangle the stem, since it will be 4-5 times this diameter at harvest!

I recommend using only this padded tie wire, not string, electrical wire or the thin green wire. Plastic green plant tape works okay, but needs to be tight and is harder to undo and loosen. The padded wire is grippy, so doesn't need to be tight to hold the plant and it's easy to loosen and re-twist it to give the stem some room to grow. You can also usually get 2-3 seasons of reuse out of the wires, so save them.

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The other way to increase yields, and the one I prefer, is to use stakes and tie wire to spread the plant out. Note that you can combine this with judicious tip pinching if you want, but don't overdo it.

If you bend the plant's main stem over and then tie out every large branch, it has the effect of opening the center of the plant to sunlight and airflow, reducing pests and pathogens. It also means that every little side branch will now turn and grow vertically and, since it's exposed to light, form a nice little "nug" of a bud at harvest.

In the photo, I've taken one of our plants and tied it out like I would do if I were planting it in my garden right now. (It's just for demo purposes! Never leave them in the small grow bags!)

In a few days, all the growing tips will turn vertical and continue growing. Eventually, new stakes can be added and these branches can be staked out.

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Pinching the very tip of the terminal shoot and the main side branches will encourage branching and will push all the upper branches into growing more upright and becoming their own terminal shoot. So, think of a candelabra-like top instead of a Christmas tree.

When pinching off the growing tip, you only need to do the very last bit, as in the photo. No need to hack the plant off at the waist! Do the same with the largest branches. As the new shoots grow up, you can pinch them as well if you want.

Two caveats about pinching: it will temporarily slow the plant's growth as it switches its main growth to the new side shoots. You also don't want to do any pinching after about early July and especially not close to or during flowering phase. It can stunt the plant and reduce yields.

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