I can't stop mainlining (Manifold first timer)

I'm following a mainlining tutorial on groweedeasy that has left me hanging.
I know how to top and pluck the lower shoots and fan leaves.
I only want 4 colas so I want to stop at 4th node where I'm supposed to top for 4 more colas.
How do I stop? I don't want to top or I get more branches so do I cut the two shoots or just leave it alone?
-thanks

any chance you can post a link to the tute?

Of course, Gooch, it's the growweedeasy.com site, lots of good reading and pictures.
http://www.growweedeasy.com/manifold
my plants are all legs!
http://www.marijuanapassion.com/forum/showthread.php?t=70733&page=20

Check this out.. http://www.marijuanapassion.com/forum/showthread.php?t=26682

Hey, pappy, this is pretty interesting. I want to try this out on one plant, curious about the recovery time in soil... The amount of leaves and branches you have to remove is insane!! And intimidating... Haha, looking forward to watching you dabble in this, I winder if other ppl on MP have tried this...

Rosebud, I had the same thought!! Unfortunately, fimming doesn't work with this the technique and doesn't achieve the same goals... The nug bucket tut covers that briefly... http://www.growweedeasy.com/mainlining-nugbuckets

I have seen this before. It is a very effective method that is similar in a way to scrog in that you are trying to control the height and evenness of the canopy. However, there is one flaw in this method(well actually 2 flaws). One is that this method will only work with plants that are not sexually mature yet while doing the training. It is best used on plants from seed. It can't be done with as good of results (if at all) with cloned plants that are already sexually mature as the nodes are already alternating.

This method has to be done on the young plants that are only about 3-5 nodes tall, as the nodes are symmetrical with each other(the leaves grow out in pairs rather than staggered). Then all you do is top the plant that has 5 nodes, at(just above) the 3rd or 4th node. This will cause a stem "pair" to grow equally up and away. As soon as the node pair grow up a few cm(an inch or 2), you will bend them over in opposite directions and tie them down so that they remain horizontal. Once the growth continues out and turns up enough for the next 2 node pairs to fully emerge, you then top each stem by snipping away the growth that is above the first set of leaves, after they turn to vertical.

That will result in there being 4 branches that will emerge. 2 branches on each side of the first "T". Once they grow out enough to handle them, you would bend these 4 over to horizontal and tie them to hold them in this position(bending these 4 branches so that each branch pair will be split away from itself as you did with the first top and bend). once these 4 branches grow out some, the stem will have formed an "H" pattern when looking down from above. You can stop at this point if you have an Indica dominant plant and grow a 4 stemmed plant, or you can continue to top and split the node pairs until the plant reaches sexual maturity(when the nodes begin to alternate).

I suspect that you will rarely get more than 16 main branches with this method before the nodes begin to alternate. You will also have to go back and remove any extra growth below the "tops" that are created so that all the energy is directed to the tops of these "main" lines of growth.

While this is an interesting method for those who don't want to scrog, the scrog method will achieve the same results and be a little less complicated to do. In my opinion. However, if you are limited to just 1-2 plants and you have a lot of area to work with, you could do the mainline method and then place a screen over the 8 branches and then allow them to grow out horizontally beneath the screen(by continuously tucking the new growth under the screen) until they are ready to flower and then flip your lighting to 12/12 and allow all of the side branching that comes off the 8 major branches to come up through the screen to be the bud branches.

It sounds complicated but its not really. You just have to remember the steps and then keep tucking the new growth until 2 weeks after you have flipped the lights to 12/12

Hushpuppy said:

trimmed

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yup, from seed, for the even nodes
tutorial suggests waiting for 7th node, then topping at 3rd
then I lost you....holy **** , man WHAT are you on about?
I'm a hobbyist. You MUST dummy down for me.
You are correct about 16 cola max, 8 is recommended, I want 4
Please have a look at the two plants,
I'm at the 4th node (hard to see in picture) and instead of topping, I plucked the two growth shoots (branches)
was that keerect?
aaaaand HOW do I know when I'm ready to flower?
ho boy, do they ever look like Sativas there.... what have I done?
Mainline Sativas? hahahahahah a stick around, should be fun
they sure look lush though so far

View attachment sativa.JPG

View attachment stop i say.JPG

sMACkaddict said:

Hey, pappy, this is pretty interesting. I want to try this out on one plant, curious about the recovery time in soil... The amount of leaves and branches you have to remove is insane!! And intimidating... Haha, looking forward to watching you dabble in this, I winder if other ppl on MP have tried this...

Rosebud, I had the same thought!! Unfortunately, fimming doesn't work with this the technique and doesn't achieve the same goals... The nug bucket tut covers that briefly... http://www.growweedeasy.com/mainlining-nugbuckets

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You don't chop chop until the 7th node. That's a pretty sturdy plant by then.
There seemed to be little, if any, recovery time, no apparent shock at all,
they look lush, always did
I just regret waiting too many nodes, they're too leggy!

View attachment leggy.JPG

LOL, yeah this stuff can be a little confusing sometimes. You need to read about topping first, but it looks like you did it right from your pictures. You will find that (if the plant is healthy) you can do nearly anything to them and they will keep on growing and will recover from it. What you did looks correct accept that you did it a little too high, and you caused them to stretch by clipping off everything below the tops. I would have tried to keep as much of the lower growth as possible until the reach the point of going to flower, and then clip the lower stuff off.

Your plants look like they have just reached sexual maturity. If you look at the branches at the tops, you will notice that they no longer grow out in pairs, but are instead beginning to stagger off from each other. At this point, you can begin to flower them.

Hushpuppy said:

LOL, yeah this stuff can be a little confusing sometimes. You need to read about topping first, but it looks like you did it right from your pictures. You will find that (if the plant is healthy) you can do nearly anything to them and they will keep on growing and will recover from it. What you did looks correct accept that you did it a little too high, and you caused them to stretch by clipping off everything below the tops. I would have tried to keep as much of the lower growth as possible until the reach the point of going to flower, and then clip the lower stuff off.

Your plants look like they have just reached sexual maturity. If you look at the branches at the tops, you will notice that they no longer grow out in pairs, but are instead beginning to stagger off from each other. At this point, you can begin to flower them.

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-did it a little too high-
Tutorial said wait until 7 nodes, then top at the 3rd
I don't understand where you mean here

-caused them to stretch-
Tutorial said to trim all of it but if that caused the stretch, that answers a lot of questions, LEDs have great node spacing...I'll wait next time

I saw the alternating start, funny, tutorial said I could top one more time for 8 colas, I didn't but I did pluck the two branch chutes next to the top.

A node is the point where the leaves come out from the stem or trunk of the plant. As the plant first grows, the leaves(and branches) will grow out in opposing pairs, one leaf(branch) on either side of the stem(trunk). If you let the plant grow until you have enough stem(trunk) sticking up past the 3rd set of leaves(3rd node) to the next set of leaves so that you can see the stem then you can cut it off at the stem, just above the 3rd node. The tutorial probably means for you to allow the plant to grow until you see the 7th node to allow the plant to strengthen and give enough space between the nodes to cut the stem above the 3rd node.

Cutting the stem above the 3rd node(or 4th, 5th, etc) is known as "topping" because you are cutting out the top of the plant. But that, as you have already learned, allows the 2 small branches at those 2 leaves to grow out and become the new continuing trunk. In order to do the topping on those 2 branches, you have to allow them to grow out far enough so that you can get to the stem above the lowest node on each of them. That may be the first leaf node or it may have to be the second leaf node.

So you have to let them grow some to allow the branches to get a little bigger and stronger, which means by the time you can top the 2 branches, they will each have 2-3 leaf nodes developed. Then you can top them by cutting the stems just above the first leaf node, removing the upper growth again. The result will be that 2 more stems will grow out from those nodes that you left on the 2 branches. That will now give you 4 branches that will become the main stems of the plant.

Once those 4 branches have grown enough to have 2-3 leaf nodes so that the stems above the first leaf nodes is exposed enough to cut out the upper growth on all 4 branches, you can snip those out and cause each of the 4 branches to produce stem pairs again which will give you a total of 8 branches.

Depending on how aggressively and healthy your plant is growing, you may have the chance to do the topping once more to get 16 branches. As long as the very next leaf node coming out of the last set of branches is not alternating and still coming out in opposing pairs, you can continue to top them and double the stems.

I personally would stop at 4-8 branches and then place a screen over the plant and force the stems to grow out horizontally so that each branch would produce side branching and give multiple branches from each of the 4-8 main branches. Then all those little branches would each become bud branches

I had to stop at 4 as the alternating was starting. I thought the cola would start there I figured I'd get two more branches so I cut the two shoots. I'm thinking that was a mistake.
I'm going to flower this week and save your post for the next round.
I might try that screen but I'm thinking I don't have enough plant.
Take a break, HP... I hate asking when you go to that much effort but thanks!

Its hard to say if that was a mistake or not. Only time will tell. I am happy to help you, as I love growing MJ and working with it, and talking shop about it. If you have questions, ask away.

Rosebud said:

Check this out.. http://www.marijuanapassion.com/forum/showthread.php?t=26682

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I don't know why (ya, I do, I'm 61) but I can't find much here with the search. Thanks for this, got time for a drink? I was just about to crack open a bottle of Thrive... I've got lots!

Hushpuppy said:

Its hard to say if that was a mistake or not. Only time will tell. I am happy to help you, as I love growing MJ and working with it, and talking shop about it. If you have questions, ask away.

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I caught a reply of yours in another thread... I always thought alternating nodes were clones, and seeds were symmetrical.
Maturity when they alternate??? go figure, how convenient is that, thanks.... that happened last week, so in to flower they go.

sMACkaddict said:

Hey, pappy, this is pretty interesting. I want to try this out on one plant, curious about the recovery time in soil... The amount of leaves and branches you have to remove is insane!! And intimidating... Haha, looking forward to watching you dabble in this, I winder if other ppl on MP have tried this...

Rosebud, I had the same thought!! Unfortunately, fimming doesn't work with this the technique and doesn't achieve the same goals... The nug bucket tut covers that briefly... http://www.growweedeasy.com/mainlining-nugbuckets

Click to expand...

Well alrighty... watch this space for what NOT to do hahaha
Actually, it's going well, I JUST CUT OFF MORE FAN LEAVES and you're right about it feeling scary and throwing out those lush green huge fans... ho boy
I'm going for 4 colas, started flower this morning...
and I feel like I'm trying to flower twigs
(way too much wood! I think HP advice will fix this next go round)

hahaha, sharing our experiences, good or bad, is what this site is all about... so keep it up mang...

At this point, I wouldn't cut off anymore leaves or anything. Let them get going some. Let the leaves soak up some energy from the lights for another week or 2 so they can get some branching going before you flip them. How much vertical space do you have to work with? you may end up having to bend and tie the branches over so that they have enough room to flower.

Hushpuppy said:

At this point, I wouldn't cut off anymore leaves or anything. Let them get going some. Let the leaves soak up some energy from the lights for another week or 2 so they can get some branching going before you flip them. How much vertical space do you have to work with? you may end up having to bend and tie the branches over so that they have enough room to flower.

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I'm gonna blow this. Too late.
I did a final trim and nute change and it's now 2nd day of flower.
I only have about another foot, yes, I liked your screen idea but maaaay supercrop, they are holding up well and the tops are growing.
Roots, (third of the pale) where they are white, look pristine; but I do see blotches of brownish staining (from mycorrhizae hopefully)

picture shows 1 of 4 colas on one plant after the final trim

View attachment trimmed.JPG

View attachment headroom.JPG

I don't think you are gonna blow this. But you can do too much to the plants. At this point, since you have started the flower phase, LEAVE THEM ALONE, DON'T CUT ANYMORE. Im not yelling just trying to be emphatic. Let them do their thing at this point. I wouldn't supercrop or anything. let them go for about a week or 2 and then once you have more growth, you can see just what you have going on, you can decide then if it will best serve you to BEND NOT SUPERCROP them at that point. Supercropping is a high stress training method that should only be done before flowering begins so to not over stress the plants. Bending is a low stress training method that the plants will tolerate without stressing.

But at this point, you may find that even bending them will not serve you. BUT you need to wait a week at least to see how much they grow. Once you flip the lights for flowering, they will continue to grow (and stretch) for 2 weeks before they fully switch over to flowering. Even after the full switch to flowering within the plant, the bud branches will still continue to grow for another week or so. After a couple weeks, you will be able to fully see what the plant is going to do and then you can decide if it should just go as it is or have the branches spread out.