Madman's 1st grow. DWC journal

[Madman960]

Question about Nebula's manifold technique. Why let the 2 main branches grow to 4 nodes just to cut off the 4th node? I understand the rest.

Thanks.

Madman

[NebulaHaze]

If you don't want to you don't have to. The manifold technique is surprisingly flexible if you experiment with it (I've seen growers leave more nodes on the two main branches than 3 each), but the second node from the end is usually stronger than the one that's all the way on the end Something about topping (cutting right through a stem) causes the bud sites below the cut to develop better.

[Madman960]

Thanks Nebula. That makes more sense. I started the manifold of my 2 topped plants today and topped my other 2 plants. Will manifold them in a few days.

Happy growing.

Madman

[Madman960]

Well, I decided to manifold my other 2 plants last night to get a side by side comparison of waiting 5 days vs trimming right away. Pictures of my progress. Will be interesting to see how my 3 branch plant turns out. I also kept the cuttings from the plants that I waited 5 days to manifold to try and make clones. 1st attempt. My RH is only 65% so we will see if the clones take root in my RR plugs. Definitely need to construct a cloning chamber.

Happy growing.

Madman

[Madman960]

Thanks Dutch. I will post pics of Chrystal number 1 tomorrow.

[D.A.A.S.69]

Hey Madman, I love to see the leaves look like yours, they are loving your lights, and set-up.

[Madman960]

Thanks D69. Got lucky with the light. Just bought a random LED on Amazon. I want to buy the 1500 watt COB LED from the same company so I can do a comparison.

[GRAND]

Lookin good bro!

[Madman960]

Thanks buddy!! You will be here soon. Can't wait.

Happy growing.

Madman

[Madman960]

I have yet to top off my buckets. I only have 2 plants that uptake a significant amount of water currently. Chrystal numbers 1 and 2. They are both under their net cups but still have 3 plus gallons of water left. I need to check PH and PPMs today. I have not since the res change several days ago. I visually inspect them several times daily. They look great, but starting to reach up towards the light again so I need to lower it back to 30 inches. Seems like this grow is on autopilot for now. I'm sure that will change once the plants get bigger and start drinking more water.

Happy growing.

Madman

[Madman960]

Question about manifolding. Was I supposed to remove the fan leaves and just leave the colas? It would make sense. The fan leaves on my Chrystal number one have exploded since topping.

Thanks.

Madman

[JohnC]

You'll probably get a dozen different answers for that question. Some like to defoliate heavily; some only lightly. I like to tend towards the light side. When it comes to removing fan leaves, I only remove those that are "stacking" where leaves are laying on top of each other. I find liquid water can collect here and that can lead to further issues later if left unchecked IMO. And removing a few fan leaves helps open up air circulation in and around your plants.

Just don't go overboard as fan leaves are the food factories for what's going on elsewhere. And I think cutting too much can stress the plant.

[Madman960]

JohnC, I am referring to removing the large fan leaves during manifolding. I understand what you are saying. It just didn't answer my question. I am posting pictures to help with what I mean. I still have my large fan leaves attached to my colas. If I had cut them off when I manifolded, would my colas have developed more? Not that they are lacking. Or is it a matter of preference?

Happy growing.

Madman

[Madman960]

Here are pictures from Nebula's manifold tutorial. Part of the reason I am confused. It looks like you keep the fan leaves attached to the 3rd node at first and remove it later by the pictures. I originally asked because seeing other people's manifolds, the fan leaves were cut. I believe I have to remove them in order to to down the 2 colas. Need to soon as they are very thick already.

Happy growing.

Madman

[NebulaHaze]

You got it, I left them at first and removed them later. I think keeping them at first helps the plant recover faster as otherwise the plant has very little total leaf mass to make energy from, but some growers remove them immediately. I'm like JohnC in that these days I tend to defoliate a little lighter than other growers in general. But like he said you'll get a million opinions of what works best and the truth is all the variations work well

[Madman960]

Thanks Nebula for the clarification. How long would you typically wait to cut off the fan leaves? I figure it's once they start growing well again.

Happy growing. And Happy Thanksgiving as well.

Madman

[NebulaHaze]

Yes, exactly.

And Happy Thanksgiving to you too! 🦃

[Madman960]

Week 4 update. Changed res this morning. Happy with my progress so far.

Happy growing.

Madman

[Dutchman1]

Looking good !

[Madman960]

Thanks Dutch.

[Madman960]

So I might my 1st major mistake yesterday. Against better judgement, I decided to try and LST Chrystal number 1. I should have started by bending he with my hands before attempting to tie her down with string. I even said this to myself before going to the tent. Well, once I had her out of the tent, I was just supposed to find the length of string needed. I forgot and tied down 1 cola. I go to the other side and find out how much string is needed. Cut to length. Ran string over the cola and through the eye bolt in the lid, started pulling slightly and then the 1st cola split her skin like a banana. Went and grabbed some electric tape and bandaged her up. To my surprise, 12 hours later she wasn't droopy or sad looking. Checked again at 24 hours and aside from the tape, I can't even tell. I say all this so that other new growers realize mistakes will happen. Just do the best for the plant and they will do the same.

Happy growing.

Madman

[alltatup]

The really good thing about these mistakes we make is that we learn what NOT to do!!!

[oldjarhead100]

I keep a roll of electrical tape on my work bench lol ,that wasn't the last branch your gonna break lol

[Madman960]

Forgot to add pics.

[D.A.A.S.69]

They are coming right along nicely MM960,

[oldjarhead100]

hey Mad they are looking good ,I see what you meant about splitting did you leave like a 1/4 inch of stem above where you topped it , that does help with the splitting but doesn't stop it

[starramus]

Madman.... must be from Pulp Fiction one of my favorite movies. Good luck you seem well boned up for your virgin grow. I wish there had been a Grow Weed Easy when I first started (with Miracle Grow). I did get some smokeable produce though.

[Madman960]

Plants are doing well. Finished setting up 8 colas 2 days ago. I didn't do anything with the white rhino as it's still small but finally starting to get bushy. Chrystal number 1 has not slowed down even after the splitting.

I am not on much cause I a very busy with school and I just bought a house. Will be building a proper grow room once all the inspections are done.

Happy growing.

Madman

[alltatup]

Congrats on the new house!!! And good luck with finals! (I'm grading tons of finals right now...)

[Dutchman1]

I grew one White Rhino last spring. It stayed below 18" with LST and scrog and produced about 3 ozs. Nice bushy low growing plant.