This is a journey of my 1st ever main-lining experience.

[growsomebuds]

The start on my main-lining journey begins with Wendy(white bucket). On the 27th I topped her above the 3rd node when she was just starting a 6th node. Then, I removed all the growth below that, keeping the fan leaves at node 3. Her sister, Ellie, is likely to get MLed, too. But 1st, I want to see how Wendy responds to this treatment for a few. For now, the plants are under only one of my Viparspectra V450 lights@27". I hope people follow along. I welcome any advice. Cheers!

[Campesino]

I have both main-lined and manifolded plants and love both techniques.
Mainline: Top 3 times = 8 colas
Manifold: Top 2 times, preserving tips on 1st and 3rd nodes = 8 colas

I don't really think there is a significant time difference between them, but Nebula says that the Manifold will save some time in Veg. There is a great tutorial on it.
Either way, they are great training techniques and you won't be disappointed

[oldjarhead100]

I did a defole on Sunday by Lollypoping them and I can tell you any more than 8 kolas is not needed they just grow into a wild mess that you end up cutting off anyway

[PaganRich]

oldjarhead100 Afternoon ojh....have you tried splitting further than 8 and what was the bud size in comparison? Meant to be slightly smaller buds I`ve heard. Had a right mess with a mother plant. I tried a slight scrog tech upon a horizontal small circular solid frame. Was a right mess, looked like elephant grass but thought I`d see what multiple buds in a restricted area would look like....messy was the only word that sprang to mind when I saw it. Well, there were a few other words but let`s not ruin the atmos

[growsomebuds]

I didn't know squat about main-lining until I read Nebula's article. I keep re-reading the article, cuz I'm still figuring it all out. It'll be an ongoing learning process.

[Campesino]

LOL, neither did I!
If you want to see how I trained my plants check out the first few pages of my current grow journal.
Happy to help if you have any questions

[growsomebuds]

After two days, Wendy's only axillary's have grown just a bit. Ellie(org bucket) is actually 6 days older, yet, she is smaller than Wendy. Although, she has as many nodes as her sister had, I decided to remove the lowest 3 nodes in the hopes that she'll pick up growing a little faster. When she's bigger, I'll top above the 4th node. Each plant just received 32oz of water w/ nutes.

[alltatup]

Your plants look great!!

[Redwasp]

Looking good. They have grown alot.

[growsomebuds]

OK, I'm looking for people's thoughts on how I should proceed w/ the 1st topping of this plant in Nebula's tutorial on main-lining. This plant is 6 day's older than my other plant was when I topped Wendy. The older plant in the org bucket is older, but was growing slower than her sister. So, I decided, good or bad, to remove the lowest 3 nodes w/ the idea that, perhaps, she might pick up the pace. I wish to top her soon. Here's my question. Would you guys, under the plant's newest configuration, just top above the lowest node, which is now the 4th node, or would you top above its 3rd node. If you vote for the later, I would then remove all growth below the new 3rd node.

[Campesino]

So the lowest little branches are the original 4th node? I would top to them in that case. Top high...just below the next node, leaving a "stump". This is very helpful to prevent stem splitting.

[growsomebuds]

Correct, sir. Look at the topping I already performed on Wendy in my very 1st post. Does that look like enough stem to leave behind when I top Ellie? Also, do you feel that Ellie is now ready for topping, the way you suggest? Or should I allow her some time to grow another node or two?

[Campesino]

She's ready

It looks like Wendy has enough, but Ellie could have even more "stump". It eventually gets largely absorbed into the plant. If you don't mind, I will post a few pics of a manifold I am growing before and after topping and now a couple months later and approaching harvest.

[Campesino]

I am going to go ahead and hope you don't mind...

Photos are captioned

[Campesino]

I got my Coco online in Brick form Perlite too, except it came in a bag. If you go Coco, there are a lot of things I would want to tell you... Especially if you start with a brick!
My tent: http://a.co/dUYQPiW

[growsomebuds]

Oh, yeah, I'll consult you when it comes time to buffer the Perlite. I just don't want to have to buy soil products online. I hope those materials can be found locally.

[Campesino]

Yeah, they can be. It was just cheaper and easier online (this will be the downfall of us all).
You can get good quality pre-buffered coco. Or the cheap stuff and I will tell you how to make it just as good (but it is a process).

[growsomebuds]

I don't mind. I only wish you weren't super cropping, and only following Nebula's MLing guide so I could get a better understanding of what I'll be doing to my plants. Your plants look awesome. Now that my plants seem to be getting their grow on, things are getting exciting!

[growsomebuds]

As this is only my 2nd grow, I'm just not comfortable doing any supercropping.

[Campesino]

I get that it seems scary, but it doesn't require a great deal of training or skill and it isn't as dangerous as it looks. In fact, I think it is less dangerous to the plant than LST. LST is low stress but high danger because stems can snap.
You can always practice supercropping on the stems of leaves when you cut them, esp large stem leaves. If you get comfortable with it it will really come in handy later to keep the canopy even. Another great benefit is that it generates a growth hormone response in the plant and results in increased vigor and denser colas!
So, if you change your mind, I'll be happy to give you some pointers. But it is totally your call.

[PaganRich]

I can appreciate your thoughts around wanting to learn one tech well and then build upon it. What Campesino and oldjarhead100 are suggesting is good advice if you can get it in to this grow. It will take time, experience and preference to get a feel for. My only advice to all of this is to grow the strain twice, one straight after the previous harvest.You really will notice a difference. Supercropping when manifolding or mainlining also provides a choice, where do you supercrop the 2 side stems ie post first node on side stems or later. Supercropping isn`t difficult, piece of p##s really just make sure you get your stem supports and angle the way you`d roughly like it, that`s all. What you`re doing is really good but I would suggest reading https://www.growweedeasy.com/schwazzing-cannabis this will add a very structured addition to your grows.

[growsomebuds]

What brand 4x4 tent are you using, Campesino?

[growsomebuds]

The Viparspectra and Vivosun are looking promising.

[Campesino]

Apollo Horticulture... I linked it in comment above

[growsomebuds]

Hello, gentlemen. Please review the attached pics, and tell me what, if anything, does that peculiar curling along the edges of these leaves mean. I had one of my Viparspectra v450 lights 26" above the plants. I just moved it up to 30."

[Campesino]

Not totally sure - seems pretty minor. Probably related to water - either too dry or too salty

I do not think it is light burn.

[growsomebuds]

I've finally given them enough water to cause run-off. I took a pH reading. It was 7.6! I always pH my water to 6.5.

[Campesino]

I advise you to not be concerned with the pH of run-off.
Continue to set the pH of inflow to the appropriate range.

[growsomebuds]

My watering(feeding) regimen isn't like yours, Camp. Does that not change things?

[Campesino]

It changes things, but not pH!
A lot of stuff can happen to pH in soil. You really shouldn't expect run-off to match inflow.
It can create problems if you try to adjust the pH of the run-off by adjusting the pH of the inflow. It is more important to simply always put in water that is the appropriate pH.

[growsomebuds]

OK, so, I'll continue pHing my water to 6.5 after nutes have been added.

[Redwasp]

Oh saw your growing Aurora Indica. One of my all time favorites. Great night time or movie day smoke.

[growsomebuds]

I'm hoping it something to use to get to sleep, and something to use to listen to music on a nice audio system.

[Redwasp]

It is very good for both.

[growsomebuds]

I'm thinking of abandoning the main-lining protocol. These plants are so damn small for being 6.5 weeks and 6 week old, respectively. I'm not too happy.

[Campesino]

Yes, and 10 more days may be too long! By that point, my plants are growing about an inch per day.
Check out my current grow journal - pages 2-4

https://forum.growweedeasy.com/forum/growing-community/174622-coco-led-6-manifolds-grow-2/page2

[PaganRich]

I wouldn`t give up just yet. You have a couple of issues with your set up which will affect growth and time span but the only real issue apart from time is the width of growth. To me I`d be looking to the lights as a possible restrictor.

[growsomebuds]

Well, in a week, the big plant goes into a new tent to flower. She will have one of my LED grow lights all to herself. The other LED light will stay in my makeshift tent to veg my existing plant in the org bucket, and two new seedlings will go in there, soon.