First grow ever - Manifolding question

[MOgrow60]

I have two Durban Poison (Fem) and four Cali OG Kush Haze (Fem) about one week into the flowering stage. Since I've never done this before, I'm not sure how far to trim back. With a manifold, I was expecting 8 colas. It looks like I'm going to have quite a few more? As you can see, I've been "experimenting" a bit, but being my first grow, I don't want to depart too far from what has obviously worked so well for others. Should I trim back more?

[RFheavy]

That's beautiful!

[FarmerJoe]

Looks Great. They appear Happy. I luv expeirementing . Your girls will let you know what they need, Looks like you're listning to them. Happy Growing

[dphipps1020]

The reason you have more than 8 is because you didn't get rid of the stuff in the middle. When you create your manifold you want to get rid of everything except what you want for your main colas. When they get bigger the middle will fill in and you don't want them to be over crowded. The one in the 3rd picture looks about right. They will look really bare at first but a couple weeks and they'll be huge again. Just my opinion, maybe some of the veteran growers can help more.

[DingusKhan]

That's about dead on, dphipps1020. If during veg, you trim off the stuff that will either become larfy popcorn or too many over crowded colas, the colas that you keep will get a lot bigger and grow happier if they have a little elbow room between them.

Remember, during veg you are shaping the plant to give you the bud sites that will become colas, and each cola needs a little room to breathe. The best colas are out on the ends of the longer branches, that means 4 colas, one on the end of each limb if you quad line. And then you have some side branches from each branch. If you keep one side cola per branch, that 8 colas, 2 middle colas will give you 12, etc. etc.

If you veg longer and grow a bigger plant, you can make more room for more colas. If you want to hurry up and get your plant into flower so you can harvest it in 9-14 weeks, then put it in flower earlier and smaller, but sooner, like 4-8 weeks for a smaller bush with fewer colas.

[MOgrow60]

Appreciate the feedback everyone!

So what is the purpose of removing only the second node on each of the 8 main branches? I guess that is where I got hung up.

so I should remove everything on each plant except the 8 main colas?

[DingusKhan]

You take some of them out so that there's more room for the ones you leave behind the get bigger.

Start by leaving the one on the tip, and then clip off every node, so the remaining nodes have more room to spread out adn fatten up.

Have you read the tutorial on manifolding or looked up McCubed's posts on quadlining? Those are good examples.

[MOgrow60]

I have indeed! 😁

Most excellent tutorials! So, here are updated photos. I just finished trimming these for the last time. They are about 2 weeks into flower stage.

The two on the right are Durban Poison. This strain is much more amenable to manifolding than the other four on the left, which are Cali OG Kush Haze.

So did I trim too much too late?

Did I actually start trimming new buds off of the very bottom of my new colas?

[dphipps1020]

Yes you trimmed way late. Are they photo or auto? If they're photo I would suggest trying to reveg them and let them go a bit longer. The way they are right now the only buds you will get are where the leaves are and they won't get very big. I misread your post and didn't see where you said they were in flower already or I probably would have said that on my first post. Sorry. Manifolds look perfect though. You just want to start them when you top the first time that way you're shaping them how you want as they grow. Hopefully yours are photos and they can be reverted back.

[MOgrow60]

They are photos, but I’m not going to revert them back to veg at this point. Most were germinated at the end of Sept and have already been in veg for a while.

Being my first crop, I’m kind of looking at this as learning how to fly. It looks like I’m still going to have some quality-looking colas but, as you suggest, they may likely be stunted or whatever.

So here are some current pics of the CHFs...

[MOgrow60]

[Farmall]

Did you say these are growing since September ? Great shapes for clear path to growth of those stems

[MOgrow60]

...and the two DPF...

[MOgrow60]

Now, I have 144g worth of dried leaf that I’ve kept since Day 1. Can this be used for anything?

Also, if you check the Manifolding steps, where in that already excellent procedure should one switch from veg to flower mode?

[DingusKhan]

Well it looks like you didn't trim off all your new bud sites, so that's good. It looks like you still have some colas that will get tall, and then hopefully fatten. It may be that too much has been taken off, and if that's the case you will have smaller yield at the end.

But you should still have some nice buds when you're done. You've been doing a good job at keeping her healthy. Keep it up, and you should still have a nice little harvest when they're done.

[MOgrow60]

Well, very late Sept, yes.

Being my first grow ever, I tried to follow the manifolding guide closely. Must be a great guide, cause I’m very proud of the turnout! The DPF certainly takes better to the method. The CHF looks to be a more “bushy” strain perhaps?

Anyhow, I’ve had a blast so far and this has been a wonderful resource for helping me to this point. So thank you to all! 🙏🏻

[billyboy]

They look great to me. You have another 4 or maybe 5 weeks for them stretch out and then another couple for them to get phat while you flush (I recommend molasses!) and they get some amber

[Greenlivin]

Those look great. Any chance you can drop a link for the technique? I wasn’t able to find it.

[MOgrow60]

Thanks billyboy! You give me hope.

i just read about the molasses trick earlier this evening.