nutrition levels while setting up the manifold

[wibe]

so the contraversial post a while back got me interested in manifolding.. the well assembled and explained manifolding primer was helpful (way more than going through the old mainlining compilation which was informative but a bit scattered) but lacked in some minor details.

i am trying it with a sativa dominant strain and am 3 weeks into a drain to waste hydro setup (amended promix) and can use some tips.

i am a bit behind cause i was waiting for node separation before topping the first time.. after a full three weeks i topped at the second node above cotyldon leaves, the first set of three leaves.

do people still feed the same level of fertilizer while setting up mainlines and supercropping etc..?

does raising the lights help get some stretch out of the plants for longer nodes or would it cause issues in another regard?

i'd like to top twice more on either side to get 8 main colas and prune away all other growth.. but the writeup saying everything should be setup in two weeks was a bit ambitious i think, as well as using a more efficient growing method.. in a drain to waste or soil setup how ong does it take people to have their manifolds setup and ready to stretch?

[SoOrbudgal]

Morning wibe from my experience 1. yes I feed the same way when I train super crop, topping, mainline
2. during flower when it's the first week to 10days of lighting set at 12/12 won't see much stretch but it will happen. This is the reason I tie down large strains pretty heavy during veg growth period. Last month or close to it I set them free of restraints won't stretch further they seem to relax. I have seen seedlings stretch too far from light don't want that kinda stretch.
3. You can top again if you want. Defoliate during veg lightly they become bushes as you know and later during flowering it's important to remove those low stems big fans. Mainfolds gotta be kept up during growth. Good luck you got this

[Sww]

I guess can go both ways.No feed like nil by mouth method will give the plant more strength to recover. Or brute force it through with nutrients.it more which way suits you..
There is never a right answer.do the way you want is best .

[wibe]

i did a few fasts to cleanse and am familiar with the natural tendency to stop eating when nerturing an injury..

unfortunately i already nuted her but in the future i like this application of the nil per os philosophy and its definately something to consider for the next round.

[ZigZag]

I also use nutrients as suggested by the manufacturer regardless of training method. I also use a drain to waste system. In my experience its taken me about 4 weeks to set up a manifold. I wait until there are 5 sets of real leaves and then cut back to the 3rd internode. then once those have started to grow out I LST to pull them away from the main stalk. Then once those have a nice set of leaves they are topped again and repeated once more a third time. I'd never be able to get that set up in a few weeks because every time I top it takes 5 days to recover fully.

If I set up a manifold I add 2-3 weeks to the grow cycle and it really pays off (like 6 instead of 4 weeks). Usually this produces about 12 colas within 6" of the same height. I may have to use a little supper cropping to keep them even. But a healthy sativa that has a tendency to have long branches will fill a 4x4 space easy if it gets 4' tall. With the sativa dominant you should get a good stretch once they go to 12/12. They usually seem to stretch more than Indica dominant in my experience.

Never tried raising the lights at that stage of growth_ I'm usually bringing them down about then. Stretch can be highly influenced by genetics. I'm near the end of growing a new F1 and each plant shows different genetic influences. One is tall and very bushy with 12 large colas, the other is medium with medium size colas and the third is tiny with small colas. I only topped the smaller plants twice because the internodes were a lot tighter than on the large plant. I'd hoped they would catch up with the taller one but they never did. The difference was so extreme I had to use risers to keep the smaller ones at the same canopy level.

A common issue with F1 hybrids grown from seed. Fun to see what happens though.

Cheers for an awesome grow!

[wibe]

wow Zz you nailed all my points and some i missed concerning the topic.

glad i'm not the only one not settup up manifold in 2 weeks i have also found a complete halt of growth days after topping.

i probably should have used a different term than stretch.. although its interesting how manifolding affects stretch when flowering is initiated.. i meant more of a deprivation of light to trigger longer length between nodes so i dont have to trim away entire nodes along the plenum of the manifold.

i recognize that i'm limiting the energy hitting the plants by raising lights.. maybe bombarding with 630/770nm red is a better idea i heard if the spectrum hitting leaves has a high ratio of these reds it triggers seedling/vegetative stretch also.

guys/gals.. what about the cotyldon leaves and nodes below.. i figured i'd wait one more day and trim that all away and remove the fan leaves off the two shoots produced by the last topping when i perform the second topping.

[ZigZag]

wibe, as far as the cotyledons go as long as you have a two sets of 3 bladed leaves you can cut the cotyledons if you want, otherwise they will just turn yellow and fall off. I grow a lot from regular seed so I cut one of them off after I have two sets of 3 bladed leaves (for testing sex) and never had any bum results. I wouldn't cut the light down, unless you see signs of light or heat burn or excessively tight internodes_ which can really slow down a manifold! I usually manifold sativa dominant strains, seem to get the best results with them, over indica which I top 1-2X with LST.

[wibe]

cotyledons are staying since they arent going to grow any nodes.

i'm actually going to shoot for a cotyledon intact harvest which would mean the plant really lived a well nutritioned existence.

i trimmed nodes and leaves below the second node where i set up shop for the manifold.. and continued the usual nutrient regime.

noted some regrowth but i just did the second top yesterday and some lst the week before so i'll retrim off any supurfulous growth below the node the next topping and wait until i am ready to flip before i trim the manifold clean and lolipop.

[SoOrbudgal]

Mine usually fall off.

[wibe]

[wibe]

mine seem to have taken to growing serrated leaf nodes instead of yellowing and falling off.

topped at second node (and first with 3 true leaves) and trimmed fan leaves and node below a week later.

tried topping at node 2 since i know clone/cuttings have stronger chances of success at lower nodes so hopefully lower is better and a bushier stance cant hurt either i heard thats another result from topping at node 2.

week 4 now and nodes are regrowing at the cotyledons..