What Training Methods After Getting Experience

[EG6]

Hello fellow growers. I'm on 4th grow and am trying to nail down the training method I'll use for the long-term. I'm looking for answers from experienced growers about the method you settled on after trying different methods. Do people mainline/manifold over the long-term or do the eventually settle on something else?

Most of my knowledge (other than the hard, hard lessons learned), comes from growweedeasy.com and cocoforcannabis.com. I've been watching the videos at blackdogled.com and am intrigued. They use the Schwazz method and the quality and yields seem impressive. Schwazz is basically topping 7-10 times to get a flat canopy, lollipopping with extensive defoliation on day 0 and 21 of flower. I've been manifolding up to now with some defoliation but not extreme.

For me, unless someone can change my mind, the decision is between Schwazz with topping at the 4th or 5th node starting after 6 nodes or mainline with defoliation (anxiously waiting for Nebula's current side-by-side). Put another way, either top like crazy (7 to 10 times) or manifold. Both will have extreme defolation on about day 0 and 21 of flower.

My focus is on growing weed that tastes good and makes me happy. I suspect that when I've done all my testing and read your answers, I'll eventually settle on simple LST and topping a few times but I have to do all the experimentation and ask the questions before I'll settle for that.

Thanks in advance.

Here's toking at you...

3x3x 7 tent
HLG 650R LED (630 watts) (It's too big for tent but at about 500 watts, the plants are very happy and there's light everywhere)

Side Note: I'm in Ontario Canada and I needed a heater in the basement tent in the winter so consider that before you think that less heat from LEDs is super important. I thought I'd do most of my growing in the winter but it seems summer may be less expensive.

[quirk]

The only two methods I employ, pictured with end results.
Organic soil auto grower.

[Gingerbeard]

You are a dabber, sir. You can do nothing but grow amazing plants. Blast your own?

[EG6]

Those plants are impressive, especially for autos. Very creative on the last pic. Looks like a holiday tree but I don't know what holiday

[Gingerbeard]

April 20.

[JohnEmad]

You might have a look at this for an ambitious way to train your photoperiod plants.
https://forum.growweedeasy.com/forum...ound-per-plant

Download the pdf manual.

PPP_120920.pdf

[Smoklahoma]

I used this method last grow. It worked great, only have to top in 3 places. Just started my 3rd grow, will be doing it again. I can't argue with a pound per plant.

[EG6]

That's very, very interesting. It's a little bit of many of the methods. I may have have to give it a try. Thanks!

Thanks to Bu2b and everyone who contributed. I feel comfortable with my new direction and have babies just about ready for 1st topping.

[SoOrbudgal]

Love it about all the training methods. I know i could get heftier harvest if i used more aggressive techniques. I do topping, LST then tie them down an pinch a few more branches an that's mostly it. I later do lollypoping on my outdoor big gals an indoor on most photoperiod. My autos just top an LST tie down their branches.

[Ckbrew]

I'm currently using BU2B 's PPP method. Follow along here:

https://forum.growweedeasy.com/forum...9145-mixed-bag

BU2B PPP GROW METHOD.pdf

[SoOrbudgal]

And BU2B definitely got that wired down, he's a very knowledgeable grower what talent it amazes me.

[JuanHondo]

I've settled on a variation of the "quad line". I top above the 3rd node and remove the 1st, keeping 4 "branches". I then top each of those 4 above the 3rd node and remove the 2nd node branches, resulting in 4 main branches with 4 sub branches each...16 total. i keep a 4-5 week veg time and flip to 12/12 as soon as possible. goal is 16 equal sized colas with a shortish plant. i use a lot of LST and defoliate all along to keep things open and exposed to light.

[SoOrbudgal]

JuanHondo those are stunning colas well done

[quirk]

Gingerbeard - Guilty. Yabba dabba doo.

[Gingerbeard]

I really meet the best people on GWE. It's my place to connect with other awesome people who are done experimenting with drugs and have graduated to terp sauce (type concentrates.) Of course, there's nothing wrong with smoking. Smoking mariguana is our roots.

[SoOrbudgal]

Thanks Gingerbeard for including us lungers just never tried that way of using flower terp sauce LOL

[alltatup]

At this point, I'm firmly committed to mainlinine, as this method has consistently produced massive buds on plants. Gotta be careful not to top too many times on shorter growers, though...

[Doubledealing72]

I quadline. You can check my grows and quadlines in my signature/ links at underneath this...not sure what they are called lol

[3Berries]

My stems are so strong I just bend them over every day exposing the middle. Top once at the 5th node or so. Some time fimming. Last time a screwed up fimming, so I got three main stalks and two minor ones in the race too.

[Tone3000]

Has no one settled on SOG [Sea of Green]? I am considering giving it a try. Growing many small plants, topping once but otherwise letting them grow untrained, seems like it would be much less work than all the fiddly training for these other methods.

Yields are supposed to be about the same per sq. ft. I haven't tried this yet. Given how little plant training I have done and how much work it was, I'd like to minimize any further engagement in that task! SOG seems like the least-effort way to get a good grow with good yields.

Faster turnover is a bonus. It seems like a good way to go, especially if growing from clones which is the obvious choice for a long-term growing strategy.

I hope someone who is using SOG will chime in.

[Doubledealing72]

I haven't tried SOG, but I would think taking care of several plants would be more time consuming and work than working with just a couple plants. It only takes me 5 to 10 minutes a day for maybe 2 or 3 weeks to accomplish what I need to. My yields are normally really good (between 2-8 oz per plant depending on the strain, with a few exceptions of plants yielding far more). Plus, in my personal experience, I have only grown in a 3x3 tent so I don't have the space that some do.

[Tone3000]

Doubledealing72 It seems like more plants might be more work, but in a sea of green you just water them, so it really isn't more, it's less.

In your 3x3 tent, you might be growing one monster plant or 4 plants in 5 gallon containers. In SoG, you'd have 16 or 25 plants in 1 or 2 gallon containers.

It's a choice about how to utilize your space.

[Bootsy]

hey. i have done sea of green twice in my 3 by 3 tent. yields came out pretty good, but i will say it was more work. I have lots of free time so wasnt an issue but a few times it just got to be a pain. reaching over or removing the little girls (1 gallon pots) was almost a daily routine. 12 oz (9 plants) once and 15 oz (15plants) another time. Definitely a faster way to get to harvest though. In comparison, in the same tent I have gotten a max of 11 oz from 4 plants and 10 oz from 2 plants - crowding is always an issue. I used coco for each of the SOG grows. I do intend to do it again, but I have a lot of compost (seaweed, scraps and manures all available easily) so it makes it hard to justifiy going to using nutrients as opposed to organic living soil, and the little pots i expect wouldnt have enough "stuff" to do a full grow. all fun. SOG was for me mainly a challenge to LST all the little girl to keep em level.

[homegrown]

Are You talking Autos or Photos? I've seen a lot of SOG grows on GWE, but i dont recall anyone doing it regularly. Lots to consider doing a SOG, Space, tent height, light coverage, pot size, ease of access for watering and plant care, are you going to use a net? The strain you choose(some grow tall and lanky, some stay short and bushy). All the fiddly training we do is to maximize the growing space we have. Letting a plant grow unchecked is fine so long as you have the space to do it. I have 3 different photo strains creating a SOG and without training would have overloaded my growing space and i would be super cropping real soon.

[Tone3000]

What a great looking grow you have! Your space is very well-filled and your canopy is so nice and flat and level. I am sure that took a fuckton of PITA training! While one may see a solid ocean of green plants in your tent, that is not a SOG style grow at all as I understand the meaning of SOG.

The considerations you list are not specific to SoG. Maybe you're thinking of SCROG, because there are no nets in a SOG. SOG is to grow many small plants instead of fewer, larger plants. They are left untrained or only topped once, so they mostly grow just the central cola (or two) and not a lot of other flowers because other bud sites aren't opened up to the light.

SoG is best suited to uniform grows using clones. Varieties that are best suited for it are those that are naturally short and stocky, though the small pot size really limits the plant size. Which is the whole point, so training is not necessary. A single topping can help keep height in check on med-height strains, and that's the only training that might be done. It's not a recommended method for tall strains.

It's not a matter of having the space to do it. It's choosing to utilize your space this way: Lots of tiny plants instead of a few big ones.

There's nothing at all wrong with any method of growing. I'm looking at all of them to see which seems most efficient for giving me good size yields of good quality bud with the least amount of effort on my part.

If I'm going to be growing from clones anyway (so I don't have to constantly buy seeds) then I can make a bunch of clones in little pots, just water them, maybe top once, then harvest. Then on to the next one. I can grow a whole tent full of clones of one variety then grow a different variety. Grows will be short because the plants are small and won't need as long to grow.

It looks to me like the most efficient method with the most reward for the least effort.

What am I missing? Is there some huge drawback to this method to explain why everyone isn't using it? Maybe everyone else is way more keen on tending their plants and all this mainlining gives them a chance to fiddle because they like to fiddle and fuss so it gives them something to do besides overwatering or otherwise loving their plants to death.

[piper]

I run a perpetual sog with clones, yeah sometimes I top, sometimes just lst, or just natural, all depends on my body, I have to keep them small, my body has a 8 pound weight limit, so this is the best way for me.

I have to add more because I just harvested some

I've been running northern lights, white widow, mob, maui mango haze, spacequeen, kush n cookies, nic the bruiser, for a few years now

I use 1 gallon pots