Ok, so I had an idea. I'm planning on mainlining my next auto. Yes, I know it's not recommended, but that's not what I'm asking about. I could just as easily try this out first on a photo. Anyway, here's my plan... First cut at the 5th node, trimming all growth below. Second cut, instead of topping each side and then once again, FIM the second cut.....which in theory should produce 4 tops? This would avoid needing a third cut. I think the FIM at the second cut will be less stressful and thus improve my chances of a good veg before she flips. Has anyone tried this? Anyone with experience with FIMing would be most helpful.
It's not just 'not recommended' -it'll stunt your plant growth and overall yield. Moving past that though... Look into the theory of mainlining, not just instructions on how to do it. Look up what 'it' is and why 'it' works. Cannabis grows with apical dominance. "Apical dominance is the phenomenon whereby the main, central stem of the plant is dominant over other side stems; on a branch the main stem of the branch is further dominant over its own side branchlets." (citation) The goal of mainlining is to eliminate all supplementary tops and side branching, encourage multiple tops with apical dominance, and exclusively promote the apical tops to grow. FIM stands for 'Fuck, I missed' so you're literally haphazardly creating multiple tops. Sure, you may create just as many tops in fewer cuts and less time, but those tops will not display apical dominance -therefore, you could not classify the training that you did as mainlining. You'll still get good flower. There will just be a subset of your tops that will have apical dominance and the bud sites associated with apical dominance, and conversely, a subset of your tops will not have the same bud sites or flower development as the first subset.
I'm very knowledgable on "Mainlining Theory". I could call it a manifold not a mainline if you need me to be more precise. I understand about Apical Dominance. The reason you get the 4 tops when you FIM is because you're cutting at a point that damages two young node sets at once without actually taking an entire top. So, in theory, I'd have 4 main and 4 sub main. But as I've experienced with various forms of training, as long as you keep the tops even, they share resources pretty evenly. I know FIM means "Fuck I Missed". That doesn't discount the fact that it is a very versitile and usefull training tool. Sure, it started out as a mistake, but it's the results we're after, not how it was discovered. Just because it's called FIM doesn't mean I have to blindly and haphazardly cut. It's a very well understood technique. Thank you for your input though. I don't want to come off as sounding ungreatful for your help. I'm just looking for more advanced information.
Haha I doubt you’ll find someone trying this on these forums, but I respect your experimentation. Potentially losing the plant is indeed the risk but where would we be without taking them. Unfortunately I’ve no input, just came to say please do post results! I’ll subscribe, your results will be the first in my case files on advanced training techniques. “I'll sell my inventions so that everyone can have powers. Everyone can be Super! And when everyone's Super... no one will be.” Jester Hopper’s Pot’s Jester Hopper’s Pot’s
Yeah, I wasn't sure of the responses I'd get. I'd hoped that someone had tried it already and could give me some feedback. But I'll be trying it out for sure. My next grow will be Candy Dawg Auto for the Vault's comparative grow. I'll be documenting it there, but will update here when I start.
I have mainlined with great success The key to doing it is defol at the right time in the right places and consistantly over a period of weeks there's nothing worse than popcorn buds they are no good. little but often keeps stress down to as little as can be expected but the difference from how they send that energy is quite staggering good luck BTW.