Main- lining

Discussion in 'Plant Training' started by Em8023, Oct 3, 2013.

  1. I've had a good experience with mainlining 5 plants in a 4x4, got 14 ozs.
    mainlining isnt really the easiest to pull off. The tutorial really needs to be done verbatim though... nodes every inch during veg kills your yield, try moving the lights off them when your tops are established so you don't have to trim all the branches off.
    tune your spectrum :)
     
  2. #162 Or_Gro, Jun 1, 2018
    Last edited: Jun 2, 2018
    Mainlining is super easy, under the right conditions, for those with basic indoor growing competence: pick a suitable strain, top at right time and location, bend gently, let bends harden before untying, keep tops even, and light it up.

    Short node length during veg is what you want, assuming you have space limitations. You want to have the biggest pipes in the shortest height, so that you maximize the height you have for flowering.

    When flowering, every inch of node interval produces 3-5g for buds along stem or on lateral tops that get good light.

    With 1000+ watts driving them thru flowering, 1/2lb per plant is easily doable.

    Some strains better suited to pure mainline, others do better with mainline structure plus laterals.

    The longer the veg period with a flat canopy top
    A6669950-4929-434A-A6CD-D10C264947BF.jpeg

    and pipes like this,
    0C24740B-B771-45F9-9BB2-FFF320F86E5C.jpeg 6140F271-6974-40CC-A725-5B90F9B1FF81.jpeg E938A73C-FA05-4468-A403-6664DA4249B1.jpeg 55596744-D81D-48B5-87BD-D17512D2ACDB.jpeg

    along with high-intensity flowering light (w/ balanced heat, humidity, nutes), the bigger the yield.

    Of course plant density matters. More mainlined plants in tight space = more work, less yield per plant, for similar total yield as fewer plants in same footprint.
     
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  3. #163 Or_Gro, Jun 2, 2018
    Last edited: Jun 9, 2018
    My mainline process:

    1. Germinate seeds in rapid rooters/root riots inside a humidity dome (about 3-4 days from seed plant)
    DAE0568D-CA65-407B-8DA8-B59A29C1E0C8.jpeg 7AF0A6F8-201F-4DF0-A3CB-271EC51617AE.jpeg

    2. Transplant to net cup in bubbler bucket (when first root and cotyledon plus one true leaf pair are visible, about 2-3 days from germ)
    30502FB3-E624-43DD-B0B9-BB2ABDAD7720.jpeg

    3. Grow to 5-6 true nodes (about 3 weeks from germ)

    4. Top to 2nd or 3rd true node
    32124B31-18E6-4071-8251-2094720CECC5.jpeg

    5. Grow out the 2 laterals for 2 to 4 nodes

    6. Hold laterals horizontal until bend hardens
    FB0984FA-36D1-4079-9B65-587CA00AE3C8.jpeg

    7. Top laterals at 1st or 3rd node (laterals at odd nodes grow parallel to res surface), (about 7-10 days after 1st topping)

    8. Grow the 4 new laterals at 45-90 degree angle to the parent laterals

    9. Hold laterals horizontal until bend hardens
    A8DD8F98-AC24-47EB-A7CF-C3F8C66DB469.jpeg

    10. Top laterals at 1st or 3rd node (about 7-10 days after 2nd topping)

    11. Grow 8 new laterals, at 45-90 degree angle to parent laterals

    12. Hold laterals horizontal until they harden, for your desired distance from stem
    55D383EB-AFD1-4E55-A9BD-50F3CF355B99.jpeg

    13. At desired distance from stem, let tips of the 8 mains grow vertically (about 2 weeks from 3rd topping, for 6-7” distance from main stem)
    56FB8FED-364E-4D8A-A909-4F64F6B37125.jpeg

    14. Keeping tops even, grow to 12:12 height

    15. At 12:12: defoliate, and change to flowering nutes and lighting (about 1-3 weeks from going vertical, based on personal preference)
    E7956F55-5384-43D1-B3E9-92BB07BDE7E8.jpeg A4B0306A-54D3-417F-9F67-B4AB07519337.jpeg

    16. Keeping tops even, defoliate at week 3 of flowering (Stretch & Pistil Development: 3 weeks from 12:12)
    49BA3324-2827-4010-85B4-896C8A8B7899.jpeg
    FA8FBD49-D161-4B24-8C83-F70B38F52910.jpeg

    [TIP: When mainlining “bushy”/short strains, they do better and yield more big buds/colas by stretching their lower laterals to same height as tips of the mains.

    When mainlining these strains, you have a choice in handling the stretchy laterals: remove them so you have a low-yielding pure mainline; or, let them grow larfy buds without sufficient light; or - for maximum bigass bud/cola yields - pull the tips of your mains outward and train the lower laterals into the center of the plant. Something like this: 2A8F2FE5-AACF-4A70-967E-A853AB596B94.jpeg
    ]

    17. Keeping tops as even as possible, pull large fan leaves as necessary until ready to harvest
    (Bud Formation: 3weeks after wk 3; Bud/Trichome Maturation: final 2-4+ weeks)
     
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  4. C99s: Beginning week 2, 16” above res lid, 7 node pairs, main tips showing first pistils.

    20FA8097-08EE-420C-B958-ACD31091968B.jpeg
    8D197E1F-CFBB-482B-A036-41F2225527CE.jpeg
     
  5. #165 Or_Gro, Jun 6, 2018
    Last edited: Jun 8, 2018

    White Widows; tomorrow is end of 3rd week, and will be a busy day for me, so i did big wk3 defol today.

    Today, Before Defol:
    4F3D7FF7-7B56-41C7-B696-33D1703E0B2B.jpeg
    14B62EA5-FCDD-4ADD-8B35-78711947D1B0.jpeg

    After my scissors broke:
    DE9CFE1C-A992-420E-AA0F-64A1B980FD74.jpeg
    C3B58D3F-E679-491B-A441-4DC33E232CD1.jpeg
    77C3CE85-2326-40DB-BB9F-CA1FECE0C957.jpeg

    Both have over 200 of those white pistil balls, about 30 per main.

    2 days later:
    FC829DF7-AD0B-4A11-B96A-D7421E70F88F.jpeg C294F5A2-B64D-4DDC-A5F1-C358503D4F93.jpeg 356047FA-D0D7-41B8-BFFF-5164FBFDDFC9.jpeg 592D4254-820F-47B5-BAC8-F45ACE42E28F.jpeg
     
  6. your mainline is absolutely horrible imo so you shouldnt call it easy. you waste so many nodes you should follow the tutorial VERBATIM.
     
  7. even I did it wrong my first time but its considered mainlining compared to that sick lolipop fantasy you have.
    mainline.JPG mainlined.JPG clean.JPG 20160320_012754.jpg 20160327_022159.jpg IMG_20160404_232615.jpg IMG_20160405_125009.jpg 20160406_134627.jpg 20160322_002527.jpg 20160403_222953.jpg 20160403_223149.jpg
     
  8. 20160320_011447.jpg 20160320_012903.jpg 20160320_012913.jpg
    nice and frosty COLUMN OF WEED :D 20160327_021856.jpg
     
  9. even I vegged too long but you wasted a month growing branches you were just gonna cut off. lol.
     
  10. Anyone with basic competence in indoor growing knows when to flip their plants
     
  11. #173 Or_Gro, Jun 9, 2018
    Last edited: Jun 9, 2018
    I did’t grow out anything except the fan leaves (to build those bigass pipes). That was all done VERBATIM, tips removed as they got long enough to snip off, below 12:12 ht Go back and read the VERBATIM.

    I veg to my target 12:12 ht (that’s VERBATIM), this strain took 5 weeks, and look at those beautiful mains, and flat, even top - the whole fucking purpose of this technique. And my yield will show it!

    Here’s a plant nugbuckets was very proud of.
    upload_2018-6-8_17-57-0.jpeg
    Notice a couple things: see that tray, those are all colas from lower laterals on this nugbuckets mainline. If he had removed them below 12:12 wire (which is VERBATIM) his mains would have much larger diameter, and the bottom buds, above 12:12 wire, would have stretched to provide same or bigger lateral colas. Assuming sufficient res size and adequate light and nutes, tje main colas would have been longer and bigger, too.

    After you get some more strains under your belt, you’ll understand. Maybe...
     
  12. #174 Or_Gro, Jun 9, 2018
    Last edited: Jun 9, 2018
    A pound in your 4x4? Lol, with those 5 inch colas? Maybe if you knew how to trim, you wouldn’t be so proud. Oh, you are so good!

    How many hundreds of plants did you have to pack in there.

    I’m gonna stop growing my way, and start growing VERBATIM. Lol
     
  13. dude...... what are you doing....
    Capture.JPG
     
  14. #176 Deleted member 916650, Jun 9, 2018
    Last edited by a moderator: Jun 9, 2018
    the funny thing is I was in soil. in hydro you should be hitting so much more. I've come a long way in 2 years though.
     
  15. Lol, i guessed it, sea of green VERBATIM mainlines!!! Lol
     
  16. #179 Or_Gro, Jun 9, 2018
    Last edited: Jun 9, 2018
    Those half inch green things are the plumbing system of a big yielding mainline plant.

    The key to getting their full potential is to keep the tops growing flat.

    A simple, easy to manage tool for keeping the top flat is to use those thin green wires to vary the vertical tension on the mains.

    Don’t worry, you may someday figure out that 2 to 4 properly managed plants in your 4x4 will produce more yield and higher quality plants, requiring significantly less work.
     
  17. Cutting my two coughs SUNDAY!!!
    I love the look of fall!!!
    image.jpeg
     
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