Mainlining and Manifolding Auto's

When growing indoors plant training may just be the most important aspect of increasing yield and quality of your buds. There are many diffrent techniques including LST, topping/fiming,super cropping,lollypoping ECT. This thread is for mainlining/manifolding. I'd suggest getting comfortable with LST and topping before attempting this.

***Step 1. Wait till your plants are at the 3-5 nodes I like to wait until I get 2 full sets of leafs. Even though you have 5 nodes cut her down at the 3rd so she's thicker and stronger.

***Step 2. Take the two nodes and tie them down to make the T shape to make your sturdy base for the frame to come.
[Tip: When mainlining symmetry is everything. Try and keep both sides equal and even as much as possible.]

***Step 3. After to have trained the two main stalks out around 6-8 inches from the main stem let them start to grow upward. At this point you can decide to let her grow out or top both mains again and repeat the process. Remember every time to do this you multiply your main colas.
Tip. Personally for autos I top the two mains twice more to get 8 large colas. This method dosent increase overall yield. It gives you massive colas instead of a bunch of little to mid size colas.

In conclusion top your plant at the 3rd node when you reach 5 nodes and tie down the new mains into a T shape. Then keep tieing them down while letting them recover and reach upward toward the light. Once your around 6-8 inches away from the main stem let them grow verticly and repeat the process as many times as desired while cutting off lower growth focusing the plants energy upward toward the new mains. And remember Symmetry is everything. The one photo with the X's shows where to cut the lower and undesired growth off.
Any other questions feel free to ask I will answer.

 

[Mañ'O'Green]

I used to LST, manifold etc. but I am too lazy now. It just did not improve yield significantly until I SCROGed some Photoperiod plants which improved yield a lot. I have tried to SCROG autos and it is not worth the effort. You get essentially the same yield with 8 main branches by just topping above the fourth node with less stress to the plant; not to mention less work for me .

 

[Sour D]

Do you see any difference in the root size of manifold? Wondering if it would be well suited for smaller pots?

 

[Tyler_Durden88]

Do you see any difference in the root size of manifold? Wondering if it would be well suited for smaller pots?

Not really. I dictate pot size on the life cycle of the strain. If it's a fast finishing strain I go with 2 gallon air pots. For longer finishing plants I use 3 gallon fabric pots. Your perilite mixture and feeding scedual plays a big role as well. I like 50/50 perilite ratio for easy runoff and more frequent feedings. This keeps my medium clean of buildups and makes sure the plant always has access to what it needs. I also use voodoo juice to help promote faster root growth in early veg.

 

[Sour D]

And I thought this was an air pot

Talking about Voodoo. I'm using the Sensi coco grow, Voodoo and B52. Should I need Calmag as well?

 

[Tyler_Durden88]

And I thought this was an air pot

Talking about Voodoo. I'm using the Sensi coco grow, Voodoo and B52. Should I need Calmag as well?

Your using exactly what I'm using. Depending on the coco yea calmag might be needed. With canna pre-buffered I don't but with every other brand I add 50ppm of calmag before I add my base nutrients. You using RO filtered water?

 

[Sour D]

Your using exactly what I'm using. Depending on the coco yea calmag might be needed. With canna pre-buffered I don't but with every other brand I add 50ppm of calmag before I add my base nutrients. You using RO filtered water?

Right now I'm using store bought purified(supposedly RO) Prolly get RO system next month. I'm one of those old guys on a fixed budget. The ac pretty much sucked out my discretionary funds for the month.

 

[Chester]

I get my RO water from any one of many Kiosks around town for $.35 cents per gallon (Publix) … an average grow for me uses between 12 and 15 gallons per plant. I explored RO systems and have used water from Kiosks for many grows due to cost and the fact that the big professional water sites probably do a better job of purifying the water than any home unit I could afford.

 

[Sour D]

I get my RO water from any one of many Kiosks around town for $.35 cents per gallon (Publix) … an average grow for me uses between 12 and 15 gallons. I explored RO systems and have used water from Kiosks for many grows due to cost and the fact that the big professional water sites probably do a better job of purifying the water than any home unit I could afford.

Hunh, I was under the assumption those things were spring water. Even at $.89 gal for the gallon jugs isn't bad if only 12-15 gallons.

 

[Sour D]

FWIW, I started a grow journal here: https://www.autoflower.org/threads/first-grow-in-40-years.72024/#post-2119504

 

[Tyler_Durden88]

I get my RO water from any one of many Kiosks around town for $.35 cents per gallon (Publix) … an average grow for me uses between 12 and 15 gallons per plant. I explored RO systems and have used water from Kiosks for many grows due to cost and the fact that the big professional water sites probably do a better job of purifying the water than any home unit I could afford.

A decent RO system costs around 100$ and pays itself off in a few months. My well water 400ppm and my filter gets it down to 4ppm. I use liquagen 3 stage and the filters last over a year and are cheap to replace.