The James Gang

[High kev]

Myself mostly - this is my 'grow memory'

when did I flip those? etc.

Love it. very well explained. The details are primo

 

[High kev]

Legs all the way up to her ass.

 

[H.A.F.]

View attachment 79028

What sad is in that brain of yours, this picture resided waiting on time to rear it's ugly head. Scary stuff

 

[H.A.F.]

Trust your instincts. For a week or so I was talking about stubby plants and maybe too much light. I unplugged one board and shoved them under the other last night and they are reaching by morning.
So "if it ain't broke don't fix it" doesn't factor in different levels of 'broke'

 

[MtRainDog]

This is what I'm gonna try to do this time. 8 tops. I'm have to post some pictures in my thread and get your opinion.

Essentially all my plants are WAY too big when I put them in flower. In my opinion. So I figure topping twice might help.

The ones that are in my RDWC system where about 20" or so tall after veg and I topped a couple of those down to 3/4 tops early in veg. Well they streched like a bitch. They at least doubled if not 2.5 times their original height. So I have a hard time just leaving the very tops. I need to get my timing down better. Perpetual is tough to get the hang of when that's where you start.

Just my limited experience, so take with a grain of salt...

Mainling vs. Topping.

Mainling will slow that growth down. I could veg a plant for 2+ months and keep it very compact. Nice root systems, and generally I find they are happier, healthier plants.

Normal Topping doesn't slow things down nearly as much. And when I say normal topping, I mean where you top and keep at least 2 nodes below where you topped. These plants hardly skip a beat, so it's definitely faster this way if you desire multiple tops. However, they tend to have a stretchier/lankier structure.

There's pros and cons to both.

Edit: I'm in soil, so a 2 month veg just means keep hacking away at it and add water. YMMV in hydro.

 

[Streetpro09]

Just my limited experience, so take with a grain of salt...

Mainling vs. Topping.

Mainling will slow that growth down. I could veg a plant for 2+ months and keep it very compact. Nice root systems, and generally I find they are happier, healthier plants.

Normal Topping doesn't slow things down nearly as much. And when I say normal topping, I mean where you top and keep at least 2 nodes below where you topped. These plants hardly skip a beat, so it's definitely faster this way if you desire multiple tops. However, they tend to have a stretchier/lankier structure.

There's pros and cons to both.

Edit: I'm in soil, so a 2 month veg just means keep hacking away at it and add water. YMMV in hydro.

Yeah I'm thinking so to in hydro. I still haven't topped then yet but when I do I'll post some pictures.

Thanks for the advice. I'll keep that in mind but it pretty much confirms that I'm gonna go in there and hack them up and see what happens for myself. You're making it easier for me to make "big" cuts and not worry so much. I'm bound and determined to show these down some how.

 

[H.A.F.]

Just my limited experience, so take with a grain of salt...

Mainling vs. Topping.

Mainling will slow that growth down. I could veg a plant for 2+ months and keep it very compact. Nice root systems, and generally I find they are happier, healthier plants.

Normal Topping doesn't slow things down nearly as much. And when I say normal topping, I mean where you top and keep at least 2 nodes below where you topped. These plants hardly skip a beat, so it's definitely faster this way if you desire multiple tops. However, they tend to have a stretchier/lankier structure.

There's pros and cons to both.

For clarification - for me and whomever else you what you are talking about is still topping them (removing the top of a limb where a cola would form) but it's where you top them and when right?

My understanding is that a mainline is where you top at the first good set of shoots and only keep two. Then top those two at the fery next node keeping the next two shoots (4), then those four for 8, etc. Meaning that the plant is not feeding any secondary shoots, just the ones you have selected.

So mainlining to get 4 tops, versus just topping and leaving 4 limbs is what you are talking about right?

 

[H.A.F.]

I have done both, and since I only keep 4 tops I use the topping method because it is quicker to get flip-ready, and I don't care if there are some runty limbs. You can see that on some of my older ones. Node 3 produced a runty limb or two, then node 4 rocks. It would be better to keep nodes 4 and 5, but that takes an extra week and isn't worth the time trade-off for me. If I want to take another week I will go the main-line route instead of topping.

 

[H.A.F.]

Back to the seedling thing. I like to refine processes, and this actually might work better, I just need to switch back to one board earlier.

With two from the start I had no stretchy plants that needed support. I did have a few leaners that may have been avoiding the light - or they were just top heavy. It helped keep the temp up as well for the first few days of dome time.

These are just over 2 weeks old, so the next run I'll start with both boards again, then drop one after a week and see what happens.

 

[MtRainDog]

For clarification - for me and whomever else you what you are talking about is still topping them (removing the top of a limb where a cola would form) but it's where you top them and when right?

My understanding is that a mainline is where you top at the first good set of shoots and only keep two. Then top those two at the fery next node keeping the next two shoots (4), then those four for 8, etc. Meaning that the plant is not feeding any secondary shoots, just the ones you have selected.

So mainlining to get 4 tops, versus just topping and leaving 4 limbs is what you are talking about right?

Yep, we're on the same page about topping/mainlining. I've done both, I see them both as valuable tools depending on what the current time/space constraints are.

 

[Streetpro09]

Yep, we're on the same page about topping/mainlining. I've done both, I see them both as valuable tools depending on what the current time/space constraints are.

Thanks for helping clarify the differences in my head. I'll definitely keep all this in mind.

 

[H.A.F.]

Thanks for helping clarify the differences in my head. I'll definitely keep all this in mind.

I'm definitely a visual learner. I am going to do a big drop and pheno hunt shortly - not for breeding, just because I want a lot of one pheno and have an outlet for the other. I may play around with a few of these seedlings to get back in the groove and mainline that crop.

For mainlining it is best to keep the shoots from node 4 (first true leaves) because they aren't as likely to have a runty limb side of the plant.

 

[Old ST1R]

I'm definitely a visual learner. I am going to do a big drop and pheno hunt shortly - not for breeding, just because I want a lot of one pheno and have an outlet for the other. I may play around with a few of these seedlings to get back in the groove and mainline that crop.

For mainlining it is best to keep the shoots from node 4 (first true leaves) because they aren't as likely to have a runty limb side of the plant.

My mainlines come from the shoots at the third node, topped when there are 5 sets of leaves, working on the sixth. I’ll have to check for this “runtyness” you speak of.

 

[H.A.F.]

My mainlines come from the shoots at the third node, topped when there are 5 sets of leaves, working on the sixth. I’ll have to check for this “runtyness” you speak of.

I'll take pics when the lights come on. I have been doing roughly the same thing for a few years now with the same results. It depends on strain, but if you are going to have less than stellar tops they will come from the earlier nodes.

So I am not confusing anyone, I count everything. if it's on the plant it counts. So the initial cotyledon is node 1, the single blade seed-leaves or first actual foliage are node two, the three-toed leaves are node three etc.

Some strains put out shoots at node two. and node three is strong. On most I have run the 3-toed node has a 50/50 shot of having two even shoots.

 

[H.A.F.]

Those from node three are also just as likely to not have a good set of shoots on their first node. I think it's just plant maturity. It all grows.

 

[H.A.F.]

@Old ST1R
Here's what I meant about runty tops. really evident on the stretchy plants.

But also on most of the other seed plants. The two that are level are the 3HD x LBF. I think I kept node 4 and 5 on them.

 

[H.A.F.]

I was going to let the 3hd x lbf veg longer but they took off, and the last one was a monster.

 

[H.A.F.]

Hard to see from the other pic, but they are all getting some height to them except the Croq, but I think it is also flowering slower. No fuzzy tops like the others.
Everything has a stake and a support going to each limb somewhere below the first set of nodes I kept.

On this Blueberry Freeze, she was perfectly vertical and crowding herself, so the wires are actually spreading the limbs. You can aso see relative to the plant where all my nugs will be. No need to worry about larf or light penetration. Any shoot that was big enough to be a good clone is gone. along with any smaller ones they were paired with if they weren't all long. Being OCD, if I take them off of one side, I immediately spin the plant and take them from the other side.

 

[H.A.F.]

Since I am not too worried about height with the one month veg, I haven't been training them much at all to start. this is the first wires to touch most of them

 

[H.A.F.]

Everything but the Croq is in the 2' range.


And if the height actually has any relation to male/female within a strain, I may have a Homecoming Queen female [unicorn].
The three on the right are either different sex, or there's a runty male