Also check out “Mainline”. It’s a little different than a manifold.
@Zaphod420 - it's the same thing - one was built off the idea of another. The main thing is you sacrifice everything but 2 limbs, and it's best to wait for the two that come from the first 5-blade node..
The 'manifold' was describing the end shape of an 8-top that resembled an old V-8 engine exhaust. I did that exclusively for a bit to get bulk and start on my headstash.
There's a description and many pics earlier in this thread if you get bored, but the gist is that the initial topping breaks the apical dominance - no fat center cola. Most of the directions you'll find show how to have all your cola as tertiary limbs coming off the two secondary ones you kept. Like the ones in your picture.
That sucks. They do not end up even. The "lower" 4 limbs in your pic will have 2/3 the weightof theother 4, and will be shorter. It'll make a fat plant no doubt, but there's a better way.
Keep two opposing limbs like in the picture, but higher up so there's an actual trunk. He had a splitting problem because you get the opposing halves of the plant producing weight. It can split late in grow and you don't even notice until something odd happens up top. This was how I started topping them almost to the next node. By the time that piece of stem dries up and falls off there's a strong knuckle underneath instead of what he has.
He also kept limbs from either the seed-leaf node or the 3-toe node. They are un-even stem thickness. Better to wait. You can also bend the limbs down to pot level if needed to keep the height down and keep pinning them down laterally untill you get to the edge of the pot, or get the number of tops you want.
Instead of stretching those two limbs out, then keeping everything off of them, you top them after the first node for 4 limbs. Later you top those 4 for 8 tops. Each topping takes about a week of veg in between. Any questions don't hesitate, I'll talk you over the ledge
