Many cannabis farmers want dependable methods to boost their plants’ productivity and efficiency. Mainlining is a cannabis cultivation technique that increases productivity. This article will explain everything you need to know about this approach, including a step-by-step procedure, and answer many of your frequently asked questions.
Mainlining Marijuana Plants
The Benefits of Mainlining Cannabis
Key Terms to Know
How to Mainline: Step by Step
- Grow the seedling
- Top the plant
- Trim undergrowth below 3rd node
- Tie the shoots
- Wait for growth
- Top again
- Tie again
- Repeat steps 6-7 until the desired manifold is created
Other methods that increase yield
The purpose of manifolding is to generate a symmetrical plant that encourages equal energy and nutrient distribution. Cannabis farmers can utilize this strategy to boost cannabis productivity in a cost-effective and user-friendly manner.
By folding and bending the stems, growers can prevent the plant from forming a single bud cluster surrounded by lesser flowers and instead promote the development of many evenly sized bud clusters.
The Benefits of Mainlining Cannabis
The most significant advantage of mainlining is that it produces higher yields. This method also makes better, more efficient use of light, minimizes the likelihood of bud rot, and reduces “popcorn” or larf buds. These buds consume plant energy and nutrients but do not produce harvestable cannabis. If they do produce, it is usually in small quantities.
This approach also encourages the growth of colas that reach the same height. Colas are thick clusters of buds that grow together nearby. An even canopy is significant since it allows for more efficient light usage and requires less maintenance. Once the first training is complete, relatively little care is needed to keep the plant growing in this pattern for the rest of its life.
Key Terms to Know
Growers disagree on how to distinguish between manifolding cannabis and mainlining marijuana. According to i49, the names can be used identically. Others claim that manifolds are topped twice and mainline three times. Others argue that mainlining refers to the growth technique, while the manifold relates to the physical structure that farmers seek to construct using the process.
Fluxing, like manifolding, is a term that is frequently used interchangeably. There is, however, a subtle yet significant difference between these two methods.
While cannabis manifolding generates symmetry, which encourages even distribution of growth, energy, and nutrients, cannabis fluxing is utilized to ‘fill in’ narrow or irregularly shaped spaces. The goal of the manifold is for all colas to be the same size. When fluxing cannabis, this is not the purpose.
How to Mainline: A Step-by-Step Guide
It is advised that you have a plant, sterilized scissor or plant shears, and soft plant ties on hand for mainlining marijuana plants. This procedure works best with seedlings rather than clones, so start with cheap cannabis seeds.
- Grow the seedling
Mainlining can commence once the seedling has produced 5-6 nodes. Nodes develop immediately across from one another. This is when the leaf or branch splits from the main stem.
Waiting until at least 5-6 nodes have formed ensures that the plant is hardy enough to begin topping and that the cannabis plant has adequate air circulation. You can start after this point, but the longer you wait, the more time and energy you will squander. Never begin consuming cannabis from a plant that has already started to blossom.
- Top the plant
After you’ve developed the foundation plant, it’s time to top it. Clip the main stem above the 3rd node with a clean, straight across cut using a sharp and sterile pair of scissors or gardening cutters.
Make sure you leave at least 5 centimeters between your cut and the lateral branches. This will keep the stalk from splitting in the future. Stalk splitting harms the plant and increases the risk of disease transmission. Remove the top growth for subsequent cloning or discard. You should now have one main stem and two branches immediately across from one other.
- Trim undergrowth below 3rd node
Following that, we must limit the plant’s energy output to the two branches of the third node, which will constitute the manifold’s main structure.’ Remove all plants from the area beneath the third node.
This will deprive the plant of all other energy sources, leaving it with a naked main stem and the two branches of the third node. The plant can now distribute all energy and nutrients to the buds swiftly and evenly.
- Tie the shoots
When the new branches are strong enough, gently knot them together to form a 90-degree angle. This instructs the plant shoots to grow horizontally to include the manifold. It allows the plant to heal or increase before tying the shoots down for a few days.
If you don’t have plant-specific tie material, use a tie or wire that won’t break or cut through your plant. One option is to use coat hangers or pipe cleaners, but avoid using fragile wire or string.
- Wait for growth
Allow your plant to grow over several weeks. During this moment, each stalk will grow and form new nodes. Some growers wait until each man has grown three to four new nodes before topping; others finish the process as soon as they notice new growth tips.
- Top again
Choose a new group of nodes on each primary to top. The nodes chosen must be in the exact location on both sides of the two mains and have symmetrical nodes (directly across).
This helps produce numerous cannabis plants and ensures that nutrients are distributed efficiently and evenly throughout the plant. Choose nodes that have similar growth on both sides if at all possible. Remove all growth tips below once each plant side has been topped above the selected nodes.
Some growers prefer to remove all fan leaves, while others like to keep them since they help with energy. In either case, you should order four main courses or four colas.
- Tie again
Once the new mains are long enough, tie them down as you did in the previous steps.
- Repeat steps 6-7 until the desired manifold is created
Each time you top the plant, you will double the number of colas or mains the plant has. Most indoor growers end at eight colas. On the other hand, outdoor growers can produce up to 32 colas while still producing high-quality cannabis.
The more colas you have, the more the plant’s energy is spread throughout the buds, resulting in lower grade weed. That is why, if you want the most colas, you should cultivate your plants outside. Once the plant shape is complete, the ties can be removed.
Now that the manifold has been constructed, you may cultivate your plant. If you observe one cola growing taller than the rest, gently pull or bend it down and away from the plant’s core, using a soft knot. This helps to guarantee that the plant’s canopy is even.
Other methods that increase yield
Another approach used by many growers to boost crop production is super-cropping. This is considerably different from manifolding and is undoubtedly one of the most popular growing techniques.
Aside from technique, farmers can employ tactics such as enhancing light intensity, giving the optimal balance of plant nutrients, managing temperature and humidity, and harvesting during the proper window.