I’ve been researching pruning a lot and this is one of the best videos I have seen.
To a point… I prune mine more for airflow and humidity maintenance than for yields. I always make sure there’s fan leaves left on each branch, just not a ton of them that are in the shade and are thereby not really helping much.
5 Likes
I think I liked this video because I didn’t know really why we pruned beyond shaping the plant. It was a good explanation of sugars and where they are going and how we can manipulate that. Anyways, I have been watching videos and reading stuff all day, I think I am going to go with mainlining. Have you had any experience with that technique?
3 Likes
Since I’ve only done this first grow, the most I’ve done is FIM’ing, But I’ve looked at mainlining, and it looks incredibly efficient for yield, but it’s out of my skillset at this time lol.
2 Likes
I’m just starting my second grow and I am sure I am exceeding my skills set also LOL. I just really want to try something drastic and hopefully have awesome results. The more I read up on it the better I feel about it. I really liked this tutorial I read, included this photo
2 Likes
I liked this one:
3 Likes
Yup I read it. That’s gonna be my go to during this grow. Just added plant ties to my amazon list lol.
1 Like
Interesting idea. This is the first Ive heard of mainlining - well, this kind anyway 
That seems like a relatively stressful way to train though to get just 8 main stems.
I do it differently - with just FIM’ing and LST training, and SCROG. I get a lot more than 8 stems and colas per plant, with a lot less stress on the plants. Here is a pic from my last hydro grow. I had three plants and somewhere around 60+ colas total. I ended up with about 20 stems/colas per plant, and most were of a similar size with maybe 1/4 of them significantly smaller.
On my first soil grow I did the same thing but stopped with only about 15 stems per plant on 4 plants - so roughly the same number of colas total.
In my tent - 28"x38" inside dimensions - thats about as full/crowded as it can handle. Harvest was just over one pound for three plants on the hydro grow and just under one pound for four plants on the soil grow. So, its the total number of colas - not plants - that determines total yield.
Its fairly simple. I start by FIM’ing at least twice, some times more. I FIM the main stem, then after it puts out new shoots, FIM those new shoots. I may do it one more time, or if a particular branch is growing much faster than the others.
That gives you at at least 8 to 12 stems just from the FIM’ing. At the same time, I am doing LST training - bend or tie the stems down so they are forced to grow sideways. They will send out new shoots from the nodes as they grow sideways. Bend those down so they also grow sideways and they will send out new shoots from every node too.
It doesnt take long to get 20± stems/colas per plant without having to do major, stressful cuts on stems. Its just a matter of how long you want to continue it and how full you want your space.
This is early in the scrog/veg stage. You can see Ive trimmed off a bunch of the really small side branches, and just left the larger ones.
This is close to harvest.
Im not saying mainlining is bad - it obviously works for those who do it. Im just saying you can get to the same place with less stress on the plant. You wont end up with all the colas the same size, but you can get a lot more colas - which can add up to more yield.
6 Likes
@anon32470837 First of all, WOW! What an awesome set up! Second, I was going to try the scrog method but my hydro set up won’t let me do that. I have to be able to take each of the buckets out and change the water every 1 to 2 weeks, so a screen would not work for me. It seemed to me like the mainline/manifold method would make it so that I could have more colas all at the same height and not have to have a screen. Hopefully it works for me. Say a prayer 
3 Likes
it’s a little more stressful then FIM’ing of course, but it’s designed so that every branch, every bud, gets the same nutrients… even distribution, that’s what puts it part. FIM’ing, or topping, etc… leads to alternating nodes, and an uneven distribution of nutrients from the roots. Not saying it’s better or worse than FIM’ing, just that the even distribution is what separates it from the rest.
2 Likes
I already suggest at least two ways you can get around that problem with a shop vac and some PVC pipe or rubber hose 
No matter what you do, if your plant decides to grow tall, or the colas get really heavy (you hope), you are going to need to support those colas one way or another - a net or yoyo’s or something. Anything you use to keep the taller colas from falling over is going to cause the same problem. By the time you are 1/2 way through flowering, your goign to have a heck of a time moving buckets or even just getting the lids loose.
Id really suggest you try to come up with an alternate way to drain/fill that doesnt require moving the entire bucket.
2 Likes
Thats an interesting theory. Im not sure I buy into it 100%, but it may be true.
It seems to me (no science here at all) the plant will send what ever nutes the individual parts need or ask for. I havent done any real testing of this (again, no science), but I feel like its more a matter of less light getting to the lower, smaller, or shaded branches that slows them down rather than the supply of nute being reduced by smaller stems.
Someone would have to do side by side tests with clones from the same mother to be sure.
For sure, it makes for nice symmetrical colas with nicer looking branching than my random jungle looking growth
2 Likes
Yeah, my last grow was a bitch towards the end lol. Idk, I’ll get a tomato cage or something for this grow and possibly look into a whole new hydro system around tax time. I don’t remember seeing your suggestion about hoses and pvc pipes but I’ll look around for ideas to either convert what I have or go with some other system entirely. One of the four plants in my last grow was 6 feet tall and was never really pruned so you can imagine how heavy and tipsy it was lol
God some of the colas I’ve seen with this method are like two or three feet long!!! Maybe I’ll do this to two of the plants and with the other two plants let them do whatever they want. I just really want to see if it works well for me
1 Like
A lot depends on which strain you’re growing. In my first grow, I chose Northern Lights and CBD Critical. Both are mostly indica and both grow relatively short - 2 or 3 ft - even if you dont train them.
My hydro grow was Blue Dream. Its a mostly sativa cross that grows to over 6 ft. My tent is only 48" tall, so I had to really train them to keep them from overwhelming the tent and growing into the lights - but it worked out fine in the end.
Are you growing an indica or sativa strain?
As far as how to drain/fill your setup - if you posted some pics that would help a lot.
IIRC, you are using HydroFarms? If so, are they the bucket-in-a-bucket deal with the air driven drip system, hydroton in the top bucket, nute water in the lower bucket?
If you have the square buckets, its easy to add a drain pipe near the bottom. Just run the pipe out to where you can reach it, then put an elbow on it so it sticks up higher than the water level. You can use a shop vac to drain the water. Just poor the new water back in the same pipe.
Or - if you raise the buckets up on a short platform or stand, you can add a cutoff valve, and just drain them from the pipe into another bucket or container sitting on the floor.
If you have the round buckets, its trickier to seal where a pipe enters the side wall because of the curved shape of the bucket. In that case, I would run a garden hose down from the top to the bottom of the lower bucket. Again, use a shop vac to drain/suck the water out, and just poor it back in from the top or through the hose.
Just measure every thing first so you know how much water to add back.
Total mods should cost under $20 for parts assuming you already have a wet/dry shop vac. If not, a 5 gallon model can be had for under $50 at Home Depot or cheaper on-line. Used ones are dirt cheap on Craigs List or hit some yard sales.
Another option is one of these aquarium drain pumps. They are dirt cheap, and work fairly well, but are a lot slower, and less convenient than a shop vac.
2 Likes
Ok thanks! I’m not exactly a visionary when it comes to adapting stuff that I’ve never worked with before. But I can totally see what you are talking about. This grow will have to remain the same for now, but for my next grow I think I should be able to look into a shop vac, unless maybe we already have one in the garage I don’t now. And yes I do have the square buckets and they already have a hose that’s detachable on the outside. I guess the only thing I would be concerned about for this idea would be the fact that I like to wash those buckets out every time I change the water. They can get kind of slimy on the inside.
1 Like
I’m doing this also mate
1 Like
Awesome, lemme know how it works out for u!
1 Like
2 Likes
Love this one I have had it saved into my favorites on YouTube!
3 Likes