Good Pick @Gpaw!
I was channeling my inner Ubermensch for a moment there. LoL
I’m all better now! 
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011621
Moving right along, Phase 3 training is complete now. Any nodes facing downward have been removed and the large fan leaves from the vertical nodes are trimmed if they get in the way. We’re no longer pruning or topping. We’ll do a heavy defoliation before switching to flower, and a more modest one at the end of the flowering stretch. After that it should be smooth sailing to harvest day.
The intended structure is in place and we’re ready to Veg like there’s no tomorrow. But before moving on let’s talk about this mysterious structure I’ve been alluding to. Here’s a diagram of our goalpost (reproduced with permission):
There is an inevitable tradeoff between the total number of bud sites and the total yield upon harvest. Those ginormous Donkey Dong Colas are magnificent to behold but, I humbly submit, the total yield is often sacrificed to produce them. TBH, it may come down to Grower Preference like so many other aspects of this Craft we pursue. This technique emphasizes yield at the expense of those unarguably gorgeous BudPorn pics that you rascally manifolding lollypoppers post. LoL. Different Stokes, all good, one love… 
In Any Event, if you count the Green Dots indicating bud sites, including each of the vertical branches, you should find 44 in total. Done right, this method creates at least 44 bud sites based on the training geometry. As the plant grows out during the flowering stretch, a few more will develop. We have found that somewhere between “The Fab 44” and sixty total to be optimal. It may not look it yet, but that is the structure you are seeing as this grow unfolds. We will get a few more bud sites during the flowering stretch but after about 60 bud sites the overall yield declines.
To push this method to the limit, I will be adding a SCROG screen to spread the canopy wide and even. That step isn’t part of The Method but since I’m only growing one plant I thought it might be fun to try.
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That puts everything into clear focus now!
Do you need to apply much training to the 4 vertical branches to keep them from dominating the ‘green dot’ bud sites? or will that be sorted with the SCROG net?
Cheers
G
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Thanks for the illustrated photo much easier to understand. Definitely can see the advantage in doing that.
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Good question @Gpaw,
The vertical branches are a judgement call. Some plants have a real “Donut Hole” in the middle after topping, but in others the plant fills in so well that the vertical nodes are a little redundant and have no place to go. It’s almost impossible to keep them under the screen.
Next time round I may just top them after the first node so they branch out lower. Or just prune them entirely if they aren’t serving a purpose.
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One other benefit to multiple smaller buds vs one donkey dong… Bud rot. Those monster buds are so much more at risk just from their sheer density, if your RH is off, you could lose it. Spreading the buds out to more sites mitigates that density while maintaining or increasing weight…
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011821 Disaster Strikes.
This plant is nicely structured but much smaller than I’d like due to poor environmental conditions. Winter in Cape Cod is no joke and my shabby little basement grow room is frigging cold and dry. We were out of town for the day and then: First, the power went out and the heater wasn’t on the emergency generator subpanel (who knew?), so the room went stone cold. Then the humidifier died and the RH dropped pushing the Vapor Pressure Deficit well out of the happy zone for a vegging plant. Transpiration and growth stopped entirely and I had a very sad Girl on my hands.
I got it under control after a couple of days, but dammitall! It should be smooth sailing from here, but the damage was already done.
“When things (in the vegetable world) have displayed their luxuriant growth, we see each of them return to its root. This returning to their root is what we call the state of stillness…”
-Tao Te Ching
Here’s our Widow approaching “The State of Stillness!”
She may not look it in this picture, but this little girl already has the muscular shoulders that will support a whole bunch of that subtle White Widow medicine. She probably won’t reach full potential due to my environmental fail, but I trust the Structure to prevail.
The screen and perforated pot edge are gradually replacing the garden stakes as LST anchors as we guide the branches outward below the screen.
Here’s a link if anyone is interested in this type of SCROG screen.
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Good luck to your grouchy old man so if you don’t mind I’ll hang around I use the same style metal screen for my scrog net
chair pulled up joint rolled watching
I love the purple
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Glad to have you along Paps! I have long admired your work.
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012121
Side view, bushy despite almost freezing to death! Roots, growth tips and leaves all in balance. The LST tie-downs are migrating to the edge of the pot which has already been drilled along the entire rim. Between that and the screen (and a little branch pinch here and there!), I can put every branch where it belongs.
Look closely at the “Shoulders” of the NS mainline branches. They are almost as thick as the primary stalk below. That’s the circulatory system for our plant and it is robust. That’s where we have applied the energy instead of the lower story of nodes & leaves. Less Stores and more Sinks places demands on the roots & branches, and they bulk up in response.
The root system in these large pots is basically unlimited as they won’t approach rootbound in their lifespan. I am still watering as needed with pH & Cal/Mag only and letting the soil provide nutrients. If I see a deficiency I’ll adapt, but otherwise she won’t get fed till the flowering stretch is about done.
012621
Approaching eight weeks now growth has returned. The pre-flowering defoliation has taken place and the lights flip to 12/12 next day or so. As the flowering stretch begins, I will be lowering the light and cranking up the dimmer to target a DLI averaging 35-40 over the growth area. I have read that cannabis can tolerate up to 60 DLI in natural sunlight conditions but in my experience LED lights cause serious leaf burn at that intensity.
Once again, we reset the balance between roots and new growth. The emerging leaves will kick into gear and unfold like the little solar panels they are. Those who aren’t familiar with targeted defoliation are always surprised at the rapidity that newly emerged leaves unfold and begin doing their job with a vengeance. In a week or so she’ll be fully recovered and then some.
The total number of viable budsites is over 50 now and all of them should be capable of developing into hand-sized buds. The contorted LST in this picture results from trying to train the four vertical branches which really have nowhere sensible to go because the screen is already congested. I’m not sure that trying to “fill the donut hole was worth it.” Next run, maybe just put them in the nearest screen hole early on and let them go full vertical? Hmm, two photogenic colas towering above the flowering canopy? That’s a thought worth considering!
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I want to thank you for this. I had never heard of DLI prior to your post. I have a powerful LED, Spyder Farm SE4000 450w. It is in a 3x3 tent. I have long thought I I was using too much light, but I didnt know how/what to target. Your post sent me down the DLI learning path. Understanding DLI really helped me wrap my head around this.
I think my LED height of 18" is fine, but I need a few less hours of daylight to satisfy 45-50. I will increase my night cycle from 5 hrs to 8 hours. At 16 hrs a day I can hit a DLI of 49 without lowering the light or increasing intensity.
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I’m glad to be of help @MrWizard. That IS one gnarly light you have and managing it should improve your results.
Not sure what you are using for a light meter, but If you haven’t done so already, check out the Photone app for your phone. It allows you to input the number of light hours and reads out DLI directly wherever you position it around the plant.
It also displays PPFD, and when I compared its readings with the PPFD map provided by Viparspectra it was spot on!
Great resource for free!
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Bodacious Buds @Gpaw!
Are they purple in natural light?
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No, regular old Pineapple Chunk, it was before all of the really neat purples and pinks started showing up… It would display some ‘fall colors’ if the temperatures were right.
It is a good plant to practice training techniques on though.
Cheers
G
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I use the Photone app for measuring ppfd but I have yet to see a DLI totalized in it. Where do I see that? Maybe I have a different version, mine is v0.2.5 beta
Great app though. The readings do closely correlate to the ppfd map that Spyder Farms published…
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I don’t know what version I’m using(?) but right under the PPFD reading on the “PAR Meter” are the four dots that change between PPFD, modes. DLI is the second dot from the right, foot candles are next.
Make sense? if not, DM me and we’ll compare notes.
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Awesome, thank you, found it!
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Pulling up a chair
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021621
Complete recovery from the pre-flower defol and new growth is headed for the holes in the screen. The flowering stretch is in progress and budsites are emerging above the screen in their final position. We are still tucking when a new growth tip is about three inches long, enough to comfortably reach a new sector of the grid.
The lower fan leaves were left as energy stores since they aren’t shading any bud sites. We’re done with defoliation now and will only bend leaves that are shading flowering buds.
022721
The Flowering Stretch is my personal favorite phase of a grow. Everything is in alignment (hopefully); the pistils are waving in the breeze; the fecund calyxes are swelling and those solar panel fan leaves are all some flavor of iridescent green!
That deep nasal passage fullness of cannabis perfume is rising from the grow room day by day until it is impossible to ignore it. My Saintly Spouse is sniping in a friendly but persistent way that “I am stinking up the whole damned house!” She’s completely right and I couldn’t be happier!
Looks like I’m close to my target as far as the structure goes, but I could have improved. Besides freezing the poor Widow, I broke a major branch off clean during training (SE-3 for those of you following along). And for some reason, the apical growth tips on the two N/S mainlines stopped stretching prematurely.
Everyone loves flowering cannabis…. Until something goes awry. And flowering, as every grower knows, is when things usually do go awry. But so far all is well and the blooms are blooming. So it goes.
Here’s a first dose of eye candy:
All Hail The New Born Bud!
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