Mainline/topping question

indominatto

indominatto

Member
Hi, I'm running my first indoor grow and I'm trying different techniques to see what gives me better results: LST, only topping and mainline.
They are on day 19 since germination and I think they are growing very well.
My question about mailining is where and when to top, I read I should top on 3rd node when the 6th shows, but on my plant the second node seems better developed, can I top on the most developed node, or its important to still top on the 3rd?
My plant is on the 5th node so I think I should waitat least 3 days more.
Can any expert give some support about this topic? Also any opinion in general about the grow. I think the plants are developing fast and nice except one that geminated too slow and with the first leaves too compacted, I think its bad genetics but i'm giving a chance of survival.

IMG_20201102_201250.jpg
IMG_20201102_202940.jpg
 
HydroKid239

HydroKid239

Well-Known Member
I'm not experienced with mainlining myself, but I have read a ton and can't wait til this seedling I have gets there so I can try it out.
From what I read you are right, wait for 6 nodes and chop in half basically leaving you with 3 nodes.
Leave a nice size stump where you top to prevent the stalk from splitting on you later on.
Strip the bottom 2 nodes (Or you can leave them and make clones when they are big enough)
Then tie the 2 new tops down dipping just below the fan leaf stem under it.
Then you top evenly on both sides twice.
That gives you 8 colas. You can keep topping as long as you keep it even on both sides she should be sexy in a few weeks.


If I'm off on any of it I will surely get called out, but just don't shoot me guys lol WHen I say I read up on it... I mean I read for a couple of days.. 2+ hours a day. Not including instructional step by step video's.
 
Rurumo

Rurumo

Well-Known Member
Nice plant, and technically you could top at either the second or third node and be fine, but if you compare the fan leaves on your second and third node you'll see how much bigger they are on the third, so people usually go with the third node just because the plant recovers a bit faster. The end result will be the same though.
 
GrassBurner

GrassBurner

Well-Known Member
Ive done 7 plants now in 2 different grows, 2nd and 3rs grow ever, so I'm far from an expert. But I love it for control of plant shape, canopy height, and uniformity.
The first time I topped at the 4th node, after plants all had their 6th/7th nodes. My plants were in some inadequate soil and suffered, and the first 3 nodes of leaves all showed varying levels of damage. 4th node was the first set of good healthy leaves, so thats where I topped. I was advised, correctly, that my next splits might not be mirror images. They were a little wonky, but I still got 8 healthy tops. I didn't spend enough time training. Initially I had an even canopy, but running 2 different strains in the flower cabinet required more time that I wasn't able to give. The first time, I followed the guide to the T, and stripped everything below my topped nodes. Plants recovered quicker than I thought they would.
This time, I chopped at the 3rd node, but I waited until the plants had 8 nodes. I needed to slow my plants down until the flower cabinet was open. I also didn't strip any leaves off at this time. I then let my new tops grow a couple nodes before I topped them again. When I did the second topping, this is when I stripped the leaves that would have been taken with the initial topping. I kept a lot more leaves this time around, mainly just cleaning up the manifold area. Im getting ready to flip these into flower, and I'm hoping as they stretch, I can train them with cages I have made. I believe each stem will be far enough away to only require a very light defoliation to keep mold or mildew away.
I would top at the 3rd node, and leave plenty of stem above the node. I cut as close to the 4th node as possible.
 
MedMj420

MedMj420

New Member
indominatto said:
Hi, I'm running my first indoor grow and I'm trying different techniques to see what gives me better results: LST, only topping and mainline.
They are on day 19 since germination and I think they are growing very well.
My question about mailining is where and when to top, I read I should top on 3rd node when the 6th shows, but on my plant the second node seems better developed, can I top on the most developed node, or its important to still top on the 3rd?
My plant is on the 5th node so I think I should waitat least 3 days more.
Can any expert give some support about this topic? Also any opinion in general about the grow. I think the plants are developing fast and nice except one that geminated too slow and with the first leaves too compacted, I think its bad genetics but i'm giving a chance of survival.

View attachment 4732048
View attachment 4732070
Click to expand...
What's with the 7up bottle looks like a die humidifier?
 
indominatto

indominatto

Member
HydroKid239 said:
I'm not experienced with mainlining myself, but I have read a ton and can't wait til this seedling I have gets there so I can try it out.
From what I read you are right, wait for 6 nodes and chop in half basically leaving you with 3 nodes.
Leave a nice size stump where you top to prevent the stalk from splitting on you later on.
Strip the bottom 2 nodes (Or you can leave them and make clones when they are big enough)
Then tie the 2 new tops down dipping just below the fan leaf stem under it.
Then you top evenly on both sides twice.
That gives you 8 colas. You can keep topping as long as you keep it even on both sides she should be sexy in a few weeks.


If I'm off on any of it I will surely get called out, but just don't shoot me guys lol WHen I say I read up on it... I mean I read for a couple of days.. 2+ hours a day. Not including instructional step by step video's.
Click to expand...
Rurumo said:
Nice plant, and technically you could top at either the second or third node and be fine, but if you compare the fan leaves on your second and third node you'll see how much bigger they are on the third, so people usually go with the third node just because the plant recovers a bit faster. The end result will be the same though.
Click to expand...
GrassBurner said:
Ive done 7 plants now in 2 different grows, 2nd and 3rs grow ever, so I'm far from an expert. But I love it for control of plant shape, canopy height, and uniformity.
The first time I topped at the 4th node, after plants all had their 6th/7th nodes. My plants were in some inadequate soil and suffered, and the first 3 nodes of leaves all showed varying levels of damage. 4th node was the first set of good healthy leaves, so thats where I topped. I was advised, correctly, that my next splits might not be mirror images. They were a little wonky, but I still got 8 healthy tops. I didn't spend enough time training. Initially I had an even canopy, but running 2 different strains in the flower cabinet required more time that I wasn't able to give. The first time, I followed the guide to the T, and stripped everything below my topped nodes. Plants recovered quicker than I thought they would.
This time, I chopped at the 3rd node, but I waited until the plants had 8 nodes. I needed to slow my plants down until the flower cabinet was open. I also didn't strip any leaves off at this time. I then let my new tops grow a couple nodes before I topped them again. When I did the second topping, this is when I stripped the leaves that would have been taken with the initial topping. I kept a lot more leaves this time around, mainly just cleaning up the manifold area. Im getting ready to flip these into flower, and I'm hoping as they stretch, I can train them with cages I have made. I believe each stem will be far enough away to only require a very light defoliation to keep mold or mildew away.
I would top at the 3rd node, and leave plenty of stem above the node. I cut as close to the 4th node as possible.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the comments!! I'll wait at least 3 days more untill topping it. I will try different methods on them to learn on my first grow.
 
indominatto

indominatto

Member
Lagged said:
Don't count the first single blade leaves when counting your nodes, it will stunt your plant. Right now that first picture has 4 nodes growing the 5th out the center. Wait until you have 6 nodes with the 7th just peaking out of the middle. Check my thread I experimented with this: https://www.rollitup.org/t/experiments-with-mainlining.1035827/
Click to expand...
Thanks, so i'll have to wait more than 3 days, I'll let the nodes grow more before topping.
 
P

peperonia

Well-Known Member
im same still new to growing and wanted to tey mainline, this my 3rd round and i started with some experiments...using pineapple Express, since they were the strongest clones. did one mainline from 6th to 2nd, got 4 main colas, its not much but i dont want it to go too crazy so i kept it to 4 colas. i did one just lst and one i pinched and bent on main stem.in this pic bottom row middle is main line.top row 1st on left is pinched and lst, next to it is lst as are the rest since they were a little weaker. also just flipped, under bloom plus bp150020201022_224603.jpg
 
P

peperonia

Well-Known Member
20201101_183228.jpg
flipped 3 days ago, gave away one and my homie just gave me a sour diesel so lst it to be same level with others. 3rd day since flip, 2nd for sour diesel
 
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