I am getting a lot of requests to put a formal "main-lining" thread together to make it easier for ya'll to access, and reference....so here goes......
"Main-Lining"
definition. a form of training and managing canopy for cannabis.....to build a "hub" off of a
single node creating a "manifold" for equal energy distribution from the root mass to the growing tops.
....it really is that simple....i am sure it has been done before, and a lot of folks do it, and probably even has a name, but I just call it "main-lining".....my theory being, on a plant from seed, if
all branches came off of the same node on the trunk, they should all get the same amount of hormones and nutrients ...or energy, from the root mass.....like building a "hub"........make sense? I am all about an even canopy, of very similar sized stems, and colas.....like green lady soldiers lined up ready to kick ass and take names......no weak ones, no runts, no spindly ones.....just all solid and consistant......
.......so if they all come off the main stem, like spokes on a wheel, they should all be pretty much the same.....right?
....i started growing in a closet.....it was a 32" by 32" by 48" (tall)......and i was determined not to out grow my space.....i would grow 4 plants in 3 gal. nursery pots under a single 400 watt HPS......i learned very quickly that if i wanted to end up with something smokable, i had to learn bonzai techniques in a hurry to manage my heights......so i started in with LST (low stress training), and managed a very, very modest harvest my first few attempts.......as each run progressed, i would find myself getting really anal about properly managing my 32" x32" canopy where i would jam up to 48 colas in my tiny space, and strive to make the canopy as flat as possible......
…...... i began to reap some pretty respectable harvests.......of course i would be topping the main, and spreading out the footprint of each plant, but my finished colas were not very consistant overall as far as size and weight were concerned.....and i would still end up with a fair amount of "larfy" popcorn bud from the understory, which was undesirable for me because i, and my newly found patients, were primarily flower smokers........so i dug deeper........and soon found myself in a slighty larger grow space, in a completely legal situation, allowing me to openly work on my developing theories.........
........my next grow i topped the main, and left two nodes off the main trunk, built my bonzai type structure, managed my canopy really well, but still noticed a huge difference in the energy output of the colas originating from the upper and lower node, even though they were separated by a mere inch on the trunk.....they were similar, but still varied quite a bit.......i did however end up with a decent canopy, and harvest.....i was getting closer......
.....then it hit me, that single inch on the trunk separating the two nodes was the key.....so my next grow, i decided to build the entire structure off of a single node....
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