DrJohns Mainline

Whats up RIU.
After reading about mainlining, I wanted to try for myself to see how I felt about it. So far, I have to say I have really enjoyed watching my plant grow this way. The symmetry of the growth makes it very hands free managing it. I am attempting to have only 8 colas this time around, and plan to try 16 next. But anyway, here's some photos thus far.

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The initial top.

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After second top.
I decided I didn't like the pot it was in and transplanted it to a plastic container. Don't think I'll be using ceramics anytime soon.

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Photos from tonight.

The plant is now a little over 6 weeks from sprout. Preflowers are beginning to show, and they are looking like female to me! I plan to transplant her in about 3 weeks to her final container, put up the tomato ring on her and throw her ass into flowering.


That's about all I got right now. Let me know what you think. all questions comments are welcome. Peace.
 
Quick Update!


The mainline has about a week before she will be thrown into flowering and she is already popping pistils. Trimmed the nodes that will all be below the ring as well as thinned some leaves out. I decided to place her on a temporary ring to spread her out a little bit because we are having some height issues. Haven't decided if I will place all shoots around the ring, or have two of them in the center. Here are some photos of her after everything was done.

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I plan to transplant to a 2 gallon container the day before the switch, and set up the final cage. I'll have a more extensive update when that time comes.

Peace!
 
Update!

So tomorrow the mainline goes into the flowering room. I'm not sure if I removed enough of the lower branches, but I figure it would just produce a little extra popcorn nugs if anything. I can't wait to see the huge colas that form!

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Some photos of the manifold


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Was thinking about whether these branches would produce anything worth keeping them on.


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I believe that this is the start of some nitrogen toxicity and it will only be fed plain water for the next couple watering until it starts to clear up a bit. Anybody else think otherwise?
 

rwbrock

Active Member
Looks good my man. What kind of soil are you using and what are you feeding. It does look pretty dark green. Your plant will use it up during stretch period but yeah plane water good call. I usually keep the lower growth until stretch is done two weeks into flower and then trim everything under ring. Your doing a great job so far!
 
Thanks a lot guys! I appreciate the help.

Have 4:1 ratio FFOF/ perlite for this grow, along with their line of nutes. Flushing grow big out as we speak, and I'm wanting to make some guano or worm castings tea for flower. I think in sold on organic growing something I plan to smoke.
 
Yes! All cannabis should be grown organically as it is typically always consumed/ingested in one way or another. Man , i love organics and will never buy a bottled nutrient again, be it synthetic or organically derived. My worm castings i believe are very high powered and make the difference. I could talk organics all day, man...
 
I agree completely! Plus I know exactly what my plant is getting, and not just guessing.
Are you making teas or just amending the soil?
You don't happen to have any really good books, or articles about organically that helped you out, do you?
 
Well i have been into organics for some time but after following The Rev through his articles in Skunk magazine, i have really been turned on to LIVING organics. I also have his book, True Living Organics. I have taken his teachings and applied my own style and ideas. It really is all about creating a healthy soil and maintaining a microbial poplulation within it. The main weapon in doing this is (vermi)composting/recycling. I am excited that i will never have to buy another bag of soil again. The TLO book is the only marijauna specific book that i have read. Most of my research has been done on organic farming/gardening and composting practices in general which i have applied to growing cannabis. Here is a great resource for free downloadable versions of some good organic reads:
http://www.soilandhealth.org/01aglibrary/01aglibwelcome.html
 
We currently have a compost going for our garden, I'm excited to have all of that up a working.
Im trying to find the TLO book in PDF but no luck. I read an excerpt and it sounds like a nice read!
Sweet. I'll definitely check this site out too. Thanks man!
 
Started my first tea last night. Didn't have any castings, so I did without. I plan to aerate 48-72 hours. Just waiting for the plant to need the water.
My recipe is as follows:
~1.25 gallons water
~1.5oz Jamaican bat guano
~1/2 tsp liquid kelp
~1/4 tap molasses
1/2 tsp bone meal powder
small handful of both alfalfa and oats
small handful of FFOF


I was aiming for a more fungal tea, but I wasn't able to create a substrate before hand. I added the FFOF, for diversity and to hope add more surface for the fungi to attach to. Originally I was going to feed it full strength,but I think I will use equal parts water to tea this time to judge its reaction, and thinking to foliar feed 10:1 water/tea as well this.
 
Good of luck with your mainline Dannk!

@NOE, I have seen successful results from clones. I read that the clones nodal spacing tends to be a bit more asymmetrical that from seed, but you'll be fine!

You'll have to post pics of the progress for me to see.
 
Update!

Its been a few weeks since I had some time to take some more photos of the pretty little lady, but I finally got around to it last night. Along with photos, i measured her canopy width, and height after 2 weeks of stretching. She is standing at around 33 inches tall, and about 24-26 inches across the canopy. I also did my final trimming on her, and decided to remove the longer branches towards the bottom were stretching up towards the light. I figured if anything, they would produce a little popcorn bud, but I really wanted to focus on the dense Top colas. Anyways, heres what we are all here to see. :D

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Had to stand on a chair just to get all of her in the photo.

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Bearing it all.

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She still looks a little dark to me...

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Im guessing she will hit 3 feet before shes done.


So I am thinking that I still have a slight Nitrogen toxicity, but I have been feeding it strictly water for the past 2 weeks or so now, other than that compost tea that I brewed. I just wouldnt imagine it would take this long to clear up... Anyways. Shes starting flowering about 7 days into 12/12, unlike our first plant which took about 2 weeks to start. She is really moving along quite nicely, which makes me think she will produce some nice flowers for us. :D
I plan to start inocculating some compost here in the next days so I can begin brewing a nice fungal tea, and hopefully she will love it.




Anyways, thats what I got for you guys today. Peace. Love. and smoke it up.
Dr. John.
 
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