Mainlining cannabis, also called manifolding, is a cannabis growing technique that creates a “manifoldâon” cannabis seedlings to encourage the development of several uniform colas, rather than one main cola in the middle. Building a manifold on your cannabis seedlings can provide you with 4, 8, 16 or more colas instead of one, all full of beautiful buds. The best part, it is fairly simple to do, easy to maintain and significantly maximizes your yield.
Once you know how to create a manifold and train your plants to do what you want them to, this technique is very straightforward and anyone can do it. It is a valuable bud-boosting technique to new and experienced growers alike, and you can do it in minutes.
How to Manifold Your Cannabis PlantsÂ
It’s easy to manifold your cannabis plants and all you need are a good pair of sharp, sterile scissors and some plant ties. Once you start producing multiple colas heavy with buds you may need a way to hold up your bountiful branches so they don’t fall under their own weight.Â
1) Start with a seedling grown from quality seeds.
To manifold your marijuana plants, you should use seedlings and not clones so it is important to grow seedlings from high-quality seeds. Wait until your seedlings have between 5 to 8 nodes. (nodes grow directly across from each other and is where the leaf or branch separates from the main stem). You don’t want to wait any longer to mainline your plants as it will just be a waste of time. Never begin to mainline a plant that has started flowering.
2) Top off your plant and remove additional growth below the 3rd node.Â
Cut off the main stem of your plant right above the 3rd node with a sterile pair of sharp scissors in a clean, straight cut.Leave at least 5 cm between the lateral branches and your cut to prevent the stalk from splitting which can cause damage and disease.
Remove additional vegetation and growth beneath the 3rd node. Your plant should have a Y-shape with two large fan leaves branching out from the top. By removing excess vegetation, we are directing nutrients to the two branches and the main stem for even distribution of nutrients to the buds.
3) Gently tie down your two main shoots.
Now that your main two shoots are prepared, you should gently tie them down to the sides of your container, parallel to the ground. Be careful as young cannabis plants are quite fragile and you do not want to snap new growths.
Now that your manifold system is created, the roots will direct essential nutrients and resources to the two main shoots off the 3rd node. You can continue to create more colas, up to eight is a good, manageable number, to maximize your yield.
The Benefits of Mainlining Cannabis
The greatest benefit of mainlining your cannabis plants is that it produces significantly bigger yields. Another benefit of this technique is that it produces colas grown in similar height with dense clusters of buds grown tightly together. Manifolding creates more A-grade buds and reduces the “popcorn” B-grade buds while also preventing your chances of bud rot.
Additional benefits are that manifolding is easy to implement, you only need to do it once and is adoptable to indoor or outdoor growing. By training your plants with manifolding, you can maximize your grow space and grow several plants even in limited space.
When to Not Manifold Your Plants
You do not want to manifold auto flowering seed strains as these cannabis plants should be allowed to grow naturally. You do not want to mainline your cannabis plants unless you have powerful grow lights. Small grow lights like CFOs or fluorescent with poor penetration do not work well when manifolding and could even harm your yields.
Mainlining cannabis plants is easy to do and helps your beautiful marijuana plants to reach their full potential.
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