A Grouchier Grow - LED 3Wx100 - Hempy - 9 Plants - 3 Strains - Lucas - Mainline

Camo420Grow said:
Wow they are looking gorgeous grouch! Great pics there, can't wait to see how they stretch in flower. How long is the total veg time gonna be for this technique ?
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Thanks, Camo!
The veg time will be about 7 weeks. If I did this again, I believe I could cut it down to 5 weeks. Mistakes were made this grow but I learned from them all and have a pretty good idea on how to train with Mainlining to minimize the veg time. I didn't expect this to be the fastest way my first time trying it. My next grow will be another Mainline (assuming this one goes well) so it will be fun. The stretch will probably make the plants too tall but ill train them down somehow to keep them 12" away which is where they've been literally the entire grow except the first 7 days. With 3W diodes, I think you can bring them down pretty close without burning them.
 
you're a master of training man ! those plants look amazing , i understand that u had little difficulties but i'm sure eventually u'll get some real amazing so many even low branches , great job really ! :thumb:
 
Katatonia said:
you're a master of training man ! those plants look amazing , i understand that u had little difficulties but i'm sure eventually u'll get some real amazing so many even low branches , great job really ! :thumb:
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Lol thanks man. Much appreciated. Very much appreciated
 
Grouchy said:
Thanks, Camo!
The veg time will be about 7 weeks. If I did this again, I believe I could cut it down to 5 weeks. Mistakes were made this grow but I learned from them all and have a pretty good idea on how to train with Mainlining to minimize the veg time. I didn't expect this to be the fastest way my first time trying it. My next grow will be another Mainline (assuming this one goes well) so it will be fun. The stretch will probably make the plants too tall but ill train them down somehow to keep them 12" away which is where they've been literally the entire grow except the first 7 days. With 3W diodes, I think you can bring them down pretty close without burning them.
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yeah that is a reason why I am still considering the Platinum LED cause the marshydro website says all products are 5w now. I was just curious on how long you were planning on vegging for reference in my mind when I grow.
 
Dude, Home Depot called any they want their pallet of aluminium tape back!! I'm so just messing with you!

Seriously -- love how you whipped these girls into shape. I'll be interested to see how that wide manifold works if your flowers get heavy.. Suppose you can just support if needed. They are looking very nice.

So you think you can get through veg-mainline in 5 weeks?! That's ambitious my friend! I'm not doubting your jedi skills one bit, but I was just thinking to myself I was hoping for 6 weeks veg next time w/mainlining. If you can cut it to 5 weeks I'm going to have get you an expense paid trip to Colorado for some 1-on-1 time to learn these skills ;)
 
Camo420Grow said:
yeah that is a reason why I am still considering the Platinum LED cause the marshydro website says all products are 5w now. I was just curious on how long you were planning on vegging for reference in my mind when I grow.
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What's up man?
Yeah, when I saw that Mars hydro changing to all 5w lights, I was bummed. Doesn't mean they aren't good in any way, but I prefer the 3w.
Well I'm on day 43 today and I plan on going to the end of this month if not before the end. If I were you, I'd plan on a 7 week veg just to play it safe. I'm sure you'll get the veg done quicker but can't be too safe
 
Yeah I'm just gonna wait till the end of your grow, watch and see if there is any difference in the plants under the marshydro & the Platinum. Ask you of course to see if you noticed in the difference in the end and go from there. I've been reading a lot lately and the p series almost doubles the mars in spectrum. But in comparable sizes the mars in around 150-200 cheaper. I've also talked to reps from both companies trying to figure out more info! Such a hard decision honestly.
+reps for everything you do grouch !
 
Camo420Grow said:
Yeah I'm just gonna wait till the end of your grow, watch and see if there is any difference in the plants under the marshydro & the Platinum. Ask you of course to see if you noticed in the difference in the end and go from there. I've been reading a lot lately and the p series almost doubles the mars in spectrum. But in comparable sizes the mars in around 150-200 cheaper. I've also talked to reps from both companies trying to figure out more info! Such a hard decision honestly.
+reps for everything you do grouch !
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Thanks man!
Yeah choosing a light sucks. The $200 cheaper factor makes it a lot harder to decide.
And I've actually been moving the plants around every couple days so they all get even light until I sex them. Once I put them into flower, I'll take 2 of the same strain and put them each directly under each light so we'll see how each one does in flower. Then we can make a better decision on which light is "better" for lack of a better term. I'm also going to buy a kill-a-watt to see how much power im pulling to calculate price for power.
 
Grouchy much much praise :Namaste: and much much thanks ! That would be awesome to see in comparison of which strain has more resin or denser nugs. Also if one strain under either light produces more weight wise! But then to have a killawatt to add some more knowledge behind the decision, I will be very grateful for all the experience and knowledge you post up here brother ! Thanks in advance :420: family is just awesome.
 
Grouchy,
If temps arent an issue..LED AND HPS? Yield plus spectrum. Works for me.
 
Stage said:
Grouchy,
If temps arent an issue..LED AND HPS? Yield plus spectrum. Works for me.
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I actually bought about that a while ago but in my state, temps get a little high and that would just probably throw a wrench in the gears as far as heat.
 
Camo420Grow said:
:jawdropper: I don't think you'd have enough room to add a ballast and everything that goes along with HPS in your setup either ! I thought led covered enough to not use HPS!?
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Oh the LEDs cover it all don't worry lol
 
cogreen said:
Dude, Home Depot called any they want their pallet of aluminium tape back!! I'm so just messing with you!

Seriously -- love how you whipped these girls into shape. I'll be interested to see how that wide manifold works if your flowers get heavy.. Suppose you can just support if needed. They are looking very nice.

So you think you can get through veg-mainline in 5 weeks?! That's ambitious my friend! I'm not doubting your jedi skills one bit, but I was just thinking to myself I was hoping for 6 weeks veg next time w/mainlining. If you can cut it to 5 weeks I'm going to have get you an expense paid trip to Colorado for some 1-on-1 time to learn these skills ;)
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[an actually laugh out loud ensued after reading the tape comment :rofl: ]

Hey cogreen! My man from Amsterdam!
So when I started this bro, I did not expect for some of these plans to stretch as much as they are. The mystery strains are most likely sativa dominant based off the leaf structure and the way they stretched completely opposite to that of the northern lights which is obviously indicate dominant. But after looking at the pictures that nugbuckets has posted, a lot of his plants have even more stretch than mine do. The way he combated this I suppose is a longer veg time for stronger stems. I unfortunately don't have that luxury because of time constraints but I do have a solution which I also saw from nug buckets. I posted in in the picturebelow.
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image1213.jpeg

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If I tie the garden wire below a node, it should be able to support each cola. The tomato rings are secured to the pot very well so they're not going anywhere (definitely jinxed myself on this one :biglaugh:).

Yeah... That was ambitious wasn't it? Haha I must have been high. I'd say 6 now though, maybe 7. But I failed to mention something about my next grow that I'm going to try and that will be a SOG with feminized seeds but mainlining as well. So as soon as I top my final time, I'll flip to flower with about 12 plants hopefully. I'll have to get slightly smaller pots but that's fine. The root mass won't get a chance to explore the entire pot because the fast flip. Hopefully that strain is THC Bomb but we'll see. That strain can get pricey...
Thank you man for the compliments! I really appreciate it. And sorry for ignoring you! Fail on my part. I overlooked it on accident.


cogreen said:
Hey Grouchy,
You mentioned reducing veg time w/mainlining -- did you post your thoughts on what might reduce the mainline veg time somewhere? I have a few ideas myself and would be interested in "comparing notes" with you.
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So here's what I think will cut it down despite what nugbucket said. As soon as I see the 2 shoots start to form, I'll pinch off the top and after the first node. The growth won't be slowed by much and you'll have your manifold quicker. Waiting until the 5th node grows out as suggested is just too long for me. I may be completely wrong but we'll see down the road.
 
Your suggestion on reducing mainline veg time sounds similar (if not exactly) what I was thinking...

Here's what I want to try on a plant next grow...

The current "topping" process looks something like this (from the sites I've read):
1) Wait for plant to form 5-6 nodes.
2) Top above 3rd node, leaving the growth tips on this node.
3) Remove all veg (growth tips + fan leaves) below 3rd node. If growth tips are small on 3rd node, leave fan leaves on 3rd node as well to help power growth tip (i.e. new mains).
4) ... Go back to step 1 for the new grow tips, but now you can top before 5-6 new nodes form on the new mains.

I'm wondering if something like this won't allow topping earlier and help the new growth tips grow faster (bold highlights difference)...
1) Wait for plant to form 3-4 nodes.
2) Top above 3rd node, leaving the growth tips on this node.
3) Remove all growth tips (leave fan leaves) below 3rd node.
4) ... Go back to step 1 for the new grow tips, but now you can top before 1-2 new nodes form on growth tips. Remove lower fan leaves as needed (e.g. once growth is sufficient on new mains).

The question to me is if leaving the fan leaves below your topping could help power growth faster... I'm probably way wrong.

I'm also thinking about experimenting with light distance to get the growth structure I want. For example put the lights up 30" for a few days to induce "some" stretch. Lower lights to 20" for a few days to let plant "bush/fill out new growth". No idea if this will more a pain than its worth, but I need to find a better way to control my plant structure.


The other thing that threw me off a little (being a first time grower) is related to defoliation. I was looking at nugbuckets pics of mainlined plants and he only really has the main colas he formed, no other sub-branches. After mainlining my plants exploded with new sub-branches, but unfortunately I didn't defol them before inducing flower... Next time I'm going to do a serious defol a few days before flower, let her recover a bit, and then hit flower.

Holy shit I'm rambling here..

Later, have a good weekend bro
 
Grouchy how much do u think they r going to stretch when u switch to flower ? ain't that a bit early considering their size ? I feel the upper branches and stems of my plants r stretching abit fast , is that normal when switching to flowering ? my light is only 30 cms above them , i don't think that's too far
 
cogreen said:
Your suggestion on reducing mainline veg time sounds similar (if not exactly) what I was thinking...

Here's what I want to try on a plant next grow...

The current "topping" process looks something like this (from the sites I've read):
1) Wait for plant to form 5-6 nodes.
2) Top above 3rd node, leaving the growth tips on this node.
3) Remove all veg (growth tips + fan leaves) below 3rd node. If growth tips are small on 3rd node, leave fan leaves on 3rd node as well to help power growth tip (i.e. new mains).
4) ... Go back to step 1 for the new grow tips, but now you can top before 5-6 new nodes form on the new mains.

I'm wondering if something like this won't allow topping earlier and help the new growth tips grow faster (bold highlights difference)...
1) Wait for plant to form 3-4 nodes.
2) Top above 3rd node, leaving the growth tips on this node.
3) Remove all growth tips (leave fan leaves) below 3rd node.
4) ... Go back to step 1 for the new grow tips, but now you can top before 1-2 new nodes form on growth tips. Remove lower fan leaves as needed (e.g. once growth is sufficient on new mains).

The question to me is if leaving the fan leaves below your topping could help power growth faster... I'm probably way wrong.

I'm also thinking about experimenting with light distance to get the growth structure I want. For example put the lights up 30" for a few days to induce "some" stretch. Lower lights to 20" for a few days to let plant "bush/fill out new growth". No idea if this will more a pain than its worth, but I need to find a better way to control my plant structure.


The other thing that threw me off a little (being a first time grower) is related to defoliation. I was looking at nugbuckets pics of mainlined plants and he only really has the main colas he formed, no other sub-branches. After mainlining my plants exploded with new sub-branches, but unfortunately I didn't defol them before inducing flower... Next time I'm going to do a serious defol a few days before flower, let her recover a bit, and then hit flower.

Holy shit I'm rambling here..

Later, have a good weekend bro
Click to expand...

What you suggested sounds like a good plan for mainlining. I'd give that one a go. :thumb:

What I've been doing this grow is leaving all the fan leaves on and cutting off all growth tips. After the growth tips I'm keeping grow out a bit and can support themselves, I slowly chopped the fan leaves off.

Personally, I would not want them to stretch too much. I think if you find the right strain, it would help a lot and you wouldn't have to induce stretching. What problems are you having controlling the structure? I haven't really had any problems controlling them where I want them to go. Using that green garden wire makes things really easy.

So, when the 8 colas are growing out, the secondary side branches will obviously grow out too. To combat this, what I plan on doing is pinch the top growth on the side branches so it will cut off their growth but they'll still grow bud on them as long as there is still some nodes. I'm not going to let any of mine grow longer than an inch for side branching.

You can defoliate in flower also. Some people recommend it but I don't think there's any real proof either side if its okay or not. I always defoliate during flower and I've never seen a reduction in yield (to my knowledge). You have to really read your plant to see how much you can take off though. As long as you realize no more leaves will grow after you defoliate in flower unlike defoliating in veg. Mistakes are easily overcome in veg because you can just grow it out more to correct your mistake. Defoliating in flower I think should be done very little at a time throughout the grow. But nothing crazy. Just my 2 cents.


Katatonia said:
Grouchy how much do u think they r going to stretch when u switch to flower ? ain't that a bit early considering their size ? I feel the upper branches and stems of my plants r stretching abit fast , is that normal when switching to flowering ? my light is only 30 cms above them , i don't think that's too far
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Hey Katatonia!
Absolutely not too early. But that depends on what you're trying to accomplish. If I veg for 2 more weeks, I most likely won't have too much more vertical room. But time will tell. In 1 week, if they're not ready, then I'll just go another week. But as I said, the end of the month is the absolute cutoff date. I am expecting them to grow another 10" after I flip them.

30 cm is perfect, man. If you see any signs of heat stress, tacoing, or bleaching, then raise it a few inches but id say that's perfect in my opinion. But if you have them that low, remember that the lower they are, the smaller the light footprint is. So the outter branches won't get as much light potentially. That also depends on the angle of the lenses on the LED. I'd say you're doing great though.
 
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