Melissa and Medusa
Training
As you see them here represents an attempt at improving in the training style I tried on the last Watermelon WeddingCake. That plant, Titan, had two main colas, a lower ring, and a bunch of colas that made a half accidental middle ring of sorts. But largely that was as much lucky as it was good training. However, I realized the yield potential in this style and also realized what needs to change to max this style out (I think, lol).
So both of these plants are trained per this style, you can clearly see the similarity now. These will have four mains instead of two. That is going to mean the upper colas forming the top “ring” will end up around twice as wide (circumference) as on Titan with two colas. This means much of what is directly beneath it, ie, around the center stem of the plant, will not get adequate light. So this time, rather than create flarf in those spots, I am keeping the middle of the plants as clean as possible. The idea is that the outer, lower ring ends up wider than the center stack of colas to a decent degree. That way, the light hogging/blocking factor is eliminated, and relative to light, both sets get what they need and almost operate independently if that makes sense. This training style is much more likely to succeed under a bar light vs. a center mounted light, for obvious reasons. I have light everywhere all the time.
One of the things I learned last time is that the ppfd difference between the upper colas and the lower ring is going to be in the neighborhood of 200 points difference, due to their relative heights. I adjust as required, but basically go hot up top as much as I dare to keep that 200 points from negatively impacting the lower ring.
I hope that makes sense. Just trying to share what I’m trying. Comments, criticism, suggestions and questions are all quite welcome. Thanks guys!
