Here’s a side shot of the training
I will cover this process a few times as I get more images as it progresses. It can get a bit confusing so don’t worry if you can’t envision it just yet.
First things first, I topped the plants a few days ago, we saw that. I top above the third node. I want the third node branches, those are my prize winning branches. Using the third node allows the plant to quickly distribute resources evenly across each cola. We’ll be shooting for 8 even colas.
One of the main reasons for 8 colas is calcium efficiency. The more growing tips a plant has, the lower its calcium efficiency. The lower its calcium efficiency, the lower its end quality, plant health, and per cola yield will be. If I were to grow out 16 colas in my situation, they would wind up being very close in yield to 8 colas, but the quality drop would be noticeable. For scale growers, most already know, you can get more profit by growing more, smaller plants instead of fewer, larger plants. This is related to calcium efficiency but also canopy management.
Now that I went off on that tangent, back to the training. I took off the first node branches. I did it as close to the stem as I could to prevent any new growth or branching. I left the leaves. The plant will take resources from those leaves once they no longer photosynthesize. I won’t be flowering out the 2nd node but I will be growing it out for its fan leaves and possible clone taking. The 2nd node gets tied down to run horizontally just like the third node. We do this so that we have a nice flat base spread evenly for our 8 colas.
On our third node branches we are going to be keeping the first and third nodes while removing the second and growing tips. Each node on each side will produce two colas, so four on one side and four on the other.
Once we have those, we will aggressively tie them down to keep each cola tip even across the canopy. Due to the way hormones work in apical plants, if any single cola rises higher than the others, it will automatically begin receiving extra resources. Couple the extra resources with increased auxins and you have a cola that will explode in size, and hog all the resources for itself. This will defeat the purpose of the manifold.
When tying the branches down I am very careful with the first node. I don’t want my garden wire covering it or damaging the growing tips. However, as soon as the second node appears we can get a bit more aggressive since we won’t be keeping it. Just make sure the plant can still keep growing to the third node and you can be pretty violent with the second.
Like I said, it’s a bit confusing written out but once you see it, it’s simple. Here’s an example of what it should look like when done properly:
keffka's house of torture 
I'll pop in from time to time if you don't mind 
