I mailed a breakdown of quadlining in the kit to a fellow grower here and thought I would copy it and put it here in case it could be helpful for anyone else. So here is my process:
Seeds: I usually float them in some water for about 12 hrs and then I put them in the paper towels. Sometimes the paper towels are folded up in a baggie or sometimes I will just layer them between 2 plates with the top plate turned upside down so that the rims of the plates are resting upon each other, creating a chamber that is dark for the wet towels and seeds to stay in. If I float the seeds, I will place the little glass on top of my DVR and it will keep everything warm. Once I have short tails showing I put the cracked seed into the kit soil or you can start them in a rapid rooter cube or a jiffy peat pellet. I’ve had success with all 3 methods. I’ve also had the soil eat the seedling as well. Lol.
Seedlings: whenever you put the cracked seed in the soil or put a seedling that you started in the cubes or peat pellets into the kit soil, you will want to water with a mixture of 1/2 oz of Transplant Drench per 1 gallon of water. I don’t dunk. I top water only. Not opposed to dunking but I wouldn’t dunk on this initial watering. The 1 gal pots will hold about 1/2 gallon of water when they are dry. Don’t forget the roots powder in the hole that you are putting the seed or seedling in.
Remember that when they are seedlings and small plants that they don’t have the root system to suck up all the water very quickly. So after this initial watering they will be wet for a while. You want them to be dry before you water or Drench again because roots that are dry will grow in their search for moisture. If they stay moist they are content and won’t grow as vigorously. Let them dry. What you may find is that the top layer of soil will dry but you can still tell there is some water weight in the bottom of the pot. Let them dry. Let the pot get light. Then depending on where the plant is in it’s growth cycle will determine wether or not you will water again before you begin quadlining. Doc’s kit recommends only water until you have 5 internodes. Quadlining requires that you top the plant above the 4th internode. So if the plant needs anything after the initial watering at planting and the time I top, it’s only getting a light dribble of water from the top. This also helps the roots grow up as well. I will let the 5th internode get it’s leaves started and then I’m looking to top down to the 4th node and completely remove nodes 1 and 2. Sometimes I do all that at once and sometimes I may spread that out over a few days. Depends on how strong the plant has grown. If it’s a weaker plant then that might be too much stress for all at once. If it’s been doing pretty good however I’ll just do it all at once to get it over with. I’ll usually hit them with a Transplant Drench mixed with tea on the day I do the topping and the next day you can hit them with a destress foliar. From this point on throughout the vegetative stage you will alternate your Transplant and growth drenchs and use water between the drenches. So after the TP/tea at the time of topping you would follow with water, then growth drench, the water, then TP. I use tea with every Drench and watering. When I mix it with the plain water though I usually do it at 1/4 strength of whatever I mix with my drenches. I’m not putting my measurements here because different people prefer different amounts and if you are dunking compared to top watering then these values may vary as well.
Once you do that first destress foliar after topping then wait a couple days and give her the first brix foliar. Then do a brix foliar every 7 days from here on out. You may not need any more destress foliar feedings. With quadlining, you will have a few times where you do some pretty heavy defoliating. The day after the defoliation hit them with a destress foliar if you want to.
Quadlining in veg: after the initial topping and removal of nodes 1 and 2, you will be left with growth at nodes 3 and 4. These will be the main branches of your plants. Once the ones at node 4 are long enough to tie down go ahead and tie them down with just a slight upward angle toward the end of the branches. If they are too flat you will begin to mess with the plant auxins which are growth hormones that make the ends of a branch grow (amongst other functions). Once you have node 4 trained you are waiting for the branches of node 3 to catch up vertically. Once the branches from 3 are popping out above node 4, then you can train that node as well. As each of these 4 branches grows, you will have side branches grow from each. When these grow they tend to alternate between 2 side branches growing from the top and bottom of the main branches and 2 side branches growing from the sides of the mains. When you have a side branch grow out from the bottom of the main branch, go ahead and remove that side branch. It will not reach the canopy. Continue to train the mains out to the edge of the pot. Once they are there you will either let them go vertical a bit before uppotting or it may be time to uppot depending on how long you will be vegging. Along the way you will probably have to remove a few select leaves. The first to go are always the ones that are on the main branches and grow toward the trunk. Those 4 leaves (1 on each main branch) tend to cover up new growth that you want light hitting.
Uppotting and flipping: once you Transplant you need to decide if you want to veg a little longer or if you want to flip to flower. Kit users tend to flip immediately with their sativas or veg another week or so with their indicas. Personal preference here. For me, since the training is a big part of my grow and effects my yield pretty significantly, I like to veg for a couple more weeks after transplanting. This lets me train the main branches out to the edge of the bigger pot and let’s the branches grow vertically a bit also before flipping. With all the training in this method you are wanting to keep you canopy even. If you have a rogue side branch that is outgrowing everything else vertically, consider training that branch down a bit as well. Or supercropping it. I usually do a decent defoliation before I flip and again after stretch. I also remove and skimpy thin branches that did t make to the canopy. I feel like this is the best way to refocus the plants energy to the places we want it for bud development. As far as the kit goes, at the time of Transplant you will use the roots powder on the rootball and in the hole you are planting in. Also you will start with a Transplant Drench in the new pot. Then continue alternating as before. Once you flip you don’t want the the pot to get so dry as before but you still want them getting pretty light. The cooked soil coming out of your bin has some moisture to it. I usually just make a mental note of how heavy it is when I Transplant and I try to water when it gets down to that weight. Or you can watch the leaves. If they start to just slightly droop a little then maybe give it just a splash of water to hold you till you water at the next lights on. Once you start to see the shape of a bud then it’s time to consider the Cat Drenches. 2 back to back with no watering between. When I get close to harvest I tend to just use growth Drench and water alternated. If you are growing a strain that loves salt or tends to do better in hydro then you may show some deficiencies after a month or so into flower. A well timed super Drench or rescue Drench may help prevent this. But trust me on this. Leaves showing deficiency does not mean low quality buds when you are done. This high brix weed is the best on the planet!