one more note the potassium to phosphorus ratio is made up for weed nutrients to pretend it's more complicated than it is .
I will present the following analogy, why I manifold.
I will present the following analogy, why I manifold.
The 1st time I saw it, I was flabbergasted. A light came on and, it immediately came to me on a mechanical level.
The water manifold in most modern houses is 3/4" pipe, with 1/2"take offs to individual taps/shutoffs. If someone opens a tap, there will be a subsequent decease in both pressure and volume in the manifold. Because of the carrying capacity of the 3/4" pipe, this will ensure that regardless how many outlets are open, the flow will remain unchanged. OTOH, there will be a slight drop in pressure in the manifold. The water pressure is quickly brought back to constant by the house PRV, and a "new" balance is achieved.
Let's turn this around and apply it to growing cannabis. The manifold being the stalk. To grow 8 tops/colas requires a 6 week vegging period. I vegged for 8 weeks. I don't start counting "veg time" until I have 4 serrated leaves. Before that, to me, they are seedlings. Some folks count their weeks from when the bean is planted.
More than 8 tops isn't recommended for indoor growing. That being said, you can have as many as you want outdoors (so they say). In order to achieve such a feat, outdoor plants will need to be started sooner than normal indoors, as you control the photo period. Outdoors mother nature is in charge as to when 12/12 happens. It goes without saying that you will need a larger pot, to be able to carry the extra colas. Therefore, just quick and dirty math, if you plan on doing 16 use a 10gal pot vice a 5, providing you can fit 4x10gal pots in your tent. 16 is a known std for outdoors, but as many as 32 have been developed successfully, depending on the region. Going from 8 to 32 only requires an extra 1.5 weeks because, you are only topping each of their tops and denuding below. Once done, you can then place her outdoors, or allowed to recuperate indoors. We are not allowed to grow outdoors here, so I didn't pay much attention in the intricacies of growing manifolds for outdoor growing.
Caveat: Yes it stresses the plant for a couple of days, but if you have a healthy properly fed plant, she doesn't miss a beat, so to speak. The fan leaves will grow in to large solar panel, that remain on the plant until you cut the new tops after the 4th node once again, creating 2 new tops.
So how does this all work?
You top off after the 4th node and denude the stalk all the way back from the fan leaves with the carrying the 2 new buds, after the removal of the apical bud. The plant is left to rest and grow until the 2 new tops have 5 nodes, and you once again chop at the 4th node, once again stripping all the way back. Eventually you will have a totally denude manifold, with only 8 "take offs". The only place we want the energy going is to the production of flowers.
Because the manifold forms a circle, the manifold branches (take offs) are secured to a portion of a tomato cage, anything (fan leaves) growing inward are not an issue, unless they interfere with growing buds (shadowing). Then those are "judiciously" removed through out the flowering period. I only use the 1st ring of the tomato cages (8" dia), or else I can't get my light height where I want/need it if the cages are 36". There is a "gizmo" that is simply a circle with 3 individual legs. They are normally 12" in dia, too large for attaching the manifold.
I stake the colas with 18"--->24" bamboo stakes, the latter as needed once my light has reached 36". I go with PAR value. I maintain 850-900 umols at the canopy which, usually comes to 12" above the canopy.
All I know is that manifolding/mainlining has double my yield and, that's all that matters to me. I grow more than I consume, and that is OK too. It means I don't have to grow perpetually. AAMOF, I only grow twice in a year, forgoing the summer here as it is simply not cost effective to do so with our summer climate here. I don't churn and burn.
Getting 2.5oz per plant (projected yield for this run, my previous run yielded 9.2 oz) costs me roughly $250 CAD (power). Not a bad investment considering a $1.75K ($175/oz) return that is far superior than the legally sold stuff here.
I always state, this is what works for me, in my environment and growing conditions. Your mileage may vary. Therefore, I personally don't give a damn what some yahoo may think. I am continuously learning here, but there is a lot of BS that can be found as well.
I carry out my own research on topics of interests, to improve what I am doing. Until I find some new "fandangle" thing/technique/method, I will continue doing the tried and true, in what "I" am doing, under my growing conditions and environment. YMMV!
