Started mama Mia seeds 5 days after taking cuttings from my 156 day organic grow just before flower, and establishing roots. The seeds and clone were planted with roots organics original over my recycled soil mix. 29th of September they were up and running along with this clone. Here they are now and then. I accidently attached in the wrong paragraph.
Things were pretty much even till I started a mainline on one seedling. It was doing fine up until stage 3 and the clone just blew out of them out of the water after training. I just topped the other seedling and plan on hst and scropping. She wasn't doing as well as the other girl.
I topped the clone and decided to take 3 branches instead of 2 to perform a mainline. Apical dominance isn't a problem with clones ?. This will give me 12 tops instead of 8. She's outgrowing her sisters and I will have to accommodate heating to keep them going. I may run into some problems here but they're not slowing down in this cold weather. Mostly due to my light schedule and the tent holds heat in my shop. Environment hasn't been a real issue I've been ignoring them for the most part. Just feeding teas, just transplanted into fresh recycled soil, and going to start my top dressings for transition.
I have to put these girls into flower, they're big enough. Got the last auto out of there so 12/12 will be initiated when I fix the light leaks. I haven't done much training but when the photos come down on the other side of the wall it's on. Will install some bamboo and establish a real canopy when they start stretching.
the 12 cola mainline is on fire and just dominating space. About to get in there and trim some more bottom growth and everything I've ignored for the last few weeks.
Still have to get em out and clean the tent up, I made a mess and was mad about my seed mix up. Didn't care about what was in this tent really. But they'll be getting some tlc very soon. Stay tuned ?.
Mainlining really does produce cool results. Yeah, when I did it to clones, I could have kept three nodes after the first topping, but I am curious if you did much to promote symmetry between the three?
Anyways - looks great! ?
I've left them alone for the most part @dr-coco. I deliberated enough symmetry to keep the canopy even. I took off the 1st node and a few other branches for clones.
There's a lot of side branching to work with. I could make more colas if I wanted to. The topping however came along more in a fim style, when I saw the appropriate growth I pinched it off.
There isn't much training to do as far as keeping a level canopy. The seedlings however need a bit of coaxing as far as training goes. They want to shoot straight up as opposed to the clone that just wants to bush out. A little pruning should resolve this.
I'm not concerned with symmetry, for now. I have to keep them warm throughout the winter which will be my biggest challenge especially with a kis method. My recycled soil has proven to be superior to my amended composted soil.
Keepingmy soil alive is biggest concern atm. I'll be remediating that very soon though. Glad you stopped in to see my expiremental mainline. I thought you would enjoy watching this grow ???
@dr-coco here are some pics, I realize now what you're referring to. But as things progressed I was using a pinch method. Just pinching off nodes as they grew vigorously. After 2 weeks they were all happy and I didn't touch them. 2 weeks later I had to take off all lower growth.
At this point I already have 4 colas coming off the 3 branches and can train them in any way I see fit.
There are many benefits to fiming if done correctly. The side branching was just an added bonus and a great pheno to try this on.
I am glad you are having fun with her!
We can agree that mainlining is an awesome training technique - but will have to agree to disagree about Fim! ?
Still though - it is fun to see what you are up to with structure! I encourage experimentation and creativity always!!!
The technique is said to have come about from someone screwing up a topping attempt and found out that this technique actually produces more shoots and is a suitable alternative to topping when you have less plants to fill out a bigger/wider area.
Yeah, I agree that it was probably discovered by accident. But for the reasons @drphoton explained, I do not think it is as effective as topping. If you need to fill out a canopy I think topping is always going to get it done faster. 4 seems faster than 2, but there is more to consider.
That said, every plant is different and I really like the structure that you have created! ?
Repotted, and top dressed for transition phase. Giving the same teas as my challenge girls plus Trinity. Haven't really been training them much and we might swap tents to let the dgth finish in the colder shop weather. This will give me a chance to play with the stretch a bit and pay more attention to them. Probably will be moved in a couple days. I'll have to take more off the bottom of the mainlines. But my plant that I topped only has some very successful lower branches that are at a good canopy height. I'll trim a little off of those as well.
Think that's the hardest part for me. I just see much potential in the lower growth and it's never a waste to me, but I could certainly be growing bigger buds without so many suckers.
Trimming suckers is tough to do... It really feels like wasting potential - especially if you don't get them before they start to flower... I feel you but know it either helps or doesn't hurt. Many like to cook and eat them!
Good thing I had a few plants to keep warm . Pretty much the first day of frost here and they wouldn't have done much in the shop. Let's see if we can get these girls stretching.
You always seem to have more plants than I can keep track of! Glad it sort of works out and you are able to keep growing. The girls here certainly look like they are ready to stretch!
And frost!?! It is literally on fire here! ? Not to mention hot and dry.
Thank you @Kushman. Day 4 of 12/12 yesterday and they are female. I potted much differently this time. Temps have improved and they looked perky.
Have to get in there and do something with the clone but thinking of just letting her go. Wish I had an atlas plant trainer right now... Lol. @dr-coco I could so use one of those for this clone. Triple mainline turned into a mini scrog plant. If I vegged longer I probably could have made her fill this tent. She's super vigorous and surpassing these seeds without a doubt.
I'm really interested in doing a side by side. The vigor of seeds vs. clones. This was a debate you and @Drphoton were discussing previously. I like the fact that seeds express different phenos more than the clones I've ran. But would still prefer to do a controlled expirement. ??
Pistils day was yesterday, all plants are transitioning.
Yes, it is a great debate - and should be a lot of fun to see how the clones do versus the seeds. I think cutting clones and dropping seeds on the same day will be a great thing to watch in the NYGC.
I am willing to reserve judgement, but I am happy that I'll be growing seeds. ?
Still waiting for my Atlas Plant Trainer to arrive. You can look forward to seeing pictures when it does!
And as usual, your girl looks lovely! I guess she's a woman now!
Cheers!
