Curious why mainline growing isn't more popular ?

[Guest]

I have done my last two indoor grows in a mainline. Turned out ok. My first couple grows were top/fim with some lst. First was a disaster due to my mistakes but second was better.

I'm going to start a new grow indoors organic in a couple months and I can't decide if I want to go back to a more traditional grow or stick with the mainline.

Would love to hear from those who have tried both and pros and cons from your perspective. My cons were mainly veg time seemed to be slightly longer which wasn't that big a deal and pros were other than the colas other popcorn buds were easy to decide to remove early from other branching.

 

[St. Phatty]

I think trimming plants to get optimum bud structures (usually = max. weight) is very popular, it's just not always called mainlining.

Nuggbucket has a presentation on the subject.

http://www.growweedeasy.com/mainlining-nugbuckets

I think the need for techniques like mainlining is often related to the need to maximize weight production indoors.

I have 3 maximally bushy plants outdoors. I think I topped them once. Started flowering about the first of August. I don't think I could make them more bushy.

One of them is an Apollo 11 F3 and she has a lot less branches. If I'd known, I might have done more topping on her.

 

[Easy7]

I think you mean SOG not mainlining.

Plant limits and the 50 plant federal minimum sentencing guideline is a big factor. Yes sog can pump out good harvests more often with less of the very expensive 18 hours light on. People opt for more veg and less plant numbers due to plant count limits. Sog also makes the most sense with running clones, mono cropping in hydro. Running from seed can have a very uneven canopy and require more veg, veg costs more money unless you can dial down your lights.

 

[Guest]

I think you mean SOG not mainlining.

Plant limits and the 50 plant federal minimum sentencing guideline is a big factor. Yes sog can pump out good harvests more often with less of the very expensive 18 hours light on. People opt for more veg and less plant numbers due to plant count limits. Sog also makes the most sense with running clones, mono cropping in hydro. Running from seed can have a very uneven canopy and require more veg, veg costs more money unless you can dial down your lights.

I presume you were replying to the second post not my initial question.
I'm coming at this query from the perspective of a small personal grow. I'm pretty sure doing a mainline grow wouldn't be the first choice of a commercial type grower.

 

[bigganjabud]

Scrog ftw

 

[RockinRobot]

I agree with bigganjabud. SCROG FTW

Mainlining just wastes veg time. Every time you top plant takes time to recover. SCROG will yield just as well if not better.

Also mainlining doesn't work well on clones. Once a plant matures it no longer grows symmetrically and instead alternates nodes. So you're stuck using seeds for mainlining. Seed plants are harder to keep an even canopy and unless using feminized seeds you also have to deal with males. Really sucks to take all that time mainlining a plant and have it turn out to be a male.

 

[Guest]

I agree with bigganjabud. SCROG FTW

Mainlining just wastes veg time. Every time you top plant takes time to recover. SCROG will yield just as well if not better.

Also mainlining doesn't work well on clones. Once a plant matures it no longer grows symmetrically and instead alternates nodes. So you're stuck using seeds for mainlining. Seed plants are harder to keep an even canopy and unless using feminized seeds you also have to deal with males. Really sucks to take all that time mainlining a plant and have it turn out to be a male.

Good points but the only part that affects me is the veg time. I use fem seeds. I only grow a few plants at a time but I'm leaning to a more traditional grow wth LST. Which strains did you try mainlining?

 

[GonjaLove]

I've done a few mainline runs and loved it. Of course it's a longer veg time. It's almost impossible to do a main line on a clone. I did an og18 and super lemon haze mainline run...I believe 20 of each...under 3, 1000w hps...and I came out with 6 lbs of a+ top shelf bud and about a p and a half of popcorn shit.

 

[hellfire]

The simplest way I could put this is:

Ain't nobody got time for that.

 

[Guest]

The simplest way I could put this is:

Ain't nobody got time for that.

Can you elaborate why? Have you done it?

Only one reply from someone other than me who has said they tried it. If any of the naysayers have tried this type grow it would be nice to hear why as long as its from experience.

 

[rives]

Perhaps no one does it because they've never heard of it. I started growing a hell of a long time ago, and was curious about your thread title because I didn't know what you were referring to. I think that I caught the gist of it - use seedlings while they are still putting out symmetrical branching and prune for maximum bud size.

If you have a lot of time to dedicate to your grow and enjoy puttering with the plants, it may work fine. My goal for my personal grow is to have a respectable yield with a minimum effort. To achieve that, I use airpots, coco, V+B, Blumats, a modified scrog, and clones. This setup allows me to be out of town for about 10 days a month, motors along with very little work on my part and yields about 3/4 of a pound every 3 months under a 315w CMH.

Sorry if that didn't address your question, but it might present some alternatives to ponder.

 

[Cream47]

Hi Stewart,

here you have a good example of mainlining from a newbie, it's an Italian but there's a lots of pictures to illustrate the evolution of the plants :

Mainlining of Liberty Haze.

Enjoy .

 

[St. Phatty]

It seems like the goal of many of these pruning techniques is to get light to specific growing tips/ internodes.

Sort of on that note, I have started rotating my outdoor plants, maybe 60 to 90 degrees every day.

The North side just doesn't get the sun that the East South and West sides get.

Rotating them helps all the main growing branches (on their way to being buds) to get quality light roughly 3/4 of the time.


Can't help but wonder if some indoor growers have tried this. Possibly even using Lazy Susan or other devices so it's easy to lug heavier pots around.

 

[Guest]

Perhaps no one does it because they've never heard of it. I started growing a hell of a long time ago, and was curious about your thread title because I didn't know what you were referring to. I think that I caught the gist of it - use seedlings while they are still putting out symmetrical branching and prune for maximum bud size.

If you have a lot of time to dedicate to your grow and enjoy puttering with the plants, it may work fine. My goal for my personal grow is to have a respectable yield with a minimum effort. To achieve that, I use airpots, coco, V+B, Blumats, a modified scrog, and clones. This setup allows me to be out of town for about 10 days a month, motors along with very little work on my part and yields about 3/4 of a pound every 3 months under a 315w CMH.

Sorry if that didn't address your question, but it might present some alternatives to ponder.

Actually once the last cut is done I dont think its much more work. Maybe a little but for a few plants no biggie and after the final defoliation there is no more work except stopping small side branching of popcorn stuff.

Im switching next grow from smallish pots to GroPro smart pots that hold 9 gallons of soil. I like the bluemats but have not tried them. Yet. Im in a small indoor tent and organic which is why I want to use the biggest pot with the most volume of soil I can since I dont use synthetic ferts.

I just used the method of Nugbuckets referenced on the "grow weed easy" site.

 

[Guest]

Hi Stewart,

here you have a good example of mainlining from a newbie, it's an Italian but there's a lots of pictures to illustrate the evolution of the plants :

Mainlining of Liberty Haze.

Enjoy .

A picture is worth a thousand words. Looks like the plants did well.

 

[ReikoX]

I've tried it several times and am just now getting it right. It adds time to veg and can't be done (easily) with clones are the main downfall. Here are some pictures of Jilly Bean being mainlined.

Here they are after their first training session. They have been topped once previously. Clones were taken at this stage. There are some auto flowers flowering in the back.

A week or so later they have been topped, trimmed, and trained for eight tops.

All training is done and they are about ready to flip to 12/12. The auto flowers have been removed.

After about a week of flowering. The males have been removed and the clones taken previously are replacing them. That was about a week ago.

 

[St. Phatty]

I've tried it several times and am just now getting it right. It adds time to veg and can't be done (easily) with clones are the main downfall. Here are some pictures of Jilly Bean being mainlined.

I had an awesome Humboldt Seed Co. Purple Trainwreck that had - almost - that exact bud structure.

 

[Easy7]

What exactly is 'mainlining'? Sounds like what junkies do.

Never heard that term for pruning. It does sound time consuming.

 

[ReikoX]

It's a method of topping and training plants such that each top is symmetrical and the same distance from the main trunk. Google "nugbuckets mainline" and you should find plenty of tutorials.

 

[Dawn Patrol]

What exactly is 'mainlining'? Sounds like what junkies do.

Never heard that term for pruning. It does sound time consuming.

Its a really beautiful thing when done correctly with a seed plant but it takes a lot of time and is suited more to indoor grows than outdoor IMO.