Botched manifold attempt, cut off growth tips...

[Hilfloskind]

As the title suggests, I made a major newbie mistake and cut both growth tips off when starting a manifold on my plants. At this point all I have are two shoots with fan leaves at the node I topped to, no foliage above or below.



Is this a definite DOA situation or can this be turned around and they heal/grow new tips?

Thanks!

 

[Xhale]

Give it a few days. you could get a branch. if nothing after 4 days then I"m sorry. There is something that looks like a branch in the 2nd pic, in the middle of the stem. It's light green pointing to the left. that seems to be your only hope. if nothing in 3 days, I would even cutoff the 2 leaves and let it sit for 4 days (total of a week). but don't waste more time. I've seen males recover from nothing:( they are hardy bastards!

 

[Hilfloskind]

Give it a few days. you could get a branch. if nothing after 4 days then I"m sorry. There is something that looks like a branch in the 2nd pic, in the middle of the stem. It's light green pointing to the left. that seems to be your only hope. if nothing in 3 days, I would even cutoff the 2 leaves and let it sit for 4 days (total of a week). but don't waste more time. I've seen males recover from nothing:( they are hardy bastards!

Are you referring to the tips circled in red? Those actually do appear to have shown up since I butchered them last week. It's been 4 days since I committed the crime.

 

[Xhale]

No, I refer to the tip below. so, imagine that the 2 red circles are eyes. below that is a snout (brown tip that you cutoff). to the left of that snout. a light green something which looks like a branch tip.

 

[Hilfloskind]

No, I refer to the tip below. so, imagine that the 2 red circles are eyes. below that is a snout (brown tip that you cutoff). to the left of that snout. a light green something which looks like a branch tip.

Ahh, so you mean this??

 

[Xhale]

Yes. That looks like your final hope to me. does that look like branch?

 

[Hilfloskind]

Yes. That looks like your final hope to me. does that look like branch?

It's so tiny I can't tell. I hope you're right though.

So am I correct that without new growths such as those, I'm screwed? I did the same mistake to 3 out of 4 plants, with the single plant done correctly already healed and growing vigorously again.

Due to the issue and timing, if I start over I'd need to do a complete restart and likely scrap the healthy one. Otherwise, the other new ones will be well over a month behind and the canopy will be a total mess.

 

[Xhale]

So am I correct that without new growths such as those, I'm screwed?

correct. sorry dude. it sounds like a setback. Grow, Learn, Grow :)

Keep the healthy one. grow her as a single plant and put the other new ones in the canopy. or just keep trimming her till the others catch-up. I would try and keep her separate, veg her for a little bit and flower her early in a dark room/shed/elsewhere if possible. I shudder at intentionally culling a female.

 

[Shaded_One]

As cool as mainline and manifolds are...you are new this and getting to yield is a goal among itself. Next time if this is something you are adamant about grow the plants out to 8 nodes. Top at the 5th, trim up to the 4th.

Good luck. Xhale has filled you in with everything else.

 

[Hilfloskind]

With just a 4x4 to work with and a 4 pot Autopot system, I really don't have spare real estate to put her in while the others catch up.

At least she was a freebie seed.

 

[Hilfloskind]

As cool as mainline and manifolds are...you are new this and getting to yield is a goal among itself. Next time if this is something you are adamant about grow the plants out to 8 nodes. Top at the 5th, trim up to the 4th.

Good luck. Xhale has filled you in with everything else.

I followed the process I read, which was to grow to 6 nodes, top to the 3rd. Only difference is I misjudged this plant and cut to the 2nd node by mistake...not including the obvious major blunder of cutting growth tips. As far as nodes to grow out to for manifold or mainline training, 5-6 nodes has been what I've read is standard and to cut to the 3rd.

 

[Shaded_One]

I followed the process I read, which was to grow to 6 nodes, top to the 3rd. Only difference is I misjudged this plant and cut to the 2nd node by mistake...not including the obvious major blunder of cutting growth tips. As far as nodes to grow out to for manifold or mainline training, 5-6 nodes has been what I've read is standard and to cut to the 3rd.

Yeah that's a big blunder, all I'm trying to say is mainline looks cool but adds way too much to the veg process to be worthwhile imo. Much simpler to just do the walmart method.

 

[Hilfloskind]

Walmart method???

 

[Shaded_One]

(the method I just described)

will leave you with 4 main branches they just won't be a perfect "manifold" like the nugbuckets style. Forgive my epic mspaint skills but you get the idea.

 

[Xhale]

@Shaded_One 's right drawing is how I usually do my trimming. It's a lollipop formation. I gradually cut below the growing tip until she's a bit mature, then leave 2-6 side branches and top her when the side branches are clearly starting to grow. I never leave her naked without a handful of leaves (definitely a couple more than 2)

 

[Hilfloskind]

Ok definitely have read up on lollipopping. Do you still top after a certain number of nodes form to break apical dominance though?

 

[Shaded_One]

Top at 5th. Trim lower branches up to 4th. Keep 2 main fan leaves per branch. As the nodes grow I remove the fan leaves that would grow in the center of the stack. So out of every 2nd node I am removing 1 of the fan leaves that grows towards the inside.

I can take better pics later this evening when I'm at home if you need.

 

[Hilfloskind]

That's very helpful, along with the pics. Any more up close would be great, but even these are helpful as is, so thank you!!!


I'm going to wait just a couple of days and if I don't see any signs of new growth, I'm gonna pop four new girls and chalk it up to beginner stupidity. Lesson learned.

To be honest, I had a lot of climate issues early on and they basically stalled a solid week early on in the tent (unfinished basement grow, New England, Mars Hydro FC-E 4800 LED light so very little heat).

It took well over a week for me to get the climate where it needed to be for them to begin growing again at any measurable rate. From there, they took off...but they certainly didn't get off to a good start all things considered.

Part of the process I suppose.

 

[Shaded_One]

Yeah getting your environment dialed in can definitely be a hell of a curve! I'll take some better up close pics of the stem branching and removal when my lights come on.

 

[Shaded_One]

Alright so here's a better close up of the trim job. Top above 5, keep 4 and remove everything below. I went a step further and removed a few more lower branches to complete the "lollipop" a few days after I switched to flower.

Here you can get a top view of the mains. Like I said I remove the main fan leaves from the "inner circle" to promote better light penetration