What Is Herb Mainlining, And What Advantages Does It Bring To Your Plants?

What Is Herb Mainlining, And What Advantages Does It Bring To Your Plants?

You might not be familiar with mainlining even if you have experience growing herbs. This method of regulating cano py area and boosting yields is relatively new. Since its beginnings, mainlining has taken off like a wildfire, finding a place in innumerable commercial grows and even more backyard gardens. Intrigued? Let’s discuss mainlining and how it might benefit your herb garden.

Herb Mainlining: An Explanation

We’ll define mainlining here because it can vary depending on the situation. Simply said, mainlining is a plant training method that combines low-stress training (LST) with components of topping. The goal of mainlining is to direct all of a plant’s growth energy toward a few key branches as opposed to one dominant cola. This method calls for the grower to make eight distinct branches that branch off of one “main line,” hence the name. It’s also known as manifolding because the technique entails building a central hub from which smaller branches emerge.

The advantages of w**d plants

The three main advantages of mainlining are as follows. The first is the most obvious: Mainlining can increase your plants’ crop production. Additionally, using this strategy is not too difficult. Your plant doesn’t need a lot of upkeep once the central hub has been established. Lastly, and perhaps most significantly, mainlining lessens the height that your plants require.

Increased Plant Size, Bud Size, and Yield

Mainlining can produce an average yield that is up to 40% higher than gardens that use other growing methods. When farmers start mainlining early in the veg stage, yields are increased most. Even if your plants won’t grow any taller than non-mainlined plants, it doesn’t really matter. Your plant will instead concentrate its efforts on developing large, thick, and tightly packed buds. These buds resemble the nugs that are often seen high on the cola of a non-mainlined plant, but they are far more common.

Little Work is Needed

Herb mainlining can be much quicker and easier than many other kinds of plant training. This is due to a few factors. In the first place, mainlining is the ideal “set it and forget it” technique. Comparable to following a recipe When mainlining, as long as you follow the script, it will always be successful. Your garden can essentially grow itself if you mainline it and use a feeding system. Second, mainlining drastically lowers the amount of canopy maintenance required. Simply top the plants a few times and remove some additional plant material will suffice.

Ideal for Both Indoor and Outdoor Use

Whether you cultivate herbs indoors or outdoors, mainlining has a number of advantages. For instance, mainlining can assist indoor farmers in locating the vertical space required for the productive cultivation of Sativa plants. Indoor growers frequently discover Sativas reaching into their lights because of their tall growth. Sativas grown indoors can be much improved by mainlining by lowering their final height without compromising yield.

The shape of their plants can be more precisely controlled by outdoor farmers. Mainlining aids outdoor growers in maintaining a low profile. Mainlining makes it simpler to grow plants outside covertly since they require less height. Finally, due to their small size, mainlined plants are resistant to diseases from mold and mildew.

What Makes Mainlining Effective?

When you mainline a plant, you concentrate all of its energy in a few locations that are all equally far from the root system of your plant. Every branch is equally nourished by the plant because they all sprout from the same location. The similar concept is applied by plumbers when they branch out plumbing from a single hub. The “manifolding technique” is another name for this approach that many growers use. A grower can reduce the quantity of light, flaky buds and concentrate on producing big, thick flowers by evenly distributing energy throughout a plant.

Step-by-Step plant Intake

Here, we’ll go through how to incorporate mainlining into your own backyard garden in great detail. We’ll start by talking about the tools you’ll need to execute mainlining correctly. After that, we’ll start a step-by-step tutorial that will help you hone your technique from the very first time you use it.

Equipment Required For Mainlining

You won’t need a lot of equipment to carry out mainlining correctly. For initial setup, all you’ll need is some green plant wire. Once your buds start to get heavy, you’ll only need some softer plant ties to support them. Additionally, you’ll require a grow lamp with light penetration that can reach through your canopy. Equivalents of 150-watt HPS, MH, or LED bulbs should do the trick.

Step 1: Set Down Roots

Plant a seed that has been germinated using your preferred technique, such as a starting cube or rock wool cube, and watch it grow roots. Once the plant has six nodes, three on each side, transfer it into a bigger container. This will enable proper airflow beneath your mainline herb plant’s hub and stop a variety of illnesses from growing.

This is the perfect moment to make any clones of your plant. You won’t be able to make any more clones once you’ve established your main line hub. After the third node on either side of your main branch, you should make your cuts.

Step 2: Top it off

Put a top on your plant once it has three wholesome nodes. Do this only when there is a significant amount of plant matter beyond the node, such as dieback. Your plants must experience enough dieback to completely close their vascular system, excluding any nodes below the top. The whole point of herb mainlining is defeated if the plant is topped too low, which will also lead to nutrient problems later in its lifecycle.

Finally, after your buds start to get heavy, your main line may split in half if you don’t leave your plant enough room when topping. This will shock the plant, hinder its growth, and allow diseases to enter its vascular system.

Making the main line in Step 3

The next step is to develop your primary line. Give your tops a couple of days to grow; each one has to have four nodes. Next, remove all of the growth from the second node on each top’s opposite sides. Plants are easier to teach and have more room to grow as a result.

Next, eliminate all growth that is below the third node. This node will now serve as your herbs mainlining hub’s focal point. Just the growth pair (symmetrical branches) emanating from the third node should remain. Your plant will be compelled to evenly distribute nutrients to both sides as a result. The plant will be able to recover from the demanding training it is through if you leave one fan leaf developing on either side of it.

Secure Main Lines (Step 4)

To keep both of your tips perpendicular to the stem, use soft plant ties. A plant manifold should produce a plant that resembles an uppercase “T” in final form. You don’t want to harm your plants, so be very delicate when doing this.

Even if you accidentally hurt your plants while practicing, it won’t be the end of the world. Any holes in your plant can be repaired and sealed with tape. Make sure the broken branch has the additional support it requires, if necessary. To solve this, use a stake or additional green ties.

Top Main Branches in Step 5

Spend some time letting your plants recover from the modification you just did. This is the one step in the herb mainlining procedure where the producer must rely on their own judgment. Top all of your main branches if you’ve decided that your plants are doing well enough to continue.

The overall number of branches on your plant will double as a result. Give your garden some more time to recover before you top it once more. Up till there are eight main branches, repeat this method. After that, cut off all of the additional growth that is not originating from one of these big colas.

Sixth step: Tomato Ring (Optional)

Use a tomato ring to exert more control over the overall form of your manifold. You can connect your branches to these built-in metal hoops by using the frame as a hook. Later in the flowering stage, when your nugs are big, plump, and juicy, tomato rings are especially useful. A tomato ring can aid in preventing the self-weight-induced collapse of mainlined buds.

Step 7: Switch to the flower

You should now concentrate on guiding your plant through the veg period. Compared to a typical veg cycle, the mainlining veg duration will undoubtedly seem to be somewhat longer. This is due to the fact that mainlining needs vigorous pruning and training, both of which take time for a plant to recover from. Depending on the strain you’re growing, it will take a specific period of time. During the veg phase, keep training your plant horizontally. Once they’re ready, you may turn your lights on and off to create a 24-hour cycle of light and dark. Only photoperiodic strains can be used; autoflowers are not permitted (more on this later).

Herb Intake: Practical Advice And Techniques

In addition to the fundamental steps involved in the mainlining/manifolding method, there are several best practices that every grower should adopt. To assist you stop any possible issues in their tracks, we’ve included some useful insights below.

Pick Your Mainlining Strain Wisely

You must carefully analyze the strains you are producing if you want to optimize the advantages of herb mainlining. In general, single-cola dominant strains are the ones that mainline well. One of the plant’s colas will grow higher than the others due to this characteristic, which is typical of Indicas. The finished product resembles a Christmas tree in shape.

Use only photoperiodic strains when mainlining, as well. Autoflowering strains automatically transition from veg to bloom. They’ll never be able to experience the prolonged veg cycle that mainlining needs to be effective as a result.

Start with a Seed

It’s not a good idea to take mostly clones. Regardless of their strain, they don’t acquire the same level of single cola dominance that mainlining demands. Clones frequently grow colas that are asymmetrical and slightly out of alignment with one another. Mainlined clones differ structurally from mainlined plants from seeds and will distribute their nutrients differently as a result. Although clones can still benefit from this method, it is recommended to begin mainlining from seeds.

Incorporate LST

LST and topping are effectively combined in mainlining. However, you can intensify your herb mainlining by using LST. Just keep in mind that everything you secure will eventually face upward into the garden’s light source.

Look out for injuries:

Plant damage is the main concern when consuming herbs regularly. Branch stress from mainlining can be extreme, and node locations frequently see splits in stems. As we previously said, split stems and other plant wounds can be repaired if you act fast by taping the break. Plants can benefit in varied degrees from the use of duct tape, electrical tape, and even scotch tape. Once the plant has healed, just watch out that the tape isn’t restricting the stem, since this could disrupt nutrient flow and negate the entire aim of the approach.

The last word

You’re prepared to use mainlining in your own garden now that you know more about its advantages and how it works. Patience is the most important component of mainlining. Give your plants the time they require; don’t rush them. Even while it could take more time, the added weight and quality are definitely worthwhile.