Manifolding Nirvana - Wonder Woman + AK48

Took a little break from growing as I had a pretty big surplus but I'm happy to get the tent going again. I planted 2 feminized seeds from Nirvana (1 Wonder Woman + 1 AK48 on 9/21 and they both sprouted. The WW germinated much quicker and is a little less than a week ahead of the AK now.

My intention with this grow was to try manifolding or mainlining for the first time, so I wanted to keep it small with just 2 plants even though I have them going in a 4x4.

I currently have them in 3 gallon smart pots. 70% Fox Farm Ocean Forest / 30% Perlite. I will transfer to 5 gallon pots before flipping to flower. I have various nutes but mostly GH Flora series with some calmag and liquid seaweed. Sometimes Koolbloom for late flower, but I go light on nutes as FFOF has plenty. I have 2 Viparspectra 450W LED's, only 1 light is on for now but I can bring in the 2nd one when they need it.

I have a humidity controller attached to humidifer inside the tent that keeps it steady between 55-60%RH for now and around 65-73F with just 1 light on. Lots of room in the tent with good airflow.




I will be using "Nebula" manifolding technique. I let the seedlings grow to 5-6 nodes and topped to the 3rd node from the bottom, cleaning all fan leaves and shoots from other nodes. You can see from the pics the plant recovered well and quickly formed 2 strong shoots. I tied it down on each side to spread them apart, and then waited for it to grow 5-6 nodes. This time when topping, I topped it back to the 3rd node, but also kept fan leaves and shoots attached to node 1. Node 2 had fan leaves and shoots removed.

The only thing remaining now are 2 shoots from node 1, and 2 shoots from node 3 on both sides for 8 total. I plan on putting a tomato cage over them soon and using it to spread them out and support them.


The canopy is looking great so far. All of the pics above have been of the WW. The AK has been topped 1 time so far and has 3 nodes on each of the 2 shoots, almost ready for more training. It seemed to have slowed veg time a little bit but I'm really happy with the way the structure is coming along.

Added the tomato cages and did some more training today. I cut up a couple plastic hangers and strapped the pieces across the cages, then used zip-ties to pull down the plant to the hangers. I also began pulling apart the AK for the first time. The WW is almost done with training for now, but the AK still has a ways to go.




I now have 2 - 450W LED's in the tent, one over each plant. Adding the second light brought it up around 4 degrees so we're up to around 78F, still at 55-60%RH. Fed them light nutes after the training, around 350ppm 6.5ph.

Hay, Those are nice! I like the way yo tie them down. I started out looking for a nice harvest form mine but I think I may use it for a mother. I've already taken four clones from her.

The first two were from the second topping. The second two were from node 2. I didn't know but just felt better about leaving the growth on the 2nd node and it gave clones.

I did mess up on the second topping. I missed with my scissors an clipped one new main off. (Old and shaky hands with arthritis.) Only seven mains but they are all equal. 1/4 of this thing was a little weak from not shedding the seed hull and that's the side that got clipped.

I hope you keep posting on this. I'm doing the same thing on one plant and have 2 sprouts about 22 days from germinated seeds in soil. My plan is to let them get to maybe the 7th or 8th node and take a clone from the top. So I think you can do the top, then the 2 new mains, the growth from second node, and 8 from the third topping for clones.

I am going to try 12/12 right from the start with the clones. Going for a perpetual grow and trying to stay within Oklahoma regs.

Your grow looks so nice that this is one I would like to watch. It looks like you put a lot though into your LST.

I see you are using smart bags. I do, too, and I've been reading about some of the problems with moisture. If you have problems with them drying too much on the tops or around the sides they may be too wet around the roots. But I like my smart bags so I came up with some work-a-rounds. One thing I would definitely do is get a moisture gauge. $10 @ Lowes. Unless you have used bags I really doubt that sticking your finger in the soil will tell you how moist it is. I have also read that the smaller the bag the harder to control the moisture.

Still, most people like them. I wouldn't trade mine.

BTW, Sometimes when my head gets happy I get carried away with happy faces. Let's have a smoke.

Later.

Looking good. I look forward to seeing these around harvest time. I plan to try this method but I am thinking about using a net to scog. I want to try to grow a 4x4 canopy with 2 plants.

Thanks guys.

I start them off in 18 oz solo cups with holes cut in the bottom, and from there into the 3 gal fabric pots. I highly recommend the fabric pots, have been using them for awhile now and it's pretty easy for me to tell when they need watering.

I wouldn't recommend string for training these plants as it can start cutting into the plant after a couple days. The 2nd example where I showed the zipties on the AK using the cut hangers/cage when it was very young was far superior. The AK will be topped for the last time tomorrow and some more further training. WW is recovering well and fighting the zipties to grow up.

I would post more pictures but I'm starting to wonder if I should start to make them click-able instead of embedding them into the
thread. I know for some that it can take some time for the page to load and add overall clutter.

iPerculate said:

I start them off in 18 oz solo cups with holes cut in the bottom, and from there into the 3 gal fabric pots

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That would save one transplanting for me. One thing that I do with the plastic solo cups is cut from one of the holes at the bottom most of the way up. You can lift the edge and check the roots occasionally. Put a rubber ban around it and there's no problem with it coming open. That;s just what I do.

Can't wait to see this grow, it's the nicest manifold I've seen.

Update with some more pics. It's about 5 weeks into veg now. The heavy training really slowed down the growth but it's about time to let them start growing up. I've had to cut a lot of the early growth to shape the plants like this but the structure is very impressive.

The AK48 was topped yesterday for the last time and is still about a week behind the WW. I topped both of it's main shoots back to the 3rd node, and cut fan leaves and shoots off node 2 as well. The shoots from node 1's aren't big enough to tie down yet, probably another couple days.

Wonder Woman again responding very well to training. I cut big fan leaves from both node 3's since last pics. I will soon tie the shoots from node 3's to the vertical part of cage and start spreading them apart as they grow up. Everything is tied down in a way so that all 8 shoots are all at the same height. I want to get all zip ties attached to the cage soon so I can transplant into the 5 gallon pots and get ready for the flip to flower.

I would trim some of the smaller shoots on the WW growing on each node 1 of node 1, but I am going to use some of them as clones. I will be trimming them from the AK as it grows.

Looks great, following along

I had to look at you pictures before I even read your post. They look really great. Compared to mine yours look great and mine looks only look good. Right now all the ties have been removed and I'm letting it straiten up to make clones. It all has to do with my growing schedule and whether or not the seeds were any good. They came from a grow that went hermie.

I'm building a "cloning cabinet" in the man cave almost as we speak. It should be finished today. That's where I'll keep mother and the clones until they go to the grow room for a fast (I hope) flower. The manifolded plant is about as perfect as as it can get for clones and you end up with a beautiful plant. By the time you get to the fourth topping that's 15 clones and I've been watching the timing of actually taking the clones and they seem to be ready for a five week rotation if you want a perpetual grow. Subcool says you can clone clones and still get good plants. The way he puts it is that they may change a little but not always for the worst.

My mother will still be flowered but I can get 7 good clones so she will have to wait. And for the first time in my life I don't have to worry about where the next smoke is coming from so I can play with my plants just to see what happens. The two little seedlings will be on there way to manifold in a couple of days. All this keeps me well within Oklahoma regs.

Fortionatly, that puts me far enough behind you that I get to watch what happens before it does.

Let's pass the pipe and get back to gardening.

Beachwalker said:

Looks great, following along

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Hay, Beachwalker, I think he's going to end up with a big following. I'm planing to grow along with him.

Why don't you drop a seed and join in?

DancesWithWeeds said:

Hay, Beachwalker, I think he's going to end up with a big following. I'm planing to grow along with him.

Why don't you drop a seed and join in?

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Yes the plant looks nice! This would be a great thread to pin for an example! I'm a big Nirvana fan I've only grown one or two things from them about 3 years ago, but I liked it and ran it for about a year, and recently I've rediscovered them.

I'm going to grow the Blackberry soon and I'm watching the AK in this grow too, I've also got my eye on their Blueberry Kush but I can't find much information on it?

Beachwalker said:

This would be a great thread to pin for an example!

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Hay, @iPerculate, I think you started something here.

Yesterday I transplanted the girls into their final 5 gallon pots and watered them. I ended up cutting all of the zip-ties off and removed the cages during transplant. I was afraid the weight of the cages might break one of the plants if it started to fall. The roots were pretty visible on both plants but definitely more on the WW.

After transplanting, I put the cages back on and pushed them down all the way into the soil. I tied back down the plants but waited until this morning to remove 4 fan leaves from the AK and tie back the 4 side shoots from it. The AK is still pretty far behind the WW and I don't think it will catch up at this point. Next week I will take clones and get ready for flower. The WW pheno looks to be a keeper.

Man, that is a thing of art. My first one isn't very even, and I wish I vegged it bigger. But I really do enjoy this technique. Yours looks great, keep it up, I wanna see it in all of its flowering glory lol.

Looking good. I have to stop on mine. I know they are hermies and two new seeds germinated. These are good seeds and I don't want the pollinated. Everything not already in 12/12 goes in now.

Would you please put something in the picture to compare size to? Like a Bic, Coke can, or...

Hey, what's the name of your lights? Or whats the wall draw?

Sorry for the late reply, I was out of town and have been away from the plants since my last post. While I was gone I had someone come by and water them plain ph'd water and fill up the humidifier. While I greatly appreciate this, it looks like they only watered around the outside of the pots and didn't do it evenly like I normally do.

The WW especially has a lot of really dry dirt around the outside but the inside near the base is still pretty moist. The fan leaves are coning up a little like they normally do when they are thirsty but I will wait another day or 2 before watering. I took a total of 8 clones total from the WW today and trimmed a few other shoots/fan leaves. A little nute burn on the tips coming in so i'll give plain water the next couple times.

The AK has the same situation with the water but still looks good. Also removed fan leaves and shoots from the lower nodes. No clones taken from this one.

@DancesWithWeeds I took some pics with a standard size bic lighter this time.

Vd22 said:

Hey, what's the name of your lights? Or whats the wall draw?

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Viparspectra 450W.

Actual pull from the wall is 200W per light. I have 1 light above each plant right now, may add more for flower.

iPerculate said:

pics with a standard size bic lighter this time.

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Your plants are looking good. Thinks for the lighter. Actually it really helps to have a prospective of the size. It's like when I started growing a few years ago I always thought my plants weren't doing well because I expected them to be a lot larger just from the photos I'd seem.

I am now one full grow behind you. All my plants are hermies so I'm letting them flower and they will be gone and the GR scrubbed to get rid of pollen. I am starting a White Widow and a Gold leaf. The White Widow sprouted this morning. Both those like manifolding.

I am seeing (in my grow) what they mean by by the buds getting smaller each time they are topped. Outside maybe 8 mains but inside only four. I like to experiment, been doing it for more than seventy years. Thanks to my clones this is the first time I have had identical plants to work with. The two from the second node have three mains and the ones from the new mains look a little more normal. So there are two sets of identical plants, right down to the leaf count and size. This gives the opportunity to do different thing to them to see what works the best and that on a very equal grounds.

One of each have the big leafs removed. Right now it appears that the ones with the leafs removed are flowering a little faster with a little bigger flowers. We'll see what happens in a side by side test.

Also, have you noticed the how similar the plants are in size and shape when they are young? That makes me think about prefabbing the trellis for LST.

iPerculate said:

Update with some more pics. It's about 5 weeks into veg now. The heavy training really slowed down the growth but it's about time to let them start growing up. I've had to cut a lot of the early growth to shape the plants like this but the structure is very impressive.

The AK48 was topped yesterday for the last time and is still about a week behind the WW. I topped both of it's main shoots back to the 3rd node, and cut fan leaves and shoots off node 2 as well. The shoots from node 1's aren't big enough to tie down yet, probably another couple days.

Wonder Woman again responding very well to training. I cut big fan leaves from both node 3's since last pics. I will soon tie the shoots from node 3's to the vertical part of cage and start spreading them apart as they grow up. Everything is tied down in a way so that all 8 shoots are all at the same height. I want to get all zip ties attached to the cage soon so I can transplant into the 5 gallon pots and get ready for the flip to flower.

I would trim some of the smaller shoots on the WW growing on each node 1 of node 1, but I am going to use some of them as clones. I will be trimming them from the AK as it grows.

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Looks awesome man! Following