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How To Create A Manifold And What To Do Next

Written by Ed Rushford Sep 29 2022

Every gardener’s objective is to raise the total productivity of their cannabis plants, which is why there are so many different cannabis plant training strategies. Manifolding is a typical technique used by many gardeners. Additionally, a cannabis manifold is a very effective method of training plants to produce enormous quantities of the most attractive bud.

An overview of manifolding cannabis

Manifolding is a plant training strategy that stimulates many bud locations in your cannabis. The procedure entails developing a cannabis manifold, a branch structure generated by repeatedly topping your plants. Topping is closely linked to manifolding since it is required to achieve the distinctive branch arrangement for which this crop training technique is known.

What is a manifold
What is a manifold?

Topping your cannabis plants entails removing the apical bud, the uppermost growth. To achieve the most outstanding results while manifolding, you must repeat this process at least 2-3 times, which is where many of the worries about manifolding come from. Cannabis might respond poorly to pruning and get stressed since it includes removing valuable plant materials they may require to thrive.

Manifold vs. mainline

Manifold and mainline training techniques are both for producing plants with eight main branches or colas. To create eight equal main branches or “colas,” the plant is topped three times at symmetrical nodes. Manifold training creates eight primary branches with just two tops by retaining four branches on each side of the cannabis plant during the second topping.

Benefits of manifolding cannabis plants

Higher yields

Manifolding is one of the most dependable means of generating improved yields from your cannabis plants. It fosters robust vegetative development and increases the number of bud sites on your crops through a straightforward step-by-step approach that requires topping and training. Harvesting manifold plants will yield at least 40% more than harvesting regular-grown cannabis. It also helps that manifolding isn’t as dangerous as some people make it out to be, although it is a high-stress training technique. There will be no losses if you complete the steps correctly and pick the correct strain for the manifold.

Better ventilation

Another advantage of manifolding is that it improves plant ventilation, which is critical for cannabis, particularly its buds. Having better-ventilated plants prevents mold and other fungal infections from tainting your crops. Bud rot and other cannabis illnesses are also less likely to emerge on your plants. Furthermore, because there is less plant material to dry and the buds dry more uniformly, manifold plants are less vulnerable to mold during the drying and curing process. Manifolding improves the safety, ease, and speed of the post-harvest process.

Easier harvest

Cannabis manifolding facilitates the complete harvest. You would also follow the directions for simple harvesting while cultivating manifold cannabis. Pruning and defoliating are crucial phases in the manifolding of cannabis. When your cannabis crops are ready to be harvested, you won’t have any trouble pruning them because there won’t be much foliage to remove. You spare yourself the difficult chore of cutting your buds by straining yourself during the growing phase, including pruning and defoliating your plants.

Simplicity

Manifolding is a straightforward form of plant training when compared to other approaches. It consists of two steps: topping and training. Topping is a simple process that entails removing the apical bud of your plants to facilitate lateral branch development. Meanwhile, training your plants entails urging them to grow in a specific direction. It is essential to ensure that your primary stems grow outwards rather than upwards while manifolding. These two processes are straightforward since there are no “judgment calls” on how and when to do them.

Necessities for manifolding your cannabis plants

You’ll need two items before you can multiply your plants. The first is high-quality grow lights. Small LEDs and fluorescent lights will not suffice since they are insufficiently powerful to penetrate and provide sufficient light to your plants. Instead, use metal halide, high-pressure sodium, or a light-emitting ceramic system (LEC). The second factor is space. When you manifold the cannabis plants, you spread out the main branches to provide them equal quantities of light while avoiding overpopulation. You’d need a lot of space in your indoor garden for this. Other tools required are;

  1. Pruning scissors: Pruning scissors are a tool you will frequently use during this procedure. You’ll use them to top the cannabis plants to multiply them.
  2. Soft ties: To get the varied form you like for your plants, bind down the branches using soft garden ties.
  3. Grafting tapes: A grafting tape is helpful when mistakenly trimming a section of your plant that you shouldn’t have. It can aid in the reassembly of the two components.
  4. Training pots: A training pot is any grow pot with rim holes. If you don’t have any stakes, these holes can be used to anchor your garden ties.

How to manifold cannabis plants

Manifolding is a time-consuming and repetitive procedure, some of which you may overlook or do incorrectly.

How to manifold cannabis

Here’s how to appropriately manifold your plants.

Topping

To begin the manifolding procedure, you must first top your plants. But first, before you top your plants, ensure they have at least 5-6 nodes. You want to have adequate branches after you top your plants since proper topping necessitates removing the upper growth of your plant beginning at the third node.

Training

After you’ve finished topping your plants, use the soft garden ties to secure the main branches. Stakes can be used as anchors, or if using a training pot, fasten the ties to the holes on the rim.

Topping (again), defoliation, and pruning

Top the cannabis plant once the two branches have developed into new main stems. Remove any unwanted growths after topping by defoliating and trimming. The foliage under the manifold and big fan leaves are examples of needless growth.

Flowering and training (again)

Before you begin blooming, train the branches of the plants to spread outwards so that all of the colas on your manifold cannabis receive equal quantities of light. It is also a method of avoiding overpopulation. Once your plants have reached the correct height and spacing, you may turn on the light cycle in your indoor garden to begin flowering.

Defoliation and pruning (again)

When your plants reach the blooming stage, they are no longer concerned with creating new leaves; therefore, you should avoid over-pruning them. It is, nevertheless, vital to defoliate and trim your plants so that foliage such as substantial fan leaves do not obstruct your buds.

Final defoliation and pruning

The final step is removing any vast fan leaves obscuring your buds. While this may appear excessive, it is necessary to ensure that your buds receive adequate light and good air circulation.

The ideal time to manifold your cannabis plants

When your plants have 5-6 nodes, it is time to manifold them. You can guarantee that your plants recover rapidly after being top in this manner. If you top your plants too soon, you may inhibit their development. Another reason for waiting till your cannabis plants have enough nodes is to ensure you have adequate leaves. To construct a manifold, you must remove the plant’s uppermost growths, which is everything starting from the third node. Furthermore, waiting until your plant has developed enough nodes ensures that the leftover branches develop sufficiently to produce new main stems after the plant is topped.

Can you manifold autoflower cannabis seeds?

Although it is feasible to manifold autoflowers, professionals do not recommend it. Time is one of the most critical aspects of manifolding. All high-stress plant training methods need a recovery interval, which autoflower strains, because of their short growing time, lack. Another crucial aspect of manifolding is selecting healthy and vigorous plants. While autoflowers tolerate unexpected temperature changes well, the same cannot be accurate for topping them. Pruning causes most autoflowers to blossom prematurely as a reaction to stress.

Is the manifold method appropriate for novices?

It is. Manifolding has specific directions to follow and does not rely on intuition or experience. However, if you are new to manifolding, you should first undertake low-stress training (LST). Because manifolding is sometimes regarded as an LST, it will help you get the necessary experience.

Limitations of manifolding cannabis

There is one thing that every high-stress plant training has in common. The first thing is that they tend to add a week or two to the growing time of your plants. Your cannabis needs time to recuperate, which means prolonging the vegetatve stage of the plants by either maintaining a 16/8 light/dark cycle or selecting a strain with a longer vegging duration. Manifolding is time-consuming and, at times, tiresome, increasing the growing time of your plants. The last disadvantage of manifolding is that it generates stress, like all plant training procedures involving trimming. Of course, this stress is beneficial since it causes your plants to develop more aggressively in reaction to the stress. However, this might backfire if you choose to multiply plants that can’t tolerate too much stress or plants that are weak after an occurrence (either recovering from infestation or disease).

Manifolding is a high-stress plant training method that allows your cannabis plants to produce more. It’s one of the few plant training techniques used on autoflowers (as long as you choose the right strain). However, selecting the optimal strain for manifolding should not be limited to autoflowers. When planning to produce plants for training, evaluate the strain and only choose the finest grade genetics.

Ed Rushford

Ed Rushford’s impact on cannabis growing is undeniable. Though he tends to focus primarily on 2 areas, plant training techniques and dealing with disease, pests, and other problems, he has offered many insights into how cannabis plants live and grow. That’s not to say that Ed is unfamiliar with the complete life cycle of cannabis, from seed to harvest, but he uses his widespread knowledge to hone in on the minutia and niche areas of growing cannabis. Ed’s goal is to spread knowledge and allow for everyone to become better growers. About this Author

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