Mainline / Manifold

When you mainline you spread out energy from what would have been the main cola to let's say 8 colas... Would these 8 be weaker (for lack of a better word) than if all the energy was focused on a single main cola? Or would the amount of light they are able to receive just bring the 8 up to the same level?

I'm sure that all 8 will not be the size of the main if you left it... You wouldn't get 8x 1 main... However you will yeild much more than one main... And the size isinot much different either. Reasons for not mainlining would be maybe if you grew outside and didn't have time to establish auxiliary bud sites, you could be limited by space or wanting to grow many plants in a small area. Or perhaps you are running auto's and don't have a lot of time to top multiple times. As indoor growers we can manipulate the plants and bulk up to increase yeilds, as you choose when to flower you can wait until you have a strong, even canopy with multiple bud sites. You will be pleased with the end result.

I cant wait. All 3 of my plants have their 5th nodes starting. Wont be long and it begins. It's my first grow so fingers crossed.

Mainlining is a fairly high stress form of training for a first time grower. If you are dead set on giving it a try without any grows under your belt i recommend making absolutely sure you know what you're doing and make sure your plants are super healthy before you begin.

Yeah, if you are at the 5th node now you should be able to make your first top. As nano says you need to be careful and don't try to achieve the perfect 90degree bend off the bat. It takes about a week of slowly tightening up your lines to ensure the long side (external radius) of the stem has time to stretch and compensate for the stress put on it. Don't rush this or you could snap a stem. Snapping a stem would be a big problem on your first couple of bends, effectively halving your potential yeild. When you finally reach flower you can pretty much remove your training wires and it will stay in shape, especially when you have some heavy buds up there. Here's a pic of how mine went. You can see the first pic I bent too hard when the stem was too thick which created a break in the stem wall.. wasn't a big problem but I have had them snap off altogether before.... Best to start training when stems are new and thin but like I said, small incremental steps. Good luck

Thanks for the advice and I will be gentle with them... Its going to workout. I'll post updates when it gets good. My concern isn't handling my plants and keeping them happy and healthy, I have a knock for growing all types of things. (Grew up on a farm) My concern is optimising my limited space. Still researching what I want to do or not do. Mainline is the front runner tho