Topping

[BuddhaBuds]

A little more than a month after planting and the little rascals are looking fine. Getting lots of sunlight and rain, they're about 16" tall. They appear to be dominantly sativa.

If I want them to be shorter and bushier, would now be a good time to top them?

Thanks for the advice,

Buddha Bud

[GanjaGuru]

Don't top them.
They are about to start flowering and they need all the stored energy they have to accomplish this.
Top them now and you'll lose yield.

[BuddhaBuds]

Thanks for your reply,

Are you sure they're about to flower? There is still a lot of new growth on them. They have not begun to show their sex at all. And I am pretty near the equator where there is almost always equal light/darkness.

It was my understanding that in conditions like this, the plant would be less likely to be triggered by amount of light, and more so by genetics i.e. once it has grown a particular amount.

I was execting at least another 2 months of growth before pre-flowering.
(Noting that they were only planted about 1 month ago)

What do you think?

Buddha Bud

[GanjaGuru]

I don't know what kind of strain your growing; auto-flowering needs to be in the plants genetics.
Inotherwords, I don't think a strain the requires a light difference would work at the equator.
Or if it did it wouldn't yield much.
I think it would have to be a strain adapted to equatorial conditions.