topping

grass hopper · Feb 25, 2017

i have topped outdoors to help control height. indoors have only pinched. i love pinching as gaining 2, 3 or 4 new tops vs 1 is better. am considering topping down 2 or 3 nodes on babies that are 7 or 8 nodes high now. mostly just on the taller ones. my goal is to try and increase base, stalk diameter. thoughts?? thanks..

umbra · Feb 25, 2017

use a fan on the plant. the stress caused by the fan will create stronger roots and a thicker base and stem

RubyRed · Feb 25, 2017

I would not take more than 1/3 of the plant at one time.

tcabs

Kraven · Feb 25, 2017

If running from seed I will always top between the 7th and 10th node depending on what it looks like. But I am specifically trying to attain a certain shape for my girls.

Budlight · Feb 25, 2017

I would have to say I do the same as kraven regardless of whether it's clone or seed I just like to have as many tops as I can Plus you get a little better light penetration because the plants not that tall but they can sure bush out nice almost like two plants in one

grass hopper · Feb 25, 2017

umbra said:
use a fan on the plant. the stress caused by the fan will create stronger roots and a thicker base and stem

thanks umbra, i do have (2) oscillating fans. one on each side of babies. also they have quite thick stalks now. its when they r in the tent, i so wish they all had 1 inch dia. trunks at 3 to 4 ft. ft tall. i do have (2) 14 inch oscillators there as well running on low speed.

thanks kraven, do u usually top just below the highest node?? have u tried topping down 2 to 4 nodes when they r at that height??

thanks bud, i always manage to have some many topped gals. not from my help though. i do usually pinch at about 12 to 14 inches tall..it does help..

again, sure would love to go from 1/2 or 5/8 inch typ. trunk dia., to a 1 inch dia. trunk... always, my larger diameter plants do best..

Kraven · Feb 25, 2017

GH sounds to me like your gonna need to veg a bit longer and do a bit of pinching to get them stout. I'm not one to veg long and usually if running from seed they are flipped by 6 weeks at the latest. I still seem to build a healthy stout plant, but my main stem is prolly 1/2" tops....I just prop my girls up with stakes and they can get as heavy as they wanna

Budlight · Feb 25, 2017

I will have to agree with Kraven you're going to have to veg a little bit longer my stocks are usually anywhere from 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 inches across But like he said it just depends on how long you veg for :48:

grass hopper · Feb 26, 2017

yes, me too. always by 6 weeks. . i tried pinching once when a couple plants were 5 nodes maybe. about 6 inches tall. i ruined the structure and never got any height out of them. just too young, imo. gonna try normal pinching but at 8 or maybe 9 nodes on most gals. (smaller than usual).. also will try topping on a few for a comparison. THANK YOU BOTH!

Hushpuppy · Mar 1, 2017

This is just my experience but I bet the reason (GH) that your plants didn't do right when you topped them young is because they were too Indica in structure for topping/Fimming. It seems like the plants that have that particular "Indica structure" DO NOT like to be trained. The more "Sativa structure" plants take very well to training.

I have topped most of my hybrids around 5th-7th nodes (from seed) in order to get the split trunk. then topped again to create quad then octo. The Goji OG that I grew took fantastically to this process. In fact if you get the same Goji phenol that I had, you will have to prune it to keep the roof on your grow from being pushed open

Budlight · Mar 1, 2017

Hushpuppy I run a deepchunk it's 100% Indica she doesn't mind being talked at all if I wanted her to she could definitely get a lot bigger

Hushpuppy · Mar 1, 2017

GH I have taken plants that were 12-15 inches tall and cut them back to the lowest set of branches and they turned into split trunks over time.

I don't generally top plants that are cloned as they have usually reached sexual maturity and have significantly offset branching. Topping is less beneficial at this point than Fimming in my experience.

Hushpuppy · Mar 1, 2017

Budlight said:
Hushpuppy I run a deepchunk it's 100% Indica she doesn't mind being talked at all if I wanted her to she could definitely get a lot bigger

Yeah Bud I know what yer saying. That "classic Indica structure" isn't an absolute but it is more attributed to the Indica line. Bottom line is some plant strains don't like training while others take to it with joy, and still others have mixed results from it.

Budlight · Mar 1, 2017

Hushpuppy said:
Yeah Bud I know what yer saying. That "classic Indica structure" isn't an absolute but it is more attributed to the Indica line. Bottom line is some plant strains don't like training while others take to it with joy, and still others have mixed results from it.

I will have to won hundred percent agree with you I guess because if I look at my one widows the wrong way that's it she stops growing

grass hopper · Mar 1, 2017

Always learning here..Indoor Topping is a strain to strain crap shoot. thanks!!

Kraven · Mar 1, 2017

HP I have messed with a ton of strains across the board over the last 30 years as I assume you have too? I have never had an issue with topping anything I was growing if needed to be topped. I wonder why you had issues? Can you expand more on your experiences please ?

Hushpuppy · Mar 2, 2017

I haven't grown as long, only in the last 10 years. But I have had a couple plant strains that grew straight up like tobacco stalks regardless of the training that I used (didn't try scrog on them). I know one was a Blue Mystic phenol and one was a Master Kush(I think, been years ago). I have also read from others who had the more squatty structure with fat "Indica" leaves that had problems of the plants not responding well to topping.

I don't think its as much a crap shoot as it is just some strains or phenotypes just don't take to it. Its probably more often than not that training causes no issues, especially with the hybrids. As long as the plants are healthy, I try it. I have never had it kill any plants, they just didn't respond to it.

Kraven · Mar 2, 2017

Interesting information. I had not ran across something like this, thanks for the insight. It's good to know that sometimes you might not get the intended results.

grass hopper · Mar 2, 2017

Kraven said:
Interesting information. I had not ran across something like this, thanks for the insight. It's good to know that sometimes you might not get the intended results.

the 2 young plants i screwed up by topping too young (i think), then had much more sideways growth instead of normal vertical growth. where i always seem to be SOG, they got lost and never could keep up with the crowd. this happened with a couple plants that re vegged on me as well. lost most vertical growth (outdoors)..

Kraven · Mar 2, 2017

Thats kinda the point....to promote vigorous side branching w/o much more height. There is a "too early" time in my book. 10 nodes high and then cut back to 7th node take the bottom 2 nodes off and you have 10 "shoots" to effectively work with...I like 6 mains so it gives me 4 I can remove if some don't make it into the sweet spot. I would not top OD let them do what nature intended and support the heck outta them. Just my .02

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