A lot of info easily obtainable these days I found out myself years ago, when no info on growing was available.
Topping is one of these.
Early 70's--me and my friend R-dog had half a dozen plants growing near a stream deep in the woods, beyond remote.
One day in the early summer, hiking near our grow, we noticed some blackberry bushes--full of plump delicious blackberries.
We ate our fill and the next time we went we brought several containers and spent a few hours filling them up. We beought them home, made mixed drinks (tequilla & blackberries in a blender) and turned the rest over to the womenfolk to make pies, pancakes, ice cream, etc.
The next time we went out we came to our plants and recoiled in horror.
Deer had bitti\en the top off 5 of the 6 plants and muched on almoist every branch.
The plants were still alive but ravaged.
We figured it was kharma. We ate something of theirs (blackberries) and in returned they ate something that was ours.
We erected a crude fence to prevent further predation.
The, over the next few weeks we noticed 2 branches growing from every branch the deer munched.
Within a month the plants that had been muched were bigger and way bushier that the one plant that they deer hadn't gotten to.
Talking to the only other grower I knew I found out the same thing had happened to several of the plants he had in his backyard, muched on my his pet rabbit that had gotten out of it's cage.
The plants of ours that had been munched grew lots more buds that the unmunched one.
The next year we topped branches from several of that years grow and found the same thing happened.
And a technique was born.
(Actually I'm sure other people had noticed the same thing for thousands of years, but it had been unknown to us.
NOTE:
This is a technique that for the most part doesn't increase yield in indoor gardens.
The plant needs a few weeks and extra energy to grow exctra branches and produce more yield.
That means you need to add add'l lights, water, container size & nutrients. Indoors, topping means more but smaller buds--the same yield by weight of an untopped plant.
Outdoors however, the longer growing season gives the plants extra time to heal and produce more branches/big-ass buds.
They have all the extra light they require (the sun) and planted in the ground container size isn't a problem.
Topping also helps conceal the plant. Shorter it's less noticable, and it eliminates the classic "x-mas tree" shape of marijuana plants.
For decades after our discovery we topped all our plants. Now however I grow legally in my back yard, inside a chain-link enclosure, surrounded by motion detector lights and an alarm that sounds both in the garden area and in the house, and last year I set-up a wireless videocam, just to be 100% safe.
But I still let at least 1/2 of my plants remain untopped.
Cause I LIKE the x-mas tree shape.
Topping is one of these.
Early 70's--me and my friend R-dog had half a dozen plants growing near a stream deep in the woods, beyond remote.
One day in the early summer, hiking near our grow, we noticed some blackberry bushes--full of plump delicious blackberries.
We ate our fill and the next time we went we brought several containers and spent a few hours filling them up. We beought them home, made mixed drinks (tequilla & blackberries in a blender) and turned the rest over to the womenfolk to make pies, pancakes, ice cream, etc.
The next time we went out we came to our plants and recoiled in horror.
Deer had bitti\en the top off 5 of the 6 plants and muched on almoist every branch.
The plants were still alive but ravaged.
We figured it was kharma. We ate something of theirs (blackberries) and in returned they ate something that was ours.
We erected a crude fence to prevent further predation.
The, over the next few weeks we noticed 2 branches growing from every branch the deer munched.
Within a month the plants that had been muched were bigger and way bushier that the one plant that they deer hadn't gotten to.
Talking to the only other grower I knew I found out the same thing had happened to several of the plants he had in his backyard, muched on my his pet rabbit that had gotten out of it's cage.
The plants of ours that had been munched grew lots more buds that the unmunched one.
The next year we topped branches from several of that years grow and found the same thing happened.
And a technique was born.
(Actually I'm sure other people had noticed the same thing for thousands of years, but it had been unknown to us.
NOTE:
This is a technique that for the most part doesn't increase yield in indoor gardens.
The plant needs a few weeks and extra energy to grow exctra branches and produce more yield.
That means you need to add add'l lights, water, container size & nutrients. Indoors, topping means more but smaller buds--the same yield by weight of an untopped plant.
Outdoors however, the longer growing season gives the plants extra time to heal and produce more branches/big-ass buds.
They have all the extra light they require (the sun) and planted in the ground container size isn't a problem.
Topping also helps conceal the plant. Shorter it's less noticable, and it eliminates the classic "x-mas tree" shape of marijuana plants.
For decades after our discovery we topped all our plants. Now however I grow legally in my back yard, inside a chain-link enclosure, surrounded by motion detector lights and an alarm that sounds both in the garden area and in the house, and last year I set-up a wireless videocam, just to be 100% safe.
But I still let at least 1/2 of my plants remain untopped.
Cause I LIKE the x-mas tree shape.
