Ready for topping??? Maybe...

[walkerluke]

Hi everyone,
So I'm almost to my fourth week of growing, and as you can tell by the pics the plants are anywhere from 5" to 7" tall right now. I also have a pic of the number of nodes, and I have a pic that shows where I think I'm supposed to cut my plants. So, do I cut the yellow or blue wire??? I'm not sure if I should cut the whole top, where I have the yellow line, or just the little bit of the very top leaves that are growing (the blue line). Thanks for your help.

 

[jmansweed]

nice, descriptive pics man. Usually when I top my plants I do it at your yellow line. This forces growth hormones to the branches and create the bush your probably looking for. There is a method known as the "FIM" where the growing shoot is sliced around your blue line that results in multiple growing shoots. I normally "top" my plants but if your looking for more budding sites "FIM" is what your looking for. No matter the method, indoors production is measued in grams per watt so regardless of bud sites the average grower acheives similar production results with either methods Good luck

 

[dirtyolsouth]

Sure you can top it now but I'd wait another week to 10 days. There is some research that shows that any stress in the weeks 3-4 in particular can adversely affect seedling becoming male plants so I'd wait until half way through the 5th week or so if I were you.

If you pinch at the yellow line you'll be topping the plant the the top 2 nodes will grow in a V away from the mainstem and become the dominant branches. If you cut at the blue line I believe you'll be FIMMING the grow tip and it will split into 4 or more branches.

At around 5 and a half weeks I prefer to top (yellow line) the plants. After pinching, if I want to take some clones from the plant I'd just let it grow for a while until the lower branches are large enough for clones. If you plan on flowering the seedling you many want to take a clone when you top to keep vegging for future use as a mother or clone for flowering. It's much easier to take a clone now than down the road when you see how nice the plant is flowering and want to keep the strain in your garden after the harvest for future grows.

If I top and I don't need to take any clones I prefer to pinch or cut off the bottom 2-4 nodes and I'll keep only the strongest 4-6 nodes to develop into 4-6 branches.

I agree with Jman that just about any method will yield close to the same but what I like about getting rid of many of the lower nodes is it forces the flowering into the remaining upper nodes that are closer to the light and develop more fully. This really cuts down on the trim work and similar results can also be achieved with LST and SCROG techniques.

Happy Growing!

 

[purplephazes]

yeah that in 10 days or so 16 will do ! Then give it a F.I.M !

 

[walkerluke]

Thanks for all your help everyone...looks like topping will commence next week. :hubba:

 

[thedonofchronic]

i usually top my plants when theyre a foot tall about.
just when theyre nice and established. Experiment

 

[min]

yeah, i agree, experiment. I have one of my babez as my experiment, she about 7 wks old and i "topped" her yesterday, she gonna be quite sexy me thinks!

 

[420grower]

why top at all,just bend her over and you will get much better results,you get light to bud nodes,and never stress her at all,I top my outside grows,but only because I don't plant at home and size does matter sometimes,haha,I know thats not the advice you were looking but thats my advice,