extreme topping as in cutting off whole top plant.

[chillin hard]

well i heard from a old man back 2 mnths ago and he told me a story about marijuana and explained it to me that how it is a weed and what do we do with weeds we cut them down right?? well i let my plant grow to about a month old and did exactly as the guy said and cut it at the main stem:sick0004: and left the 2 lower main leave branches to branch off i couldnt of been more suprised at what happened. my plant has branched off after a month in a half to have amazing growth and i mean this has a stem thick and full i wanna see if anybody has done this before and had any success?:bubblez: ill post pics soon

 

[l0g1c4l]

Hey farmer...that is known as topping your plant. You will find insane amounts of information on this in basic growing forum, and an amazing thread on Low Stress Training (LST). And everyone loves to see pics

 

[farmerjohn]

I think he means it was an extreme topping! Like almost cutting it down! I've had 'em by accident, by design & by act of God & animal. Yes, they are weeds, but no I don't suggest just hacksawing every strain, every plant, every time. Many strains are going to respond less favorably to a complete lobotomy. Stunted growth, hermies & disease are all possible with chain sawing major portions of the plant away! LST was developed to give results without so much stress & damage to the plants & is certainly worth a look-see for anyone who wants to train 'em for max yield & glowing health. They tend to go hand in hand, anyway, do they not?

 

[Seamaiden]

I have not had many plants that didn't respond well to a good pruning or haircut. Topping implies something else, but when done with a young Mary, it's never proven to be a problem. What I have had trouble with are some girls who flat out refused to respond to topping and simply became Christmas trees, no matter what I did to try to get them to bush out.

 

[Xceptional]

i guess it depends on what you are after. if you are looking to just create the most absolute kick ass looking plant it may have some benifits depending on how the plant reacts but for me i dont think something that extreme makes sense. the amount of veg time and recovery time from such a major high stress technique seems to add weeks or even a month or more to the plants grow time. over a year peroid it seems like not doing this would yield you more because you could grow more plants in the same amount of time.

i just try to take as many cuts from my mom that are structured like a topped plant and then top them once and call them good. got 6 nice colas off my last plant doing this and since it was only one topping just a few nodes down the stress and recovery time was minimal.

interested in seeing what the outcome of this is though still so post some pics and updates if you dont mind. especially how long you vegged before you hacked it and then how long it took to recover and grow again to the desired height to then flip to flower (ie the overall veg time and the height at flip).

 

[edux10]

well i heard from a old man back 2 mnths ago and he told me a story about marijuana and explained it to me that how it is a weed and what do we do with weeds we cut them down right?? well i let my plant grow to about a month old and did exactly as the guy said and cut it at the main stem:sick0004: and left the 2 lower main leave branches to branch off i couldnt of been more suprised at what happened. my plant has branched off after a month in a half to have amazing growth and i mean this has a stem thick and full i wanna see if anybody has done this before and had any success?:bubblez: ill post pics soon

also remember, with topping it leaves you with a good part of the plant to make a clone with or even a few clones depending on how much you cut.

I have been messing around with the fim tek, or as some say pinching. you cant really take a clone after you cut, but if you do it right you will get a bunch of branches coming out of where you pinch. The idea is to just pinch the top where new growth is growing. At the top there is basically a bunch of nodes compacted and as the plant grows they strecth out and piles on more nodes and keeps growing. Just use your fingernails and pinch thru the tops where the new nodes are forming and you will really be cutting thru several at once (because they are all compacted still) and you will get like 3-5, maybe more depending, tops comming out of there.

Then it is time for some LST.

 

[jaredman]

That sounds really extreme. I pinched the tops of my plants and they all got like 2-4 extra tops now. That is what I would do instead of whack the whole plant.

 

[farmerjohn]

Yes, pinching is in vogue right now & the reason is as simple as, done right you can just about triple the amount of bud sites @ the most critical spot. Right on top!

Recover is slow from these radical HSTs, in many cases, as X stated. An example from nature. I left 5 Silver Pearl clones outside & the coons or the like ripped them stem to stern! One was lost, but I replanted 4 others & they are recovering in the infirmary. They are doing great, short, squat, bushy, but it's been a month & they are about 8" tall.

 

[420king-spaded]

hell ya thats what i was taught to do and about a week or 2 after that cut we start tying back her branches [lst] and they turn bushy as all hell my boy masses who got banned for voicing an opinion taught me that shit oh and seamaiden masses says whats up brotha hows the grow and all the best karma and vibes to you and your garden

 

[slimjoint]

i just cloned a plant from seed, i left a few nodes at the bottom the top half was empty so i cut the stem and gave him a 4inchstem with side branches that were cloned but i left a node and that thing just took off , it looked like a stem with a couple leaves now that thing is getting huge bigger than it was when i had it before him.

 

[RevRhino]

Growing marijuana should be fun! Everyone isn't going to grow it the same, never have. Some people want quantity, some people want quality, some people want both, and some people just experiment with plant.
I have dabbled in growing marijuana for the last 30 years, and when I say dabbled, I am no "expert", I do what I do and it works for me. I have, from time to time, eliminated the main stem, on purpose, and still had good results. Could I have used a different technique and had a larger yield? Probably, but you can do well with extreme topping as well.
Energy that would go to the top will just be split up the two branches that are left to split, and you end up with a more candleabra look. I won't say it's my favorite method, but I do it occasionally. Happy grow