did i top to early?

NexusLH · Jun 25, 2025

Hey y'all. I was just wondering if I topped my plant too early? I topped at the top of the 3rd node a couple of days ago, and I have not noticed any signs of stress, which is good, but maybe did some damage in the long run. This is my first grow, so any input would help. Thanks!

mancorn · Jun 25, 2025

Your first node was a single bladed leaf, and the 2nd, 3 bladed. So looks like you actually topped after the 5 node.

Gmix · Jun 25, 2025

Well I don’t top however it looks ok

Ninjadogma · Jun 25, 2025

Is that a Blackberry Kush? Looks like it's off to a fantastic start. I've always heard wait until the 5th node to top but I've done it down at the 3rd node too for a lanky stretchy bitch or two that I wanted bushy. The reason to wait is so that they have adequate roots to handle the stress. I'm of the mindset you can start to top, train or repot once it's come out of the stall and starts showing rapid growth. Time is probably an okay indicator being somewhere around week 4, but they don't all follow a standard time line and they don't all stall either. So a better standard is once a plant has at least 5 nodes, there's enough root growth and enough node sites to throw a branch or two off of them.

mancorn · Jun 25, 2025

Ninjadogma said:
there's enough root growth and enough node sites to throw a branch or two off of them.

Yeah it doesn’t make much sense to top if all the lower branches have been removed. The whole point in topping is to disrupt the auxin hormone production in the growing tip, which then allows the lower lateral branches to grow. So in OP case with such a short plant, waiting until 6 or 7th node might be more effective, but they risk running out of head room in the stretch. With 6 growing tips as opposed to 1 .

NexusLH · Jun 25, 2025

Ninjadogma said:
Is that a Blackberry Kush? Looks like it's off to a fantastic start. I've always heard wait until the 5th node to top but I've done it down at the 3rd node too for a lanky stretchy bitch or two that I wanted bushy. The reason to wait is so that they have adequate roots to handle the stress. I'm of the mindset you can start to top, train, or repot once it's come out of the stall and starts showing rapid growth. Time is probably an okay indicator being somewhere around week 4, but they don't all follow a standard time line and they don't all stall either. So a better standard is once a plant has at least 5 nodes, there's enough root growth and enough node sites to throw a branch or two off of them.

it's rainbow unicorn. I got a couple of seeds from a plant my buddy grew and wanted to give it a try. I'm not working with much height, so I'm trying to keep them short and bushy. I started them about 6-7 weeks ago, so I still have a long way to go, but all in all, I enjoy watching the growth day after day. I also have a couple outdoors as well, and it is so interesting to see the difference in growth rate and size.

TannedViking · Jun 26, 2025

No damage, but topping when the sidebranches are the size of the middle ones (or even a bit bigger) is preferable so growth won't stunt. When the new branches are still just little dots it's gonna take a while to establish them as new branches.

They look healthy :D those are some thicc leafs

Natep · Jun 26, 2025

Looks good to me. Pretty much the same way I usually do

LoveGrowingIt · Jun 26, 2025

NexusLH said:
Hey y'all. I was just wondering if I topped my plant too early? I topped at the top of the 3rd node a couple of days ago, and I have not noticed any signs of stress, which is good, but maybe did some damage in the long run. This is my first grow, so any input would help. Thanks!

I'm sure it will be okay. There are many ways to grow a cannabis plant. Sometimes I top low and sometimes I top high. Sometimes I top the tops. Sometimes I wait till the branches start alternating. I'm doing that now. If I haven't grown the strain before, I like to see how the plant is inclined to grow before doing extensive pruning. The main idea is to have many tops (aka, colas). That's where the best buds grow. So, I suggest watching it grow to see if you like it come harvest time. Then, next time, try something different.

Ninjadogma · Jun 26, 2025

LoveGrowingIt said:
I'm sure it will be okay. There are many ways to grow a cannabis plant. Sometimes I top low and sometimes I top high. Sometimes I top the tops. Sometimes I wait till the branches start alternating. I'm doing that now. If I haven't grown the strain before, I like to see how the plant is inclined to grow before doing extensive pruning. The main idea is to have many tops (aka, colas). That's where the best buds grow. So, I suggest watching it grow to see if you like it come harvest time. Then, next time, try something different.

Damn straight they all grow different, even the same pheno with different roots has its own grow identity. Picked up two new clones to look at last month, the Banana OG is reaching for the sky and the Grape Pie is acting like it wants to be ground cover... Yet the clones I took off them look like twins.

GeorgeJ10 · Jun 27, 2025

Hey! Topping at the 3rd node is early, but not necessarily bad, lots of growers do it to keep plants short and bushy. If your plant isn’t showing stress, that’s a great sign. Just give it some time to recover and keep an eye on new growth. You’re doing fine for a first grow!

NexusLH said:
Hey y'all. I was just wondering if I topped my plant too early? I topped at the top of the 3rd node a couple of days ago, and I have not noticed any signs of stress, which is good, but maybe did some damage in the long run. This is my first grow, so any input would help. Thanks!

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did i top to early?

did i top to early?

NexusLH

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Gmix

Ninjadogma

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TannedViking

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