Do u prefer topping or bending the tops??

[theslums]

curious about topping my plants or bending the tops over. does it slow down the veg stage of the plant?? will it have to veg longer? any input will help thanks

 

[nog]

i used to top plants, lately i have tried supper cropping, and the results are better than topping.
some strains respond better than others, ive been doing it on sativas to keep the hight down.
there are some good vids on youtube.

 

[scrapiron]

I top at around the 4th or 5th node, them bend later on. Topping will stunt growth for a week or 2. Bending is low stress and wont slow growth down very much if at all.
It is all in what you are looking for. Topping will split the cola into 2 colas. Bending is done to expose the inner branch to light from a different angle, which promotes growth at each node.
Research fimming. I use it instead of topping with better results (3 to 4 colas) and it is lower stress as well.

 

[STUPPA]

I would top it at 5-6 nodes ,then as the branches grow up i will pull the highest ones down by tying them up and pulling down towards the pot to let all the other branches grow up more , and then i'll keep repeating this so all the branches are growing to equal lengths.

Then the most important bit ! 7-10 days before i go 12/12 i cut all the branches back hard , this will force the plant to produce alot more branching in early flowering .

If everything goes to plan i should have dozens of equally sized colas and a plant that will be alot shorter than it would be if i had'nt cut everything back .
Doing this means all the branches get the maximum amount of light possible.

like these 2 plant's:

 

[theslums]

those 2 plants are ridiculous! what stage were they in and what strain is that ?

 

[billybadazz]

I top 5-6 node then about 2 or so weeks later fim them. then super crop them about 2 weeks b4 flowermakes for a respectable yield on my low yielding strains. I veg for 8 weeks

 

[TheCoolestMan]

simailar techniques here FIM + lst and suppercropping. Wonderfull job STUPPA i will keep this in mind bro

 

[JayBee]

First, Stupa, that is an awesome pic.

I usually top and then lst. However in my opinion it is the LST that makes biggest difference in terms of yeild

 

[BC_Bud]

hey STUPPA, those plants look beautiful! awesome job!

I personally have been only bending and pinching them instead of cutting the tops. But Topping also works great, strain dependant.

 

[STUPPA]

those 2 plants are ridiculous! what stage were they in and what strain is that ?

These were just about to be chopped after 70 odd days flowering. The strain is UK G , both of these were grown in 40 litre pots with pure coco and bottom fed for the duration .

They did get a bit of a longer veg then i would normally give them hence the ridiculous height ,but this strain is really stretchy anyway and if had'nt cut them back before flower they would have gone into orbit :)

This one is probably a better example of cutting bak hard before going 12/12 and how it can control height :

That one is AK-47 (serious) BTW

 

[TheCoolestMan]

Sick lol what do u mean by cut them back? i dont get it

 

[STUPPA]

Sick lol what do u mean by cut them back? i dont get it

Well it's quite simple really you just cut the ends off the branches before you go 12/12 . It's alot more brutal than say pinching the top off the plant or topping as some people call it ,you really have to hack it like a mad man and take a fair amount off each branch.

I wish i had some pics of the plants before and after they were cut back then you could really see how much has been cut off .On my next run i will do before and afters as that will probably explain it better than words could .

It seems crazy to do it at first and you are left with a pretty sorry looking plant after hacking away at it but they just branch out so much in the first 2-3 weeks of flowering it's def worth it .

think of the effect that simple topping has on the structure of a plant compared to an un-topped plant , this cut-back is just the same only more severe and you are taking advantage of the growth spurt in early flowering aswell.

I hope some of that made sense LOL :) i'm not the best at explaining thing's .

 

[theslums]

stuppa i have an ak47 in veg right now jus bent top over so other nodes can grow in. this strain has alot of branches

 

[DazedNconfussed]

hell I LST, fim/top, and super crop. First I LST and bend them over, then maybe a week later fim or top (nearly every branch tip) a few times, then supercrop the taller branches to give lower ones a boost.

 

[TheCoolestMan]

Well it's quite simple really you just cut the ends off the branches before you go 12/12 . It's alot more brutal than say pinching the top off the plant or topping as some people call it ,you really have to hack it like a mad man and take a fair amount off each branch.

I wish i had some pics of the plants before and after they were cut back then you could really see how much has been cut off .On my next run i will do before and afters as that will probably explain it better than words could .

It seems crazy to do it at first and you are left with a pretty sorry looking plant after hacking away at it but they just branch out so much in the first 2-3 weeks of flowering it's def worth it .

think of the effect that simple topping has on the structure of a plant compared to an un-topped plant , this cut-back is just the same only more severe and you are taking advantage of the growth spurt in early flowering aswell.

I hope some of that made sense LOL :) i'm not the best at explaining thing's .

Damn STUPPA im surprise by this technique actualy i never heard of such thing befor. Is it not too much of stress for the plant? reason im asking is once i pulled off a branche from a plant and she started to show a few nanners after that.

By the look of lant apparently they are more than fine ;)

I want to try this on my next run since i love veging for 8 weeks and using 20 liter bags. What do us to take off those top?

 

[paulycali]

with all that was said! things i do to my plants to get them ready for flowering are pretty much the FIM, Bending, and tying down. I stopped topping since theres no reason to lose your top branches when you can just FIM cut them. i think the best way to veg your plants is in order. 1st FIM cut the main top, then start bending and tying your branches to your pots or however you want to do them. then once the lower branches reach the heaight of the FIM cut, the top should be healed and now have at least 4 colas, plus all the lower branches are now at the top to. make that a dozen tops. then you re adjust your string since much of the plant has grown and now ty it at the closest node to the top of each branch. continue tying and exposing the inside of the plant while making the plant more like a bush with an even canopy till your ready to flower. then i lollipop them and send them into flowering

 

[STUPPA]

stuppa i have an ak47 in veg right now jus bent top over so other nodes can grow in. this strain has alot of branches

Oh nice one man i love a bit of Ak-47 :rauch08:, and yep they can be pretty branchy and also very leafy , i could not believe the amount of leaf mine produced, i was constantly cutting leaves off almost everyday it seemed . All those leafs can become a prob in late flowering cos they can cause mold.

Have you topped the main stem then mate ? cos i would do that first then allow the branches grow up a bit and then start training the highest ones. That's what i'd suggest anyway

You'll find it starts to get too crowded in the canopy ,that's when you start training the other branches to spread them out a bit ,like what paulycali is saying above.

good luck with AK anyway dude.

 

[STUPPA]

Damn STUPPA im surprise by this technique actualy i never heard of such thing befor. Is it not too much of stress for the plant? reason im asking is once i pulled off a branche from a plant and she started to show a few nanners after that.

By the look of lant apparently they are more than fine ;)

I want to try this on my next run since i love veging for 8 weeks and using 20 liter bags. What do us to take off those top?

Yeah i was very dubious about it at first and it felt wrong to massacre my pride and joy but it does work , although i should say i think this technique is better suited to larger plants and prob is'nt going to work with small plants, like in a SOG with hardly any veg.

It is great for a long veg tho and also for very stretchy strains.
I would love to take it to extreme's and actually cut back TWICE on a long veg period to get a super branchy beast of a plant :) , i might just try that next time round :thinking

The guy who showed me this rekons that you can leave the cut back even as late as the end of the first week of 12/12 and it will still work good .I think it's best to do it just before tho ,but thats just my opinion.

i dont think it could stress the plant in a bad way unless the plant was very unhealthy ,then maybe it would'nt be a such a good idea to hack it to bits LOL.

 

[TheCoolestMan]

i can't wait to see this in details bro...

 

[ent]

I top. Most people will LST, top, FIM, supercrop, etc to help create multiple tops and bush the plant out. That's not why I do it. I do it to allow the root system to be larger than the plant needs for its size.

I veg for a 2-3 weeks from a rooted clone and allow my plants to get a very good root system and to a height of about a foot to a foot and a half. Then i chop them about in half. Veg for another 2-3 days and switch them to 12/12. The point is to create a larger root to plant ratio at the expense of a larger veg time (overlap batches sooner). I then grow in a somewhat SOG environment, 18 plants per 4x8 or 32 plants per 5x10 finishing in 3.5 gallon containers. Tops galore. Even canopy. Yields through the roof.