Help me, Opinions on plant training?

TrillZilla · Jun 13, 2025

I want 8 big beautiful bud colas so I have been mainlining 2 cannabis plants. I've topped them each 4 times so I have 4 main bud sites that I've topped for a final time. But.. I still have 2 other big bottom branches on each plant reaching up towards the light from early LST. I have been efficiently been lollipoping small site branches to put energy to the main colas, but I'm wondering if I should cut them. I guess my main goal is output of good bud. So if I keep them I might have 12 main colas. Should I cut them or keep them?

carlosescobar · Jun 13, 2025

I always cut mine off, the first lowest branch always seem to be tiny , probably from lack of light,. all that energy going into pushing up to the light could be sent to the other sites.

TrillZilla · Jun 13, 2025

carlosescobar said:
I always cut mine off, the first lowest branch always seem to be tiny , probably from lack of light,. all that energy going into pushing up to the light could be sent to the other sites.

I was thinking that but they're the tallest branches on my plants. Would it stress them out cutting them off?

TrillZilla · Jun 13, 2025

carlosescobar · Jun 13, 2025

oh i see now ..i would leave them , when the others catch up you will have a perfect canopy.
are they photoperiod or autos, i flipped mine to flower while they were small because i have learnt they will still stretch quite a bit. like you i am trying to get a lot of energy going to the buds not climbing 4ft of stalk

ArtfulCodger · Jun 13, 2025

It depends on the shape and style you're going for. I top above the second 5-fingered node, which is usually the fourth from the bottom. The third and fourth nodes make the X-shaped skeleton for the plant. I train the second node, which is usually 3-fingered, up the middle to fill in the donut hole left by topping the main stem. I remove the first (usually 1-fingered) node.

JIMKSI64 · Jun 13, 2025

I would not chop those out but I am not going for a specific bud count. Not a thing wrong doing your plant your way. To paraphrase:
I do not agree with what you want to do but will fight for your right to do so!
I just trained my first 4 levels for 8 stem runs on my autos 90 degrees apart. The rest can just grow off!

Grownsince95 · Jun 13, 2025

It depends on the plants so much. You can't mainline some of them unless you have 3 months to veg because they just don't have the side branching structure to do it. Perfect example is my grow right now where 3 of the plants will have 8 tops after 1 topping at the 6th node with zero training or tying and one plant has crappy structure and has been topped twice already because it really wants to be tall and not wide.

Bottom line is for me I never have a set method I do every grow because the plants will dictate what I do to them.

Grownsince95 · Jun 13, 2025

In your case you're not putting any "energy into main colas" because there's no colas there. You have to build the structure for the flowers to grow from later. Every thing you take off the plant now takes away energy making parts and structure. Build the plant first, then break it down.

carlosescobar · Jun 13, 2025

Grownsince95 said:
In your case you're not putting any "energy into main colas" because there's no colas there. You have to build the structure for the flowers to grow from later. Every thing you take off the plant now takes away energy making parts and structure. Build the plant first, then break it down.

thats a good point...do you use silica ?

TrillZilla · Jun 13, 2025

TrillZilla · Jun 13, 2025

This is what I m going for, big beautiful dense buds.

carlosescobar said:
thats a good point...do you use silica ?

What do you mean silica? I use 6-4-5 till flower. And call mag if I see any calcium deficiency

RoadKillSkunkHunt · Jun 13, 2025

TrillZilla said:
This is what I m going for, big beautiful dense buds.

What do you mean silica? I use 6-4-5 till flower. And call mag if I see any calcium deficiency

Silica is usually used to strengthen the plant's cellular structure. I use armor si' starting in veg up until about the third week of flower. I stop using it after the plant has finished its stretch.

Grownsince95 · Jun 13, 2025

carlosescobar said:
thats a good point...do you use silica ?

Yes GH flora trio plus armor si. When flowers start I add diamond nectar and floralicious.

TrillZilla · Jun 13, 2025

Grownsince95 said:
Yes GH flora trio plus armor si. When flowers start I add diamond nectar and floralicious.

Thank you

Help me, Opinions on plant training?

Help me, Opinions on plant training?

TrillZilla

carlosescobar

TrillZilla

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Help me, Opinions on plant training?

Help me, Opinions on plant training?

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