How many tops for an outdoor grow

[weed420420420420420]

i dont think so.

 

[AirHammer]

My guess is dozens on top of dozens of tops. It looks good and branchy with indica influenced bushiness. There will be plenty of main tops, that question doesn't look like that will be any kind of concern ;)

 

[AirHammer]

Is it possible to LST to much?

Yes. Although some strains grow too quickly, and have thicker than average stems. I had to unpin one I was LSTing. And this is before I introduced silicate supplement. In another week or two the branching won't be pliable enough at all.

I did damage the main stock LSTing it. It got a kink in the main stem and that stayed, but the plant has since recovered. Not more LST for this girl, I'm sure I'll snap a big branch if I push my luck.

 

[AirHammer]

Topping is not always beneficial to every strain. Some yes some no. Everyone's results vary of course. Its for learning not for starting any heated debate.

 

[weed420420420420420]

also it doesnt take 1 to 2 weeks to recover. If you top a healthy plant once it usually doesn't even flinch. The leaves are all pointed skyward the next day just the same. And it usually starts putting centimeters on that new growth pretty much straight away.

if you top several times then she might flinch some.

 

[nashobaTHC]

FWIW…you can usually tell if a plant will do well with topping even before you top. After seed growth with 3-4 regular leaf nodes, if side growths appear vigorous and want to sprout before topping, that plant will do well with multiple toppings. If side growths are small or almost non existent, that plant may do poorly with topping and should probably be LST’d only.

 

[PipeCarver]

I have had a few people give me flak over the amount of training done to my outdoor plants.
I have roughly 15-25 tops on all my ladies, I've just fimmed (probably) my last time with roughly 1 month to flower.
I'm growing in a windy environment...
What do you guys think?
(Picture Is a week or so old, plants are reaching about half a foot over the poly now)View attachment 1258113

I'm not sure about outdoors topping but you top too many times on indoor plants. I'm a topping nut, I can't help myself, it's a mental thing.....I've topped a plant so many times that a lot of it ends up lost in the bush and causes leaf overgrowth and a loss of ventilation through the plant. You can top as many times as you want but they need to have space between the stalks so they need more vertical height to do that. I over topped this Sweet tooth and you can see the lower half is just a waste and I had to chop it all off any ways.

 

[strider26554]

Another minute detail on topping is whether or not the plant is a clone, plants grown from seeds have a different node spacing, the nodes will usually be two nodes opposite each other off of the main stem while clones usually grow with nodes that alternate right left right left, but rarely completely opposite each other. I grow almost exclusively clones and i have kind of perfected topping to maximize the growth of lower branches to become even or close to even with the main tops, usually once at fifth node i believe, then again three nodes up from that one, it gives me planty of tops and gives the bottom branches enough time to catch up, if not i my do one more but rarely, I wouldnt top at all but the strain i grow has huge colas if i dont and they are just too big to deal with in terms of drying and curing, i do have issues with bud rot if they get too dense.

 

[AirHammer]

Lots of nodes always does right by me.

I stick to balanced nutrients and ample sunlight to achieve that. And suitable ph levels. Mostly it just takes a plant with genetics that like to branch and throw out tons of nodes, more than others do. its all in a grow bible somewhere because they are standard growing practices.

For the second time topping only benefits some strains. Not all. To the person who has to be right ? And or debate about it.

I top every time I take cuttlings to clone. I've seen an uncountable amount of variable results. Hundreds of dozens of clones over 25 or so years, and just about as many strains. I get my proof and learn mostly in DOING not reading. For the most part. I stand by my original post $00.2.

Marijuana has been growing for millions of years. It feels safe to say marijuana has it figured out for the most part. There was bushy plants long before man and his scissors came along.

Regards.

 

[Edinburgh]

I did that bc the plant was outgrowing my light, this is what happened, give a light prune to increase airflow, we never top or FIM doing an outdoor grow bc the plants can grow as large as they want.

 

[Like2Grow]

Lots of nodes always does right by me.

I stick to balanced nutrients and ample sunlight to achieve that. And suitable ph levels. Mostly it just takes a plant with genetics that like to branch and throw out tons of nodes, more than others do. its all in a grow bible somewhere because they are standard growing practices.

For the second time topping only benefits some strains. Not all. To the person who has to be right ? And or debate about it.

I top every time I take cuttlings to clone. I've seen an uncountable amount of variable results. Hundreds of dozens of clones over 25 or so years, and just about as many strains. I get my proof and learn mostly in DOING not reading. For the most part. I stand by my original post $00.2.

Marijuana has been growing for millions of years. It feels safe to say marijuana has it figured out for the most part. There was bushy plants long before man and his scissors came along.

Regards.

Lots of nodes spaced well does right by me too. I top plants and there are still lots of nodes. As for the growing practices it takes more than just topping to get good results but that isn't what the OP is interested in.

When people have reasons to grow shorter plants topping makes sense. Wind is turning out to be MUCH more aggressive where I live to the point that old trees are getting snapped by the wind. There is an advantage to not having a 10+ foot tall plant when there is a tornado. 5 foot bushes survive better than 10 foot sticks. With some people it's neighbors they are trying to not annoy. There are times shorter and bushier is a better choice.