Is It Fair To Say That, Every Branch Reduces Cola Size?

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Shawnery

1,499
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.11 cents an hour is nice! I pay about double that for my power and overusage rates. I still pay a hell of a lot less than what I use to pay at 40 an eigth.
 
H

heisen

2,626
263
.11 cents an hour is nice! I pay about double that for my power and overusage rates. I still pay a hell of a lot less than what I use to pay at 40 an eigth.
Yeah man that whole grams per watt is bullshit.the power company charges per kilowatt per hour.
1000 watt hps in veg is 18 kilowatt hrs per day.2 month veg,that's 540 kw hours per month.
Grams per watt would increase but over all money on air conditioning and lights would also.
 
hillbil

hillbil

255
63
One factor in topping plants is that growth takes a hit right after topping. For me it delays development about a week and time in veg is more watts invested. I do top most plants and LST them but there are some Indicas that don't do well when topped. Like the old pre OG Hindu Kush.

Will not top my current Sour Bubble back chuck nor the next GPS Butch Cas#idy run.
 
Ignignokt

Ignignokt

350
93
I plan to experience with only one cola plants
I have seen examples of folks that do this as their standard grow to get some variety in a closet.

As an observation, it is easier for beginners to get large and dense flowers with indicas or hybrids that favor the indica characteristics in the strain. I have found the sativas I have grown are hard to get to show quality with an exception of a landrace sativa started from seed and grown outdoors. Those flowers were huge and resembled a bee hive in shape and cured to some of the most dense flowers I've grown. Mozambique Poison. Gonna do that one again, just to repeat the experience.

With the indicas, forearm and bigger size flowers seem fairly easy to obtain when you get things even just mostly correct.
 
S

Simplicio

86
33
I question the whole idea of wanting bigger colas, and even the definition of "cola" itself.
Often times I see pictures that look to me like several different colas close together.
To me, total yield is much more important than cola size/density.
Those big colas are impressive, but will be ground up just like popcorn buds eventually.
For me, 2 oz of popcorn are far superior to a single 1 oz cola, even when considering the extra trimming work.

Plus, we need to worry about yield per month, not total yield, and some topping/training techniques might produce more, but at what time cost?
 
Jmaes Mabley

Jmaes Mabley

675
143
Bend the plant over, and train all the secondaries to grow vertically. IMHO Topping hurts production vs Bending, and training. Sets it back 7-14 days.

I don't muck with the very tip, and start bending around 1/3 of the way down the plant, and I start early. You can bend the very tip constantly/everyday, and will have the same affect as topping, will slow the growing tip, but not get rid of it.

I also like to Shake my plants, and have a breeze on them 24 hours a day, including in flowering.

All of my secondary buds are as big as the main if trained early. In order to find the growing tip of my trees inside, you have to look up from underneath, and track the main stalk, or there's NO WAY you can find the main tip just by normal observation.

It makes the plant grow like a beach ball.


WIN 20160912 17 10 50 Pro zps0xjrucyjc100


I also veg under 1000w Hortilux HPS, and lots of soil/20g per plant.

Got 22oz from 1 plant of Blue Orca Haze a month ago.

50+ grams dried Secondary branch.

That's my Les Paul guitar case, so you can see its at least 20+ inches long.
 
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Enderkahn

Enderkahn

5
3
Look at it this way every time you top you’re losing 10-15% total weight from the main cola. So say that the main cola would have weighed in at an ounce, when you top the two colas that replaces the main will weigh about 6/8 of an ounce. So from topping once instead of one ounce harvest you would end up with roughly an ounce and a half. So if you top those two tops then the math stays the same. You would have four colas at 5/8 of an ounce with total harvest being 2 1/2 ounces, so on and so forth...
 
Enderkahn

Enderkahn

5
3
It's amazing how many different and/or contradictory ideas there are concerning this idea!
Yeah but the only way to say for sure is to do a sude by side experiment and I have done so growing without topping and with. I definitely get a bigger harvest with topping but the colas aren’t as big as on a plant that hasn’t been topped.. but this is just my experience.
 
Jmaes Mabley

Jmaes Mabley

675
143
I experimented 30+ years ago, and for me. Determined Training the mian stalk, and secondaries would often double the harvest.

All I can say is with a 2 months veg under 1000w Hortilux in 20 gallons Promix BX, and flower 60-70 days days. I consistently get 22oz-24oz per plant/light. If I use 2 slightly smaller veg plants, 20 gallon containers, and train them away from each other, I can up that to 2lbs a light x 2 plants. In 120 days from seed. Less for clones.

But you have to train the plants to grow Horzontally, and train the secondaries to grow vertivcally. HUGE INCREASE in production. Growing a plant straight up with no training will produce 1/3 or more less, than a trained plant. Might agree a topped plant might outperform or equal, a trained non mucked with plant

But when properly trained, vs topping them, my observation says it sets them back at least 10 days.

Horizontal Training allows Every Branch to get blasted equally. All branches turn into mains. My Secondary branches are every bit as big as the main cola.
nd in reality. If you look at my trained plant, you wont be able to find the main by looking. You will have to get down and trace the main from the botton up. The plant is round like a forsythia bush. All the main tip really does on a trained ppant is to keep srowing, and adding 2 secondary branches every node it grows. If you cut the tip, this node/branch growth expansion from the main tip is gone.
 
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TreePilot

TreePilot

5
3
I am a new member here, but I think I have some valuable information to offer for “newbies” like myself, as well as maybe a few others...

A “Newbie’s” Story... from seed to harvest, and a new grow light!

I started this grow experiment/journey to grow my own herb out of desperation for medicine to help my wife’s back pain, my own arthritic pain, deep depression, ptsd and all of the shit that goes with wanting to ... “not be here anymore...”

I am NOT a professional grower... Hell, i’m NOT even an “experienced” grower so to speak. I’m just your average joe with exactly ONE (1) successful grow under my belt... I probably don’t even “qualify” as a newbie!

I have germinated 9 other seeds since my one successful grow.
ALL nine seeds germinated to seedlings, young plants, mature plants, flowering plants, all the way to 3 weeks from harvest, just to teach myself every aspect of the plant, it’s life stages of growth, indoors, outdoors, dealing with insects such as thrips, spider mites etc... what does 10%, 20% amber trichomes look like on a plant?... so I can recognize when it’s ready to harvest?... because other than the internet, there isn’t anyone around for me to talk with, or discuss my findings, results or even ask questions.

I have also experienced getting spooked!!!...
feeling the overwhelming need to destroy seedlings and full size plants!... and have done so!
All due to my anxiety/paranoia/fear... of growing a simple plant... and living in a backwards ass illegal state.

The number of branches you create through topping, super cropping, fimming, LST’ing and shaping the plant etc... plays a huge role in the size, and number of colas your plant/bush/tree produces.
.
For instance, I just spent the last 9 months growing a Master Kush bush and honing my skills, learning Deep Water Culture.

Since this was my very first grow... I was bound and determined to teach myself “how to” grow quality herb!
I decided to try DWC via Current Culture Solo 13 Growth Module.
It’s a 13 gallon bucket that holds 10 gallons of water/nutes, 3 gallons of air space for net pot, equipment, airflow etc... great reviews, this was my choice.

And so... through my own trials, tribulations and “fuck ups”... I did teach myself a some valuable skills...

I super cropped, Fimmed, striped her naked at least 5 times, unwittingly to try and kill her... because I didn’t know wtf I was doing... LST’d her, pruned her, lolly popped her, tied her down, wire wrapped her branches to train her, twisted her into the shape, size, and look I wanted before flipping her to flower... Hell, I even drew a picture of what I wanted her to look like befor I even grew her, and sent it to Spectrum King!

She was 33 inches wide, and a squatty 8 inches tall... on purpose before flipping to flower.

Once I flipped the switch to 12/12, it was about a week and a half later that I first “recognized” what I know now as a “hair” or pistil... I was scared to death and thrilled at the same time, and I had to run and get my iPad to look up wtf was happening with her?...
because I didn’t want to get my hopes up!
Brendan @ Spectrum King had to professionally identify it for me via iPhone image before I would accept that she was actually a developing female!

Then she developed 117 individual colas!

As these colas grew, I knew there were a few other thechniques I wanted to try...
About two weeks from harvest, instead of piercing her stalk to cause more auxins to flow through her veins like adrenaline, in the hopes of creating more resinous buds!... I drilled each of her 36 main branches, and each individual stem leading to her colas with a small drill bit. I did this with the hopes of forcing her into “emergency attack” mode... it was super extreme, but I needed to know for my own knowledge.
She did produce some super sticky/icky buds!
Would I do this again? Probably not, because I don’t think it made that much of a difference, plus it was VERY time consuming, and emotional as fuck to be honest! THESE PLANTS ARE TOUGH!!!

IF... I were to try the piercing method again, I would just pierce the base of the main stalk. I have since realized this is all that is needed to acquire a similar result.

The one technique I did try, that I feel produced a worthwhile result was “bud pinching”.
I literally pinched half of the buds on the entire plant!
I pinched over 700 individual buds that made up half of her colas!
YES... I counted each and every bud I pinched!
I photographed, documented, took notes.
There were 1,697 individual buds on the entire plant that made up her 117 colas!
This bitch was “blueprinted”...
Plus... a detailed grow journal submitted to Spectrum King as part of the contest rules.
My grow journal alone from seed to harvest is over 1,000 pages of intricately detailed information.

The buds that were pinched, dramatically increased in size over the last three weeks until harvest.
This is the one technique that was well worth the time and effort...

So, approximately 8 days before the chop...
I harvested about three wet ounces so myself and a friend could sample her flower before putting the rest into jars for a 6 month cure.
After 7 days, the three wet ounces dried to a skosh over an ounce. She was harvested at peak potency, on purpose, so that in the future, I can tweak her level of sedation to my liking.

This was literally my first grow, but I studied for approximately three years non stop everyday reading, researching etc. to teach myself and learn these productive techniques, before I ever planted a seed.

If you have the time, take advantage of some of the fabulous teachers/growers on YouTube! Some are better than others... and I was able to get lots and lots of practice at my local box store garden center... this is where I learned to super crop!

All of this information is verifiable through Brendan Strath @ Spectrum King, The Dude Grows etc, or check it out on YouTube @ Sectrum King Grow Challenge Winners 2017.
I placed 2nd with my plant “Matilda”...and won a grow light from them! Lol, blew my mind! Very exciting!

I grew her in a 4x4x 6’11” tent under an SK600 watt LED light. I Vegged with Remo Nutrients, flowered with General Hydroponics nutrients!
I tried everything and anything I could over my 9 month growing adventure!

These techniques are viable for someone wanting to grow ONE PLANT instead of many plants to achieve the same end result.
Your Veg time dictates the size of your plant and final weight... period.

So Shawnery... YES... I think the number of branches has a lot to do with cola size. My plant “Matilda” produced 13 ounces dried/cured.
Would she have produced more bud with less colas?
I’ll have to grow another one to find out!✌

The quality of flower, density of your buds etc. depends on your experience level as a grower, and the nutrients you feed your plant.
All of these variables affect the look, smell, density and taste of your herb... but the MAIN cause of shitty bud, decent bud, all the way to World Class bud?... comes down to the quality of the light hanging above the plant!
Albeit NO artificial light can beat Mother Nature and natural Sunlight... there are some excellent quality grow lights on the market that do a great job at mimicking the Sun.
Unfortunately my only experience so far is with Spectrum King LED.
But there is no way in hell... I’m changing my light!

There are many factors for growing quality bud, experience is the best teacher... passion to grow for myself and others who cannot grow for themselves has become my life’s purpose... and this passion is what makes or breaks you as a grower!
Anyone can grow weed... anyone.
Unfortunately it takes time and patience to grow this plant, but once you develop a passion and skill set to grow... you are well on your way to World Class Cannabis.
Take care.
Tree
 
TreePilot

TreePilot

5
3
I am a new member here, but I think I have some valuable information to offer for “newbies” like myself, as well as maybe a few others...

A “Newbie’s” Story... from seed to harvest, and a new grow light!

I started this grow experiment/journey to grow my own herb out of desperation for medicine to help my wife’s back pain, my own arthritic pain, deep depression, ptsd and all of the shit that goes with wanting to ... “not be here anymore...”

I am NOT a professional grower... Hell, i’m NOT even an “experienced” grower so to speak. I’m just your average joe with exactly ONE (1) successful grow under my belt... I probably don’t even “qualify” as a newbie!

I have germinated 9 other seeds since my one successful grow.
ALL nine seeds germinated to seedlings, young plants, mature plants, flowering plants, all the way to 3 weeks from harvest, just to teach myself every aspect of the plant, it’s life stages of growth, indoors, outdoors, dealing with insects such as thrips, spider mites etc... what does 10%, 20% amber trichomes look like on a plant?... so I can recognize when it’s ready to harvest?... because other than the internet, there isn’t anyone around for me to talk with, or discuss my findings, results or even ask questions.

I have also experienced getting spooked!!!...
feeling the overwhelming need to destroy seedlings and full size plants!... and have done so!
All due to my anxiety/paranoia/fear... of growing a simple plant... and living in a backwards ass illegal state.

The number of branches you create through topping, super cropping, fimming, LST’ing and shaping the plant etc... plays a huge role in the size, and number of colas your plant/bush/tree produces.
.
For instance, I just spent the last 9 months growing a Master Kush bush and honing my skills, learning Deep Water Culture.

Since this was my very first grow... I was bound and determined to teach myself “how to” grow quality herb!
I decided to try DWC via Current Culture Solo 13 Growth Module.
It’s a 13 gallon bucket that holds 10 gallons of water/nutes, 3 gallons of air space for net pot, equipment, airflow etc... great reviews, this was my choice.

And so... through my own trials, tribulations and “fuck ups”... I did teach myself a some valuable skills...

I super cropped, Fimmed, striped her naked at least 5 times, unwittingly to try and kill her... because I didn’t know wtf I was doing... LST’d her, pruned her, lolly popped her, tied her down, wire wrapped her branches to train her, twisted her into the shape, size, and look I wanted before flipping her to flower... Hell, I even drew a picture of what I wanted her to look like befor I even grew her, and sent it to Spectrum King!

She was 33 inches wide, and a squatty 8 inches tall... on purpose before flipping to flower.

Once I flipped the switch to 12/12, it was about a week and a half later that I first “recognized” what I know now as a “hair” or pistil... I was scared to death and thrilled at the same time, and I had to run and get my iPad to look up wtf was happening with her?...
because I didn’t want to get my hopes up!
Brendan @ Spectrum King had to professionally identify it for me via iPhone image before I would accept that she was actually a developing female!

Then she developed 117 individual colas!

As these colas grew, I knew there were a few other thechniques I wanted to try...
About two weeks from harvest, instead of piercing her stalk to cause more auxins to flow through her veins like adrenaline, in the hopes of creating more resinous buds!... I drilled each of her 36 main branches, and each individual stem leading to her colas with a small drill bit. I did this with the hopes of forcing her into “emergency attack” mode... it was super extreme, but I needed to know for my own knowledge.
She did produce some super sticky/icky buds!
Would I do this again? Probably not, because I don’t think it made that much of a difference, plus it was VERY time consuming, and emotional as fuck to be honest! THESE PLANTS ARE TOUGH!!!

IF... I were to try the piercing method again, I would just pierce the base of the main stalk. I have since realized this is all that is needed to acquire a similar result.

The one technique I did try, that I feel produced a worthwhile result was “bud pinching”.
I literally pinched half of the buds on the entire plant!
I pinched over 700 individual buds that made up half of her colas!
YES... I counted each and every bud I pinched!
I photographed, documented, took notes.
There were 1,697 individual buds on the entire plant that made up her 117 colas!
This bitch was “blueprinted”...
Plus... a detailed grow journal submitted to Spectrum King as part of the contest rules.
My grow journal alone from seed to harvest is over 1,000 pages of intricately detailed information.

The buds that were pinched, dramatically increased in size over the last three weeks until harvest.
This is the one technique that was well worth the time and effort...

So, approximately 8 days before the chop...
I harvested about three wet ounces so myself and a friend could sample her flower before putting the rest into jars for a 6 month cure.
After 7 days, the three wet ounces dried to a skosh over an ounce. She was harvested at peak potency, on purpose, so that in the future, I can tweak her level of sedation to my liking.

This was literally my first grow, but I studied for approximately three years non stop everyday reading, researching etc. to teach myself and learn these productive techniques, before I ever planted a seed.

If you have the time, take advantage of some of the fabulous teachers/growers on YouTube! Some are better than others... and I was able to get lots and lots of practice at my local box store garden center... this is where I learned to super crop!

All of this information is verifiable through Brendan Strath @ Spectrum King, The Dude Grows etc, or check it out on YouTube @ Sectrum King Grow Challenge Winners 2017.
I placed 2nd with my plant “Matilda”...and won a grow light from them! Lol, blew my mind! Very exciting!

I grew her in a 4x4x 6’11” tent under an SK600 watt LED light. I Vegged with Remo Nutrients, flowered with General Hydroponics nutrients!
I tried everything and anything I could over my 9 month growing adventure!

These techniques are viable for someone wanting to grow ONE PLANT instead of many plants to achieve the same end result.
Your Veg time dictates the size of your plant and final weight... period.

So Shawnery... YES... I think the number of branches has a lot to do with cola size. My plant “Matilda” produced 13 ounces dried/cured.
Would she have produced more bud with less colas?
I’ll have to grow another one to find out!✌

The quality of flower, density of your buds etc. depends on your experience level as a grower, and the nutrients you feed your plant.
All of these variables affect the look, smell, density and taste of your herb... but the MAIN cause of shitty bud, decent bud, all the way to World Class bud?... comes down to the quality of the light hanging above the plant!
Albeit NO artificial light can beat Mother Nature and natural Sunlight... there are some excellent quality grow lights on the market that do a great job at mimicking the Sun.
Unfortunately my only experience so far is with Spectrum King LED.
But there is no way in hell... I’m changing my light!

There are many factors for growing quality bud, experience is the best teacher... passion to grow for myself and others who cannot grow for themselves has become my life’s purpose... and this passion is what makes or breaks you as a grower!
Anyone can grow weed... anyone.
Unfortunately it takes time and patience to grow this plant, but once you develop a passion and skill set to grow... you are well on your way to World Class Cannabis.
Take care.
Tree

Shawnery... I apologize for high jacking your post... I am high as a kite, and my mind loves to ramble.
Peace✌
 
Herbalise

Herbalise

571
93
Pinching my bud every 14 days gave me 4 tops on one cola... Harvest yesterday but still not ripe/ready...cfl grow kept light very close to colas not bad dense buds all about simplisity and light exposure.
 
IMG 20180827 140032
Mr Bee

Mr Bee

3,776
263
@Madmax read this link it should help u understand topping and training a little better
 

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