Top It Or No?

[Sir Charles]

New to growing, anything. This plant was given to me. I plan on keeping it in veg for a bit so I can pull some clones off of her. As you can see this top is far taller than the rest. I'm growing under fluorescents that were pulled out of the shop. For that reason I think I want to keep the canopy somewhat even. I don't know anything about this plant so I'm not sure if im going to make a mother out of it or just get a few clones and send her into flower. I'm not sure what the deal is with plants after harvest( can I keep it and have a viable plant for round two?) scrap it or no? Some backstory here, when I recieved this plant it was in bad shape. its was transplanted and has made a comeback but doesn't seem to be growing very quickly, possibly due to low level lightning idk. From what I've read stunted plants remain stunted. Idk if this one is "stunted" or not. Anyways sorry for the ramble, to the point here. Should I chop this top and clone it, as you can see someone already cut the main stem for whatever reason. I'm not looking to flower asap so I wouldn't mind if it slowed, it already seems slow lol. I just feel like if I was going to chop it off I should've done it weeks ago, as I've never seen on the Internet people taking clones this big. Plant is probably two feet, that top branch is idk 9 inches. I cant imagine the yeild off of her being any more that a Quarter oz in her current state, which makes me want to wait it out. I'm pretty sure it was starting to flower but I think I reverted it. Thanks guys, any advice will help.

 

[Sir Charles]

Also if someone feels like helping with other questions, I kind of have a lot. Lol. For starters this was transplanted into MG soil which I know has a harsh stigma amongst growers. I didn't do it, but I understand the downfalls of the soil. It is currently in a smallish pot and I may transplant again to a five gallon but since it's indoor with probably weak lights idk if that will even help much. Anyways I'm not looking to spend a bunch of money or get all scientific textbook about it but how should I battle the time released and lowish potassium content/high N

 

[3N1GM4]

You could take clones off of it and they dont have to be the whole stem, 4 or 5 inches will do. If the stems are hard and bark like they may not root so it is better to take the fresh green growth for clones. You could theoretically keep her in veg forever and she would grow new stalks as you chopped clones off her. I keep saying her because I am assuming you know it's a female for sure because there is no way to tell from the pic, a closer pic would help. Imo it isn't worth growing an unknown strain as you could do alot of work for nothing. The plant could come from a long line of hermies and you could be cloning a bunch of head aches.

 

[Sir Charles]

Does that help?

 

[Sir Charles]

It came from a medical patients grow so I'm assuming it's legit. Seems indica dominant. No idea what the "name" is haha

 

[3N1GM4]

Looks like a girl with some fresh growth. If I clone with that many nodes I just take the 6-7 inch clipping and trim off all the bottom leaves and put rooting powder on all the spots that I cut leaves from. With luck you will get roots to grow from those spots and have a fast grower.

 

[3N1GM4]

The clipping gets more cut off of it before getting the root powder with a fresh razor blade. The 6 inches is what I cut from the plant, its shorter after trimming up at 45° angle

 

[Sir Charles]

I've already taken a clone, this is mostly just a hobby since it's legal here now, I don't have any other plants atm so I'm not worried about cross pollinating. That entire top shoot is green, only the lower branches are and main stalk has reddish stripes, not quite barky yet. Really though I just wanted to make sure I wasn't going to cause any serious problems by cutting that top shoot off, just want more light lower, even canopy, but I don't want to ruin a yeild or whatever oversight I could be making as I am a noob.

 

[Sir Charles]

Yeah I know how to clone dude, done and accomplished that.

 

[Sir Charles]

Also to take it a step further, I'm goin to try my hand at mainlining with the clones, but since this plant is established and I don't like the lack of efficiency already, should I just hack off the main stem down to outer lying branches and clone the shoots attached, that way, theoreticaly those outer branches get more stuffs. ? This all is personal choice but I wanted to see what people thought.

 

[Sir Charles]

Bottom has 5 different branches which all could be decent buds I guess, then the core main stem has like 3, so should I just core it out and focus on the outer ones or are they going to be shit anyways and just leave the main since that will be my fruitful product? See this all stuff I plan to learn by my damn self through experience but since I can ask about it, why not, you know? Maybe someone has a good idea. I just don't want that single top off shoot dictating light levels when it's not even the main since the main has clearly been chopped. Btw thanks enigma, sorry if I seem snappy, I do appreciate your willingness to help.

 

[3N1GM4]

Wherever you cut two main stalks will grow in its place as long as it is above a node. So you could take 5 or 6 clones from each main stalk and as long as here was still a spot where there are leaves growing out it will grow two stalks from there. So it is really up to personal preference and space to how you need to prune. If you leave the stalks tall and top it the stalks will split high and may cause them to have too much top weight, if you prune them further down the plant will be more bushy.

 

[3N1GM4]

The top buds are best but if you are gonna have more than five you might wanna build a scrog

 

[3N1GM4]

If it were me and I were gonna grow it out I would top it now pretty low on all the tops and make clones of the tops. Veg it for two more weeks and take another set of clones. Two more weeks to recover and then 12/12 to flower. Then veg the babies while the momma flowered. I have heard of people harvesing buds from a mother and then putting her back into veg and then flowering her again but after a while I think they are supposed to lose potency, 7th gen clones are supposedly the best and then potency drops. These are just my opinions and things I have heard, no real validity.

 

[Sir Charles]

Wherever you cut two main stalks will grow in its place as long as it is above a node. So you could take 5 or 6 clones from each main stalk and as long as here was still a spot where there are leaves growing out it will grow two stalks from there. So it is really up to personal preference and space to how you need to prune. If you leave the stalks tall and top it the stalks will split high and may cause them to have too much top weight, if you prune them further down the plant will be more bushy.

I'll be as concise as possible here lol what is your opinion? Should I just take that top most branch out? If I do that should I also cut that big middle stem further down, to right above the other mains? Will doing that be beneficial to the remaining mains?

 

[Sir Charles]

So here's the bottom structure. To clear the air, I know this is too complex to be speaking about with pictures and text and interaction with people is tough on the Internet but let's do the best we can. I love you. Big main stem, immediate secondary close to the bottom. Not a fan of it but that's how it is. That secondary is in the far back but easy to see I think. After that, count up, one, two, three, four.... Let's call those the five mains. Umbrella statement- the sooner I do this the better I believe.- I guess. Should I cut out the middle biggest one at the top of the fifth branch? Then use ALL of those thin off shoots to clone or discard, and eliminate the small growth to harbor enhanced production to the five mains? Will that work? That's what I'm leaning towards. Scrog? im not to certain exactly how that works buts that's where I put a mesh layer "screen" to support the mains? Would a garden tomato wire thing do the same? Since I have one plant and not a bunch ? Then this way I just strip new growth and allow it to grow "hopefully " five awesome colas? Am I on the right track here. Granted this is round one. my aim is more learning than production and I have access to an arsenal of shit when I want to but for now I want to learn and experience and experiment.

 

[Sir Charles]

But then I have a slight issue with that approach, and that is that only 3 of those bottoms have the best growth so far, so should I focus shift to the pre existing best growth, or cut my losses since they will transfer to clone anyways and hope the weaker ones will catch up? Although I have a feeling they won't, as you can see I am quite confused with my strategy with this plant but I want a plan asap.

 

[Sir Charles]

This one, bottom left, second branch from the base, looks the weakest of the entire plant, the four above it are "doing better". That shit confuses me. Off shoots of mains are doing better than that one... So scrap it/clone it, or hope for it to catch up? Sorry I suck at this... :/

 

[3N1GM4]

However tall your plant is it will be about twice as tall when it is ready to harvest. It doesn't make a difference to the plant where you cut it as long as there are growth nodes with leaves coming out below where you cut. The main thing is to cut it below half as tall as you have room for(taking into account that you need air space between plant and light) and then let it recover before putting into flowering. The plant will do fine weather you prune it or not but you might need to stake or tie it up either way.

 

[3N1GM4]

Those little beads in MG soil are full of concentrated fertilizer. When you water your plant they will burst open and give your fan leaves nute burnclawing and discolorations. I know this from experience because I made the same mistake. That is unless it is MG organic..