Topping, height control only - a not so typical issue

[sfzoo]

Farmers,

Searched and searched, but i think that most threads on topping are 'how to do it' type threads. I know how, when, and the whys of topping. save for one aspect..

I need to cut back my girls, for height control - as opposed to yield increase. I know that topping will work for both of these objectives..but in this case, i'd like only to top for height control as i don't need these girls to bush out even more.


so this brings me to my next concern. usually, i top and let recover before i flip. This time, i'm hopin if I flip immediately after topping, will the lack of recover time achieve my goal of reducing height without bushing out even more?

OR, will the lack of recovery time just stress the girls to the point that it will be detrimental to my overall crop success?


Thanks, if this has been covered, please refer me.

 

[ibTheMan]

LST or HST work get to make big ass mess's of ah plant with tops all over the place.

 

[sfzoo]

thanks for the input, but as stated - i do understand the concept of topping.

my specific question is: will the lack of recovery prevent further bushing. Or will they just grow as they would but with less developed colas(due to minimal recover of the topped portion of the plant)?

 

[E.T.]

Done it and it will achieve what you want...to a point. It may induce hermi issues, but if you're on top of it, you'll be fine.

 

[leadsled]

Does depend on the strain. Some will keep growing even while chopping away...

I have done it with success on solid genetics. (genetics do not hemie or autoflowers/ have other unstable traits)

Gotta try it and see what works for you in your room with the genetics you use.

Can also use a b supplement to try and reduce the stress (from the topping)

Otherwise can also use 'mones/pgr's to stop stretch

 

[sfzoo]

Done it and it will achieve what you want...to a point. It may induce hermi issues, but if you're on top of it, you'll be fine.

thanks for the input, i was hoping that wasn't case.

how exactly do you stay on top of a possible hermi issue?

 

[half baked]

easi m8, ive got a friend who had to do it to his white bubba 12-14 days into flower and boy was i amazed it grew a perfect flat canopy of really nice evenly sized nugs, said he'd have no problem doing it again, jus said he'd tie the girl up to stop her falling everywhere lol but from what ive seen u shudnt get no hermie issues, he didnt and the smoke was jus the bomb(like normal lol) hope this helps m8. hb

 

[beezleb878]

If you have a sensitive strain then hermy could be an issue but I think this is said as more cautionary than what one can expect but I am nobody special so dont take my words as gospel so to speak.

I would consider supercropping before topping for height. A pair of needle nose pliars. Squeeze stem where you want to bend with pliars and once you feel the crunch, gently bend (supercrop) the stem. This way you potentially dont lose yield and divert extra energy of the plant healing or whatever it does before it can make new flowers and grow. How much this equates to realistically I have no idea.

I think by topping you get a better canopy control (prettier and even) but potentially losing on some yield where supercropping your lowering the canaopy, not as far as if topped but perhaps a good compromise, and keeping the original potential yield in place.

Just some ideas.

 

[Melvan]

thanks for the input, i was hoping that wasn't case.

how exactly do you stay on top of a possible hermi issue?

The easiest way to avoid the "hermie" situation is the following:

Don't grow "feminized" seed. Grow only regular seed, bred the regular way.
Don't grow the seeds harvested from a hermied plant or hermie pollinated plant.
Don't cut clones from a hermied plant.
Don't share seeds from a hermied plant with your friends.
Don't share clones of a hermied plant with your friends.

 

[beezleb878]

I think its obvious the concern would be stressed induced hermie.

 

[gudkarma]

i've used super-cropping & lst with great success.

i do what you're talking about all the time... i take the tops (alomst all) the day before the flip. many different strains in fact. never a hermie as a result once!

honestly, i take (nearly) every juicy top i can get & go straight to the cloner.

i say "nearly" cause i leave several "secondary" tops almost "right there" so they "fight" for dominance.

hopefully, you'll get the image i'm trying to create.

i don't know the proper language, my degrees are in the arts & humanities & the school of hardknocks, but i think it invoves "apical donimance" :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apical_dominance

dude, you're gonna shit yourself when you see how many nugz it creates.

to be clear, i fim, lst, supercrop, & use uncle ben's method (before anybody called it that) on all my mother plants. nice & bushy. for cuts & more cuts. eventually, i throw these old ladies into flower & start again... cycling strains in & out to save space.

it's all about SOG for me.

but skillz i developed in the late 80's (in apartment closets) involved heavy use of this technique.

sure you loose some fatness up top ...but... i stake my rep on this site... my favorite surfboard ...and a night w/ my hot ass wife (as long as your grow skills are up to par) ...you'll be smiling all the way to the cure jar for sure.

been using this method for years.

i got plants outside, in flower, right now, done like you suggest, if you want extra pics. no hermies & four different strains.

as for hermies & fem seeds, i use what i need to.

i prefer & buy regular seeds 93% of the time.

but, don't let anybody fool you!

one of my best of 9 mothers is from a fem seed. she takes abuse, topping, flip flops, all that & then some with no drama. dank as fuck too.

dont believe the hype if you buy reputable genetics.

if you could only get access to some top gear in fem form, you mean to tell me, you'd be passing on shit like my 2nd pic?

 

[Seamaiden]

I like to do basically just that for my sea of green, I use a ruler and I cut them all to the exact same height. I cut a little lower than I hope to achieve as a final flowering height in order to account for post-flip stretch. It may not be the best way to do things, but it's been working for me, especially in keeping canopy controlled. Two to three weeks after they've been flipped, after they look like they've stretched as much as they're gonna, I shave their legs and pistil-whip.

 

[E.T.]

pull em when u see em....i don't mean the whole plant hermi's, just be on the lookout for rogue nanner's.....

thanks for the input, i was hoping that wasn't case.

how exactly do you stay on top of a possible hermi issue?

 

[Str8Dank]

seems to me like it would be safer to just add a scrog screen even now. this way they try to pop through and you bend them back under until you near the end of stretch. may look odd as shit if you try to take the screen off though.

 

[gudkarma]

broham, that is an interesting idea with the screen.

that's where i'd say it depends on strain. i just threw down 3 jackberry & they dont stretch much into the flip... so that idea wouldn't work as well there.

but it would work bomb on girls that like to stretch out.

i'm using three bamboo stakes & some twistie ties... but same principal.

 

[UCtestn]

I've been told they would take longer to flower and finish because the tops are the ones that "see" the light and decide when it's 12/12 instead of 18/4. Up to 7 days to recover and start the flowering process. I have not researched this. I don't remember where I heard it and if it is reliable information, but that would be my only concern with doing it.

 

[bloads]

.....
use uncle ben's method .....

going to 'search' now....

 

[Bobby Smith]

Sfzoo, I know you're asking about topping, but I'm assuming this is for your stadium grow.........in which case (and this is assuming you've got your watering situation figured out), I'd chuck a screen in there instead.

I've never used a screen before (always retardedly high plant count SOGs), but after seeing some of the magic that people can create vertically with a screen, I'm definitely implementing one for my first vertical run.

A screen and some twist ties, IMO, would do you better than topping immediately before flipping.

 

[gudkarma]

personally, i wouldn't take the time to answer any thread if i didn't have the knowledge & experience to back it up.

things i dont know, i have no shame in asking.

in fact, and i've said this many times, i can't stand people who give grow advice based only on what they've read on the internet.

i've seen no delay in flowering in any of the strains i've chopped... i'm not saying it isnt possible... but my experience, with my strains, says it's a non issue.

plants that flower in 7 to 8, get chopped, and still finish in 7 to 8.

if i take several dozen cuts from an afghan mom & throw it in flower, even after the butchery of all those primo tops, she still finishes (in this case) in 6.5 to 7 weeks.

 

[Seamaiden]

I like to do basically just that for my sea of green, I use a ruler and I cut them all to the exact same height. I cut a little lower than I hope to achieve as a final flowering height in order to account for post-flip stretch. It may not be the best way to do things, but it's been working for me, especially in keeping canopy controlled. Two to three weeks after they've been flipped, after they look like they've stretched as much as they're gonna, I shave their legs and pistil-whip.

personally, i wouldn't take the time to answer any thread if i didn't have the knowledge & experience to back it up.

things i dont know, i have no shame in asking.

in fact, and i've said this many times, i can't stand people who give grow advice based only on what they've read on the internet.

i've seen no delay in flowering in any of the strains i've chopped... i'm not saying it isnt possible... but my experience, with my strains, says it's a non issue.

plants that flower in 7 to 8, get chopped, and still finish in 7 to 8.

if i take several dozen cuts from an afghan mom & throw it in flower, even after the butchery of all those primo tops, she still finishes (in this case) in 6.5 to 7 weeks.

Same here.