What I Learned About Fimming

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KimbroKush

KimbroKush

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The goal of topping and fimming is to stop the main stem growth, so the plant will divert and evenly distribute its energy, nutrients and growth to the existing branches. These techniques should result in more than 1 top cola.

Topping should give 2 new top colas while fimming should give 4 new top colas.
C867CAF7-9D32-4F98-B374-8AD9ACB4E5D2.jpeg
You can see from this diagram that new tops are grown from the top internode space.
F6A056FF-11CD-4563-B2AF-AE2DDCB8A6E1.jpeg

This is 1 day after I fimmed my plant. If you look closely you can see the main stem was not cut during the fim cut. (Fuck I missed) I think the goal is to stop the main stem growth, so you can take full advantage of the hormone change in the plant. If the main stem is missed during the fim cut then the main stem will continue growing out, but I would still consider it a successful fim because the internode growth has time to catch up to the main stem growth which gives it 3 top colas instead of 1 top cola. I did not want to keep the main stem growing though so this is what I did..
42F434AE-3653-4737-903B-A8331F7ACD73.jpeg

What i learned about fimming 5

3 days after I fimmed I plucked the center out of the cola perfectly which stopped the main stem growth. I did this carefully because I didn’t want to damage the internode growth - it was very very very tiny at this time. I could barely see them there, but they were there for sure. The internode growth grew out and now I have 4 new top colas. The pictures above were taken 2 days after I plucked the main stem growth out. If you look closely you can see the internode growth that turned into my 4 new top growths.

The reason fimming should give you 4 is because the new node growth on the main stem is very close to the previous node growth, so the internode growth on the 2 nodes close together are able to grow out at the same time with an even distribution of energy, nutrients and growth. Look at the topping vs fimming diagram above to get a good grasp of this.

This is what those 4 new tops look like in my plant today.
133B5BF9-0EFF-4322-A189-49AFA4072231.jpeg

You can clearly see the 4 new top colas, and the other 3 colas are from lower nodes that grew out healthy and strong from stopping the main stem growth. Remember - when you stop the main stem growth the plant hormones kick in and tell the plant to divert its energy, nutrients and growth to existing branches. The hormone change was very noticeable in my plant. I have 7 healthy colas.

I prefer to stop the main stem growth when 2 nodes are close together, so that the 4 internodes grow out at the same time resulting in 4 new top colas. If you look at it like this then you see there really isn’t a huge difference between topping and fimming. The biggest difference is when you fim you stop the main stem growth when 2 nodes are really close together as opposed to stopping the main stem growth when 2 nodes are farther apart. (Topping)

In conclusion these 2 techniques come down to stopping/stunting the main stem growth, so the plant will divert its energy to the internode growth.
 
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Mudballs

Mudballs

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No the goal in fimming is to hit the sweet spot in differentiating cells. At the tip, those cells dont know what they are yet...they dont know if they are going to be cells that make stem, xylem, lignin...and if you can cut at just the right spot you pass right thru all those undifferentiated cells. Too high and you have too many differentiated cells that already know what the are and are going to be, "im a branch, were all normal branches"
Too low and you just stopped auxin and it's officially topped.
Really a narrow band you gotta hit when it comes to fimming
 
Lockeboxgrows

Lockeboxgrows

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No the goal in fimming is to hit the sweet spot in differentiating cells. At the tip, those cells dont know what they are yet...they dont know if they are going to be cells that make stem, xylem, lignin...and if you can cut at just the right spot you pass right thru all those undifferentiated cells. Too high and you have too many differentiated cells that already know what the are and are going to be, "im a branch, were all normal branches"
Too low and you just stopped auxin and it's officially topped.
Really a narrow band you gotta hit when it comes to fimming
I have a hard time seeing how some one accidentally fimmed while trying to top, I feel like I couldnt even fim correctly If that's what I intended to do. How can you miss so bad yet so perfect 🤣
 
Mudballs

Mudballs

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after a few tries you can start to see that mushy whitish stuff where you cut...you can start to tell if you went too deep or not deep enough. The bad part is once you've done the cut...you're kinda fkt cuz redoing is just gonna go too deep....i don't do fim, i hate it lol
 
KimbroKush

KimbroKush

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No the goal in fimming is to hit the sweet spot in differentiating cells. At the tip, those cells dont know what they are yet...they dont know if they are going to be cells that make stem, xylem, lignin...and if you can cut at just the right spot you pass right thru all those undifferentiated cells. Too high and you have too many differentiated cells that already know what the are and are going to be, "im a branch, were all normal branches"
Too low and you just stopped auxin and it's officially topped.
Really a narrow band you gotta hit when it comes to fimming
No the goal in fimming is to either stop the main stem growth or stunt it, so the internode growth can catch up to the main stem growth or become the new top growth. The auxin does not stop like you say it does. It gets diverted and distributed to the branches/internode growth when you stop or stunt the main stem growth. The increased auxin in these areas makes these areas grow more abundantly.

As for differentiating cells - that really doesn’t matter when it comes to fimming. The plant should already know where the internode growth is when you stop or stunt the main stem growth during a fim cut. If you get lucky, hit the differentiating cells and grow 3 new tops when the auxin kicks in then that is the same as just stunting the main stem and allowing the internode growth to catch up to the main stem.

Everything I said about topping and fimming is fact. The purpose is to increase auxin in the internode growth. Whether you do that by cutting through the differentiating cells or not is irrelevant. Either way the goal is met.

The subject of fimming and topping is much bigger than what you think it is or what you think it should be. Cutting through the differentiating cells is NOT the only way to fim, and is NOT the goal of fimming. The goal is to increase growth in the other parts of the plant. You do not need to cut through differentiating cells to meet this goal. You can cut above, below or directly on the differentiating cells and still meet the goal fimming.
 
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Mudballs

Mudballs

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Your statement is here and has been logged. Let the world judge who here has really forwarded the correct info
 
KimbroKush

KimbroKush

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Your statement is here and has been logged. Let the world judge who here has really forwarded the correct info
Don’t really know what else to say other than the world of fimming is more than what you think it is or what you think it should be.
 
Mudballs

Mudballs

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Hint...SSGrower is..
I am a Texas A&M certified master gardener who enjoy's research & development especially hot rod's & super soil cultivation
And he liked my post...yeah so...umm you have fun with that kimbro
 
KimbroKush

KimbroKush

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I really hope more farmers jump in on this one- feel like I learned a lot from both sides and would love to hear more on this topic!

Love this comment. I would like some more discourse on the subject too.

I know where the common ground is between mudballs and I is, but he lost me by saying there is one specific way to do it. Fimming has much more to it than that. You can accomplish the goal of fimming by cutting above, below or directly through the differentiating cells. That’s why I say that the world of fimming is bigger than what he thinks it is or what he thinks it should be.
 
KimbroKush

KimbroKush

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And I just thought it was a technique to create more colas…🤔
I originally thought that too, but it’s a much bigger world than I realized. The hormone distribution that occurs throughout the plant really promotes abundant growth. This abundant growth definitely gives you more colas. I was able to get 4 top colas and 3 lower branch colas from the hormone distribution.
 
Mudballs

Mudballs

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And I just thought it was a technique to create more colas…🤔
Yes, mostly
This is the incorrect info...

No the goal in fimming is to either stop the main stem growth or stunt it,

Wrong...not gonna sit here and deal with it.
 
KimbroKush

KimbroKush

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Yes, mostly
This is the incorrect info...

No the goal in fimming is to either stop the main stem growth or stunt it,

Wrong...not gonna sit here and deal with it.
It’s cool you can say that and leave out pertinent information. Whatever just move on boomer.

I think you’re flat out wrong too. It’s way bigger than what you think it is.
 
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KimbroKush

KimbroKush

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Got a little heat coming out of this thread. Let's take a deep breath and find the common ground. No need for belligerence or name calling here, we are all on the same team doing the best we can to grow weed.
As long as they don’t purposefully sabotage the thread I don’t mind haters chiming in. They just boost the discourse.
 
Moe.Red

Moe.Red

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I don't think Mudballs is a hater, he's been around a while. What I see is a disagreement that could have been handled better but we are all human.

I too have some concerns with things you say here that you call facts..

"Everything I said about topping and fimming is fact. "

Not a lot of room for discussion there, and it kinda set the tone that you are complaining about. And quite frankly I disagree that you have nothing but fact here. But I'm willing to have an open mind and listen.
 
CannaGranny

CannaGranny

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We all have our own way of doing this. As for me to stop the growth of the main stem would be highly disappointing. I top twice and fim once and do this to increase the amount of main colas. My goal is an even canopy. In this situation there is no one way to do it.
I too am open minded until I read things like “move along Boomer”. Us “Boomers” have been growing cannabis long before you got involved. When I saw that comment, it put the brakes on to wanting to hear anything else you were trying to teach.
While you encourage discourse, a small amount of respect would go a long way.
 
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