will a bushy plant yield more than a plant that isn't as bushy when growing outdoors?

[wil2279]

So I have grown outdoors a couple times but i haven't really kept track of yields or anything. I have some plants getting ready to be put out in about 6 weeks and I am wondering if i should top them again. They are looking quite bushy right now. Will they yield any better if i top them again, or will a plant outdoors only yield so much?

I have heard that if your plant has 1 main cola that you get "X" for yield... but I have also heard that if you have 4 main colas you get the same "X" for yield but your colas are just smaller... I have also heard that you yield more with more colas... so which is it?

 

[macsnax]

Top them and then top them a bunch more. More tops more yield. You don't have to worry about light penetration outdoors.

 

[ANC]

If you are outdoors in the ground, there is no limit of the resources available to your roots (within reason).
In a small pot with a slow drying medium too many heads can lead to smaller buds... you need to find the limits within what seems reasonable for you.

 

[JSB99]

So I have grown outdoors a couple times but i haven't really kept track of yields or anything. I have some plants getting ready to be put out in about 6 weeks and I am wondering if i should top them again. They are looking quite bushy right now. Will they yield any better if i top them again, or will a plant outdoors only yield so much?

I have heard that if your plant has 1 main cola that you get "X" for yield... but I have also heard that if you have 4 main colas you get the same "X" for yield but your colas are just smaller... I have also heard that you yield more with more colas... so which is it?

The thing about growing outside is that the sunlight is just as powerful at the lower parts if the plant as the top. The sunlight has travelled 93 million miles, so a few more feet won't make a difference. Also, around 90% of the sun's powerful light passes through the leaves, providing light to the dense center of the plants. Indoor lights, no matter how powerful, just don't match. That's why you top, trim, and super crop to get an even canopy, allowing as much surface area as possible, to take advantage of the limited light.

I don't know if topping outside gains anything. I would think if you're growing outside, as nature intended, plants should be left alone to grow naturally. When growing inside, trying to imitate nature as much as possible, plant training greatly improves yield.

 

[Roger A. Shrubber]

if you top them and let them get growing good before you put them out, it couldn't hurt...but really, i think you'll get more, smaller buds...maybe a slight total increase, but you'll end up doing more trimming for a small increase...not worth it in my opinion

 

[macsnax]

I don't know, it's not hard to grow monsters outdoors with multiple toppings. I'm sure a good yield can be pulled from an untrained plant, but I don't see it compared to a topped beast.

 

[coreywebster]

I would think of it as plant mass per cubic meter. If its full and dense it has the resources above and below ground to outperform a plant that isn't filling that cubic meter.
Looking at what JJ does and other outdoor growers they grow huge bushes rather than xmas trees. So I would of thought they are maximising their square footage and cubic footage. They have been doing it large scale for a long time so I would of thought they have good reason and have had plenty of time to try both ways.

 

[Roger A. Shrubber]

I don't know, it's not hard to grow monsters outdoors with multiple toppings. I'm sure a good yield can be pulled from an untrained plant, but I don't see it compared to a topped beast.

only to a point. i grew outdoors for years. i'd top all my plants twice, once at the fifth node, then again 2 weeks before i put them out....it was my experience that exactly what i mentioned above would happen with more than two toppings, you get more buds, but the final yield wasn't any bigger, and i just had more small buds to trim

 

[Roger A. Shrubber]

I would think of it as plant mass per cubic meter. If its full and dense it has the resources above and below ground to outperform a plant that isn't filling that cubic meter.
Looking at what JJ does and other outdoor growers they grow huge bushes rather than xmas trees. So I would of thought they are maximising their square footage and cubic footage. They have been doing it large scale for a long time so I would of thought they have good reason and have had plenty of time to try both ways.

you can get a pretty damn big shrub with two toppings and some good weather...my patch had 12 holes, in a 24 foot grid, so they were all 8 feet apart. they would pretty much grow up into a solid mass that i had push my way into with just two toppings

 

[coreywebster]

you can get a pretty damn big shrub with two toppings and some good weather...my patch had 12 holes, in a 24 foot grid, so they were all 8 feet apart. they would pretty much grow up into a solid mass that i had push my way into with just two toppings

I had to do Roger.

 

[Roger A. Shrubber]

I had to do Roger.

that's fine, but....We are no longer the knights who say Ni! We are now the knights who say ekki-ekki-ekki-pitang-zoom-boing!

 

[ky farmer]

I don't know, it's not hard to grow monsters outdoors with multiple toppings. I'm sure a good yield can be pulled from an untrained plant, but I don't see it compared to a topped beast.

I top all my plants 3-4 times and pinch out the end of every limb at least two times and I grow MONSTER PLANTS LIKE THAT OUTDOORS.Been doing that this season will make 44 years.I average 8 pounds a plant last year and I plant seeds outdoors and when there about 1 foot tall I put them then where they grow in to monsters.

 

[ANC]

Growing monster trees gives me the creeps outdoors. I once pinned an eight-foot tree to the ground, only for it to shoot out new 8 foot branches all along its length.
My one neighbour is a jail guard, the other an ex police detective, and one two houses away is a cop. SO you can understand my unease.... I don't mind growing small shrubs outdoors, I've learned to grow them 3 feet wide and 2 feet high.

 

[JSB99]

Growing monster trees gives me the creeps outdoors. I once pinned an eight-foot tree to the ground, only for it to shoot out new 8 foot branches all along its length.
My one neighbour is a jail guard, the other an ex police detective, and one two houses away is a cop. SO you can understand my unease.... I don't mind growing small shrubs outdoors, I've learned to grow them 3 feet wide and 2 feet high.

In my current grow, I once again took up the challenge of growing Super Silver Haze in my tent. They grow to 25' trees outdoors. Needless to say, I had a challenging few weeks, from end of veg through the stretch. They maxed out at 4' in my tent, and I've got them all pulled over so they're not kissing the light.

Awesome strain tho, and some hefty tops!

 

[j to the c]

Topping your plant will redistribute growing hormones from the main shoot to now all the shoots you’ve created. It’s not necessary to top a plant for a bigger yield, you top a plant to manipulate it. But don’t top a plant then throw it into flower. It takes time to re build those hormones back up. It takes a couple weeks to rebuild the hormone level to previous levels.

 

[WeedFreak78]

Topping your plant will redistribute growing hormones from the main shoot to now all the shoots you’ve created. It’s not necessary to top a plant for a bigger yield, you top a plant to manipulate it. But don’t top a plant then throw it into flower. It takes time to re build those hormones back up. It takes a couple weeks to rebuild the hormone level to previous levels.

Can you provide sources for the bolded text claims?

Whenever I top, I have new top growth in a couple days. I do my final top /prune 3-4 days before I flip and they're always recovered and growing again by then. Doing it that way for close to a decade now without issue. I think your way off on your recovery time.

 

[ky farmer]

Can you provide sources for the bolded text claims?

Whenever I top, I have new top growth in a couple days. I do my final top /prune 3-4 days before I flip and they're always recovered and growing again by then. Doing it that way for close to a decade now without issue. I think your way off on your recovery time.

I agree with your post.

 

[ANC]

On large plants I'm happy to let it get to 3 or so feet, then break off the centre grow tip, maybe 4 inches or so. This produces 8 colas in a rosette with almost no training.
I learned this trick by accident. I was quite pissed off at the time, only to find its use later.

 

[JSB99]

Can you provide sources for the bolded text claims?

Whenever I top, I have new top growth in a couple days. I do my final top /prune 3-4 days before I flip and they're always recovered and growing again by then. Doing it that way for close to a decade now without issue. I think your way off on your recovery time.

Mine usually recover within a couple days.

 

[Aussieaceae]

I say prune them however. If you have adequate time any way should work fine.

Only ever top my outdoor plants once or twice. If i was left with a large bush, it'd be guaranteed mold or rot in my climate.
Harder to keep maintained, and pests love the scraggily shit below the canopy too.

Prune them however you want, just keep your local climate in mind.