Confused on topping

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notoriouscheech

Active Member
I have some plants that I believe need topping soon and Im pretty confused on it. Some pages I see seem to literally cut almost half way down the plant at the main stem, and others just snip a node off to create the new growth from that?

This is a picture of one showing it cutting the main stem Some ive seen show to cut even further down the plant.

Versus

This seems to show it cutting off the growth in between the other leaves, not the stem



Where should I be cutting then?! Maybe im overthinking things but everytime i look into it i find a site saying one way and the next saying another. Here are my plants currently. The biggest one on the right side i topped it how the second route shows. Not cutting the stem with nodes above it but cutting the little growth in between. I think everything went well and am seeing more growth although there is still some brown "nubs" so to say where i cut it.

Any advice on topping/LST or anything would be much appreciated! Thanks all.
 

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tslonige

Well-Known Member
Topping’ refers to the technique of cutting off the top of the plant in between the nodes. On the other hand, ‘Fimming’ is the process of removing new growths but avoiding cutting between the nodes. If you top you will get 2 colas, with fimming you will get 4 but smaller.
 
iShatterBladderz

iShatterBladderz

Well-Known Member
I wait until I have 5 or 6 nodes, and top at the third, then take off everything below the third node as well. Basically doubles your main colas every time you top.

I usually top 3 times before flipping, but sometimes if I’m in a hurry, on the second top, I’ll cut at the third node again, but instead of taking everything below the third again, I take the second node but leave the first, creating 8 colas with only two tops.
 
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notoriouscheech

Active Member
tslonige said:
Topping’ refers to the technique of cutting off the top of the plant in between the nodes. On the other hand, ‘Fimming’ is the process of removing new growths but avoiding cutting between the nodes. If you top you will get 2 colas, with fimming you will get 4 but smaller.
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Do you think what i did was more of Fimming then? I could take more pictures of the plant im talking about if that would help.

iShatterBladderz said:
I wait until I have 5 or 6 nodes, and top at the third, then take off everything below the third node as well. Basically doubles your main colas every time you top.

I usually top 3 times before flipping, but sometimes if I’m in a hurry, on the second top, I’ll cut at the third node again, but instead of taking everything below the third again, I take the second node but leave the first, creating 8 colas with only two tops.
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Would you say then, in that second picture that a couple of those plants are ready to top then? There are 4-6 nodes on most if im counting correctly. Any chance you could link me to a post/video that does how you would do it? From what i gather though topping is cutting at the main stem.
 
iShatterBladderz

iShatterBladderz

Well-Known Member
notoriouscheech said:
Do you think what i did was more of Fimming then? I could take more pictures of the plant im talking about if that would help.


Would you say then, in that second picture that a couple of those plants are ready to top then? There are 4-6 nodes on most if im counting correctly. Any chance you could link me to a post/video that does how you would do it? From what i gather though topping is cutting at the main stem.
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yes, topping you just cut the main shoot, about a half inch above the node.some of those nods don’t look completely symmetrical though, if the third Node isn’t symmetrical, I would try to top at one that is. Makes it much easier for maintenance in flower.
 
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notoriouscheech

Active Member
Well fuck, maybe i really didnt do either then hahah. More of a fim for sure but i cut it a little further down on it. On the first picture and last, the tallest plant... Should i be waiting for another node to form before topping or is it at the point where I can cut that top growth off?

EDIT- Thank you EVERYONE responding to this as well, i really appreciate the help these forums have given me over the past couple weeks. first time grower learning more and more everyday. Over thinking most things but hanging in there haha.
 

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tslonige

Well-Known Member
notoriouscheech said:
Well fuck, maybe i really didnt do either then hahah. More of a fim for sure but i cut it a little further down on it. On the first picture and last, the tallest plant... Should i be waiting for another node to form before topping or is it at the point where I can cut that top growth off?

EDIT- Thank you EVERYONE responding to this as well, i really appreciate the help these forums have given me over the past couple weeks. first time grower learning more and more everyday. Over thinking most things but hanging in there haha.
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Go look at Budz stuff, he can grow weed from pure cow shit, he knows his stuff!!
 
mustbetribbin

mustbetribbin

Well-Known Member
@notoriouscheech

The way to top that I found to cause the least hesitation of new growth afterwards, was to wait for 1 1/2 node growth to develop above the area you wish to top from.

So for instance if you want the 6th node to be where it's topped at, wait until the 7th node developes almost completely, and when the 8th node is just starting to open up and spread its young leaves out, that's when you make your cut, like when the second node above is just starting widen out after unfurling, that's the sweet spot.

The plants I've topped this way seem to grow out faster with 2 new tops faster than topping right below the 7th node as its developing, something about the growing fibers needing to reach a certain width before topping occurs, that allows for those new branches to develope faster, if you make the cut too early, it's as if the fibers inside get pinched or restricted, and this seems to take about 1 week to recover from, depending on health of the seedling of course, where as if new growth above the cut zone is allowed to grow first , new tops can appear within just a few days.

One thing that's a good idea to be concerned of is the amount of stem that is left above where the topped off node has been removed from, I would say leave about half inch of the stem intact above where the cut is made of you're able, this will provide you with more room for the stem to heal & less chance of infection.

If you want to remove as much stress as possible to the topping process, another thing that I would recommend anyone to try is instead of cutting the plant while the lights are On, wait until the plant falls asleep instead, only takes about 1 hour after the lights go out for this to occur, this is the time of the day that the plant is able to focus more on healing and root development, and this also happens to be the best time for uninterrupted signals to occur within the plant, because the cells involved in photosynthesis have mostly all gone into rest/sleep mode for the day, this allows for the plant to work on things like structure, immunity, environmental responses and so forth....... just need a dimly lit area or dimly lit/shielded low watt flashlight/headlamp to go in and not interrupt the night cycle while you make your cut/cuts, it's really not as hard as it sounds, quite fun really, lol.

So yeah that's what I would/ and have done to my own plant's, and that's the method of topping that I went by, and I found it to be the best method to provide the desired results, you can see for yourself if you like, but this is a tested and true method in my own trials.

Cheers friend and if I can elaborate on anything said here I would be glad to.

Thanks.
 
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tslonige

Well-Known Member
mustbetribbin said:
@notoriouscheech

The way to top that I found to cause the least hesitation of new growth afterwards, was to wait for 1 1/2 node growth to develop above the area you wish to top from.

So for instance if you want the 6th node to be where it's topped at, wait until the 7th node developes almost completely, and when the 8th node is just starting to open up and spread its young leaves out, that's when you make your cut, like when the second node above is just starting widen out after unfurling, that's the sweet spot.

The plants I've topped this way seem to grow out faster with 2 new tops faster than topping right below the 7th node as its developing, something about the growing fibers needing to reach a certain width before topping occurs, that allows for those new branches to develope faster, if you make the cut too early, it's as if the fibers inside get pinched or restricted, and this seems to take about 1 week to recover from, depending on health of the seedling of course, where as if new growth above the cut zone is allowed to grow first , new tops can appear within just a few days.

One thing that's a good idea to be concerned of is the amount of stem that is left above where the topped off node has been removed from, I would say leave about half inch of the stem intact above where the cut is made of you're able, this will provide you with more room for the stem to heal & less chance of infection.

If you want to remove as much stress as possible to the topping process, another thing that I would recommend anyone to try is instead of cutting the plant while the lights are On, wait until the plant falls asleep instead, only takes about 1 hour after the lights go out for this to occur, this is the time of the day that the plant is able to focus more on healing and root development, and this also happens to be the best time for uninterrupted signals to occur within the plant, because the cells involved in photosynthesis have mostly all gone into rest/sleep mode for the day, this allows for the plant to work on things like structure, immunity, environmental responses and so forth....... just need a dimly lit area or dimly lit/shielded low watt flashlight/headlamp to go in and not interrupt the night cycle while you make your cut/cuts, it's really not as hard as it sounds, quite fun really, lol.

So yeah that's what I would/ and have done to my own plant's, and that's the method of topping that I went by, and I found it to be the best method to provide the desired results, you can see for yourself if you like, but this is a tested and true method in my own trials.

Cheers friend and if I can elaborate on anything said here I would be glad to.

Thanks.
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A green light works without interrupting the process. Great explanation, thanks
 
mustbetribbin

mustbetribbin

Well-Known Member
tslonige said:
A green light works without interrupting the process. Great explanation, thanks
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Hey @tslonige, thank you for the compliment I appreciate it.

And thank you also for helping me further advance my technique and helping me sharpen any dull areas in my growing methodologies, the green light idea is exactly what I need to seek after, this is the type of light that I am going to begin to look for in the near future, this would provide visibility while keeping the plants asleep, so it is a good idea and I have my interest piqued as to why I should invest in a well specified product that is possibly designed for this exact function, hopefully in a LED headlamp version (hands free).

But I do thank you friend, glad I was able to share what I could, have a good one buddy!
 
T

tslonige

Well-Known Member
mustbetribbin said:
Hey @tslonige, thank you for the compliment I appreciate it.

And thank you also for helping me further advance my technique and helping me sharpen any dull areas in my growing methodologies, the green light idea is exactly what I need to seek after, this is the type of light that I am going to begin to look for in the near future, this would provide visibility while keeping the plants asleep, so it is a good idea and I have my interest piqued as to why I should invest in a well specified product that is possibly designed for this exact function, hopefully in a LED headlamp version (hands free).

But I do thank you friend, glad I was able to share what I could, have a good one buddy!
Click to expand...
 
mustbetribbin

mustbetribbin

Well-Known Member
tslonige said:
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That would definitely be the light to go with while plants are in flower, I've only got one girl in flower at the moment, the others are all in veg and a few mothers are busy making clones atm, so I haven't had a big issue over which light I've used just yet, but I would say that this is a safer route than I've been doing with my girl in flower, but I've found short brief interaction with the plants in the dark to not be a big issue anyhow, but I've used super low lumen output lights so far, lol it's different than a constant light leak I've found, but then again I'm still kind of new to indoors growing, so I'm learning as I go also... ha ha.

So yeah anyways , Thanks @tslonige for your help and the link, much appreciated.
 
raratt

raratt

Well-Known Member
notoriouscheech said:
Well fuck, maybe i really didnt do either then hahah. More of a fim for sure but i cut it a little further down on it. On the first picture and last, the tallest plant... Should i be waiting for another node to form before topping or is it at the point where I can cut that top growth off?

EDIT- Thank you EVERYONE responding to this as well, i really appreciate the help these forums have given me over the past couple weeks. first time grower learning more and more everyday. Over thinking most things but hanging in there haha.
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Off subject I know but what are you using for lights? They seem to be stretching a bit.
 
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notoriouscheech

Active Member
raratt said:
Off subject I know but what are you using for lights? They seem to be stretching a bit.
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Using a 480w LED from kingbrite. Ive got them about 20-24 inches away from the plants. Turned down just about all the way. I did have a thought that one or two of them looked a little stretchy and moved a little closer. Should i go more?
 
raratt

raratt

Well-Known Member
notoriouscheech said:
Using a 480w LED from kingbrite. Ive got them about 20-24 inches away from the plants. Turned down just about all the way. I did have a thought that one or two of them looked a little stretchy and moved a little closer. Should i go more?
Click to expand...
I would just turn the light up. When I check how close my lights are I just put my hand right over the plant and below the light, if it is too warm on my hand after awhile it's too warm for the plants. I have yet to see anyone complaining about too much light, unless it is too close.
 
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notoriouscheech

Active Member
@mustbetribbin

Thanks for all the great info, REALLY appreciated! On these tall ones would you suggest topping now down one and a half nodes or let one more node grow out? Id like these to stop shooting up so tall!

@raratt
Noted, just turned it up a little bit. The LED's produce almost no heat from what im experiencing so far so I could probably turn them up a bit without being too hot. Thanks for mentioning something.
 

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