30" tall in veg, ok to top before flower? im worried about running out of space!

long story short, i had to go out of town and left the girls with a buddy who took good care of them. the problem is, six of them are just under 30" in 3gal smartpots. strain is critical mass so its a giant strain. my space is 5x6x8' with a 1000w. im thinking of topping them to avoid having giants. everything i hear on topping says you should do it when they are just a few nodes tall. these trees have too many nodes to count so im kinda stuck on what to do

Its fine if you top now as long as you let it veg for a week before starting flowering.

go ahead and top

how many nodes off the top would you recommend?

https://www.rollitup.org/advanced-marijuana-cultivation/151706-uncle-bens-topping-technique-get.html

5ourdiesel said:

how many nodes off the top would you recommend?

Click to expand...

If it were me & my plants i'd cut the plants directly in half & i would treat the top as a clone,let the clones establish a root structure for 2 to 3 weeks as well as let the plants recouperate, then i would flower all of them.

Even if you dont have enough floor space thats properly light set the extra plants on the outer edge of the grow & let them bud out,you'll get loose fluffy buds for the most part but whatever is to crappy looking to sell or smoke will make excellent hash.

I use my areas in my rooms that are not light well enough to grow heavy nuggs and throw extra plants
in those areas for use when we make our hash.

agree with the Panhead from the D. root those tops!!! gain 2 more HUGE colas.

fwiw. i had the same sit. had to go out of town, and got home to a 28 and a 30 in veggers.
put them in, and they are now about 2, maybe 3 weeks away from being harvied. in 3 gallon plastic pots, and are approx 5 ft tall.

hey. just a suggestions.. u mite want to keep the MH bulb in for the first week of flowering to reduce the stretch.. i have tried and it worked great for my 40 inch plants .. .. or u can put the hps bulb in a couple weeks before u switch to 12 12 .. and that should allow them to get the stretching out of the way before the 12 12.. so they wont outgrow ur space.. and yes u can top.. i topped a couple branches the day of the switch to 12 12 .. and they took a couple extra days to get growing but they have caught up to evertyhin else

You can tie them down too, will not lose the main cola.

Not trying to shit on advice from other helpfull members but in my experience tying down large plants to beat the stretch is not an option ,unless you have a few weeks before the time switch,if you tie down main cola branches & go straight to 12/12 without allowing the plant time to asjust & right itself you run the risk of fuking up the colas.

What happens is this,the stalk is alot thicker than other branches that contribute to the main cola so the fatter stalk will not right itself at the same pace as the rest of the cola branches,the end result looks fuked up from the secondary branches going straight up & down & the main stalk still at an angle,you end up with a ragged ass looking big ass cola that needs to be seperated when you trim.