Couple of questions about topping. Need help! +rep for help!

HigH people. I am currently on my third ever grow and have decided to top my two plants. I currently have an LSD and a Blue Mystic on day 23 since sprouting. They are both looking nice and healthy. I'm using coco and canna. The LSD is approx. 7" tall and the Blue Mystic is approx 8" tall. First questions is when is best time to top. Should it be before or after feeding? Does it matter? I fed them yesterday and plan on feeding tomorrow. Could I top them today and just continue with the feeding tomorrow? Also once topped do you feed at a lower dose of nutes for a bit or just continue with the same nute dosage? Also the following pic is of one of the plants. In the pic my wifes fingers are on the right and mine are on the left. Now please correct me if I'm wrong. My wifes bottom finger is holding back leaves from the first node and my bottom finger is holding back leaves from the second node. Am I right? If so then I'll top above that second node? I am a rookie just trying to get it right so i would appreciate any help I can get!! Thanks.

WillyPhister said:

Hey brah your plant looks real nice, you can go ahead and top her whenever you want. Dont over think your situation, you dont have to the change the way you feed her either. Your plants wont need any special treatment after getting a topping.

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Thanks! Yeah being a nervous ass rookie I overthink it all!! Hate that shit! So I'm right in the nodes? Thanks for the quick response +rep bro. I like that avatar TOOL rulz! Seen em a bunch of times.

WillyPhister said:

BTW top her at the highest node possible, cutting your plant anywhere lower is a just waste and your basically backtracking. You could also consider doing lst.

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Hmm highest node? Was going by the sticky uncle bens topping technique and he says top at the second node.

Yea, the node is where the branch starts. from seed there is one on each side of the main stalk.
I assume you are growing indoors, there is two things you wanna do, one is to top the second is to remove the lower growth that wont get enough light to make worth while.

So what I would suggest is to remove the top of the plant and in about a week you will see it has closed up the wound and split in two. now the lower stuff, count up from the bottom and remove both the leaf and the small branches from the first two nodes. so like four leafs and four small branches. Now you are ready to flower.

ChroniCDooM said:

Hmm highest node? Was going by the sticky uncle bens topping technique and he says top at the second node.

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just tossin in 2 cents. maybe uncle ben meant do it 2nd node from the TOP lmfao haha buuut i may be wrong good sir :]

ChroniCDooM said:

Hmm highest node? Was going by the sticky uncle bens topping technique and he says top at the second node.

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Ya topping at the second node would have been ideal but your plant is too old now, you would basically be cutting her in half and throwing away two weeks of growth. btw its great to see another TOOL fan on the forums.

Nice .. very healthy looking . Yes it looks like you have the nodes right . Uncle ben has a nice post in the newbie section of the forums about topping . Best I can remeber he does the f.i.m. top at the second true node ... but I believe he does it when that node is sprouting. You may be beyond the normal f.i.m. topping ..but you can regular top anytime . As for where ... depends on how tall you want it too get . If you need it to stay short , go all the way down to the second node .... If not then I would just top it at the top . As for feeding .. If you do take a lot off .. i would cut down to about a third strength of what ever you are doing now in case it does shock the plant . If you top it at the top ... I would just keep doing what your doing .. looks like its working very well for you .. I would go check out uncle bens topping post also .. he has nice pics showing right where to cut . good luck , I hear that lsd is some real good suff !! : )

cruzer101 said:

Yea, the node is where the branch starts. from seed there is one on each side of the main stalk.
I assume you are growing indoors, there is two things you wanna do, one is to top the second is to remove the lower growth that wont get enough light to make worth while.

So what I would suggest is to remove the top of the plant and in about a week you will see it has closed up the wound and split in two. now the lower stuff, count up from the bottom and remove both the leaf and the small branches from the first two nodes. so like four leafs and four small branches. Now you are ready to flower.

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Right on! Thanks for helping a rookie out!

Jeffdt1966 said:

Nice .. very healthy looking . Yes it looks like you have the nodes right . Uncle ben has a nice post in the newbie section of the forums about topping . Best I can remeber he does the f.i.m. top at the second true node ... but I believe he does it when that node is sprouting. You may be beyond the normal f.i.m. topping ..but you can regular top anytime . As for where ... depends on how tall you want it too get . If you need it to stay short , go all the way down to the second node .... If not then I would just top it at the top . As for feeding .. If you do take a lot off .. i would cut down to about a third strength of what ever you are doing now in case it does shock the plant . If you top it at the top ... I would just keep doing what your doing .. looks like its working very well for you .. I would go check out uncle bens topping post also .. he has nice pics showing right where to cut . good luck , I hear that lsd is some real good suff !! : )

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Thanks! + rep for the great advice! I have read through the sticky uncle bens topping technique and it sounded like the ideal place to top is at that second node. I do need the plants to stay kinda short in my cab which is only 5' tall. So I'm prob gonna top at the second node. Guess I shoulda and will in the future top earlier. Not to worried about cutting off so much growth I can wait and let it grow back. It's all good. Unless it doesn't really matter where to top at this point but seemed uncle Ben was pretty adamant about topping at that second node.

WillyPhister said:

Ya topping at the second node would have been ideal but your plant is too old now, you would basically be cutting her in half and throwing away two weeks of growth. btw its great to see another TOOL fan on the forums.

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Yeah it does seem to be a waste of growth and time. In future grows I'll definitely top earlier in the game. Seems like uncle bens technique called for topping at the second node as that is the ideal place to top. I can wait for some new growth after topping, just want to get the max potential out of the topping.

Yeah I luv TooL! Been a fan for years! Seen them for the first time in Hawaii about 1993 at a festival show. Have been a fan ever since! Met Danny Carey once. He was on tour with his side band Pigmy Love Circus.

Topping it high will just make it bushy as hell. Uncle Ben's method gives much bigger and concentrated budding. Multiple colas or mucho side buds is the choice you make.

Cutting the plant after the second node seems a waste, but the plant will be much stouter in the long run.

I do plan on introducing co2 to my grow this week. So hopefully that will speed up the new growth once I top them. I have a digigro coco co2 monitor/controller and regulator. Will be buying a 20lb. Co2 cylinder tomorrow morning. May take a couple days to get it all up and going since I have some dental work being done tomorrow also.

Viagro said:

Topping it high will just make it bushy as hell. Uncle Ben's method gives much bigger and concentrated budding. Multiple colas or mucho side buds is the choice you make.

Cutting the plant after the second node seems a waste, but the plant will be much stouter in the long run.

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Hey what up V? Thanks! +rep to u my friend! Yeah it looks like the second node it is. Was thinking of fimming one and topping the other but I'm gonna top both!

The reason it's good to wait till you have this much growth before cutting it back to the second node is to let it develop a good root structure. Once you top it, it'll look a bit mutilated, but in a week or so it will explode in growth. This is one of the best growing lessons you can learn. It's a great way to manage growth and maximize yield quality.

I'd top the Blue Mystic for sure, it can get pretty lanky, but you have an indica dom, so I don't know but I read one BMystic grow that said it looked indica dom early and when flowering it looked more sativa dom. I'm not sure how that's even possible.


edit: just saw your remark about topping both. good idea.

Viagro said:

The reason it's good to wait till you have this much growth before cutting it back to the second node is to let it develop a good root structure. Once you top it, it'll look a bit mutilated, but in a week or so it will explode in growth. This is one of the best growing lessons you can learn. It's a great way to manage growth and maximize yield quality.

I'd top the Blue Mystic for sure, it can get pretty lanky, but you have an indica dom, so I don't know but I read one BMystic grow that said it looked indica dom early and when flowering it looked more sativa dom. I'm not sure how that's even possible.


edit: just saw your remark about topping both. good idea.

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Sounds good thanks V! I'm about to top em here in a lil bit. Will post some pics tomorrow after feeding.

the best thing to do is tie the plant over now, and this will allow the light to reach all the new arms they will all grow more even and strong.

onegreenthumb said:

the best thing to do is tie the plant over now, and this will allow the light to reach all the new arms they will all grow more even and strong.

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This is LST, my favorite method and I prefer it over topping.

The reason it's good to wait till you have this much growth before cutting it back to the second node is to let it develop a good root structure. Once you top it, it'll look a bit mutilated, but in a week or so it will explode in growth. This is one of the best growing lessons you can learn. It's a great way to manage growth and maximize yield quality.

I'd top the Blue Mystic for sure, it can get pretty lanky, but you have an indica dom, so I don't know but I read one BMystic grow that said it looked indica dom early and when flowering it looked more sativa dom. I'm not sure how that's even possible.

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Thats a good point about the plant having a stronger root structure, I didnt think of that.

Yea, there is several different styles of pruning a plant, I just gave you the basic bush trim that also works well in a screen of green.
Unless you have vertical lighting you want an even canopy and that an easy way of getting there.