Growing 2 strawberry coughs fem. 2 months old and in flowering. Topped 1, and FIMd the other at about the same time (1 month maybe). The one i topped now has 2 main colas. Very thick, very strong, very good looking and growing very tall (colas are as thick as original stem). The other one that i used the FIM technique now has 4 main colas. Not as thick and strong as the other plant with 2, but theres double the amount of bud sites on the plant that got FIMd. The bud sites are ridiculous on the plant with the 4 main colas, all over them literally. The plant that got topped doesn't nearly have as many bud sites, but its bigger overall height wise. The plant that got FIMd is now turning into more of a bush, with multiple branches all over growing multiple bud sites. The plant that got topped is growing like a siamese twin christmas tree (just imagine how a plant would normally grow if you let it do its thing, but with two main heads). The two main heads are very tall and have bud sites all over them, but not many on any other part of the plant, unlike the plant that got FIMd, that has bud sites all over entire plant.
Overall my opinion would be, If your looking for yield I would FIM your plant as many times as possible without hurting it. Because more nodes will always pop us, usually double the number of nodes on the part of the plant you FIMd. If your looking to just grow a very strong product, and you don't care about yield and you just want potency, then i would TOP your plant once, twice max. Because the plant won't have to divert energy all over it to support numerous bud sites, it will only have to send all the energy up to the two main heads, which will overall make those bud sites a lot more powerful.
Early in this thread someone said its all about strain and circumstances. I totally agree with this because every strain needs different things. You could top two different strains, in the same place, at the same time in their life, and you could get completely different outcomes (more nodes growing in the topped area on one plant than the other). Its all about the technique you use as a grower, your grow room, your stains. Everything is a factor when growing. Find specifically what suits you and your plants needs. (If you don't have a lot of grow room height wise, I would FIM numerous times to turn the plant into more of a bush that will stay small, than growing tall like a christmas tree) Or another example would be, (If your plant doesn't respond well to the first TOP or FIM, by growing slowly or the new nodes growing out being stunted, then I wouldn't try and TOP or FIM it again, as the plant probably didn't like it or was affected in a negative way by it)
Hope this helps, happy growing!
