My first grow; questions about topping, lst and other stuff (pics included)

Hi guys,

This is my first grow. she is on her 20th day after sprout and I think she is doing pretty good for now.

although it is not suggested to use training techniques for the first grow, i think i can handle topping and lst for my baby.

now; i have some questions. i would be grateful if i could use some help here. there are some tutorials about topping and lst but couldnt find some clear shit about when to start train. they just talking about number of nodes.

1- is it ok to top the plant at this age? she has 5 grown nodes and 6th and 7th nodes are popping up with tiny leaves at this moment. (you can refer to the photos) they say i can top the plant if she got 4-6 nodes but should i wait for the fan leaves coming from the first three nodes to get bigger? should i take the distance between nodes into consideration?

2- is it ok to begin lst now? should i take the distance between nodes into consideration?

3- do you advise to top the plant before lst? can i begin to lst just after topping the plant?

4- do you think she looks healthy? any suggestions when you look at the photos of her?

Thank you very much guys. I will be remembering you when i get the first hit from her.

I would wait a bit..you could start training now but the plant will respond a little better when it's got some girth to it..give it a week

I generally start counting nodes fromnthe first full set of leaves, so I'd count that as 3 nodes not 5 (first node is the cotyledon, 2nd is a single leaflet). I'd wait for at least a couple more nodes before pinching the top.

LST is a less invasive way of encouraging bushing but to be effective the plant needs to be big enough to get the dominant growing tip lower then the side branches. For a plant this size pinching the top is more effective, LST will be good for tying the two resulting dominant tips down to encourage even more side growth.

thanks for your replies; I really appreciate your help.

@Kage87 I also think to wait for another week before topping but I am afraid of breaking the stem during the lst if it gets harder. So, if I wait for another week and top the plant, should i wait for another week to begin lst; in order to make it recover?

@Somatek I have already counted the first true leaves as the first node; the cotyledon below became too small to identify, i think you missed it i have numbered the nodes on a photo, the internode between the 4th node and the 5th is narrow and the 6th and 7th set of leaves are just emerging. Do you still think I should wait for more nodes?

webraider said:

thanks for your replies; I really appreciate your help.

@Kage87 I also think to wait for another week before topping but I am afraid of breaking the stem during the lst if it gets harder. So, if I wait for another week and top the plant, should i wait for another week to begin lst; in order to make it recover?

@Somatek I have already counted the first true leaves as the first node; the cotyledon below became too small to identify, i think you missed it i have numbered the nodes on a photo, the internode between the 4th node and the 5th is narrow and the 6th and 7th set of leaves are just emerging. Do you still think I should wait for more nodes?

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Lol I broke a stem once..won't do it again you'll learn ..little bit at a time don't try and bend the stem completely over first try do a little bit every day

What you have marked as 5th & 6th are commonly just called the growing tip. I'd start counting nodes from where you have it marked 2nd node. So there's 3 full nodes then the growing tip is what I was getting at.

You'll learn quickly how tough these plants & how hard it is to do serious harm. Before any LST you should roll the stem between you fingers gently to make it more pliable & less likely to break.

@Kage87 lol, I think I'll learn. TY

@Somatek Yes, just learned that the first set of true leaves doesn't count as a node. Being a newbie sucks, I read a lot and still miss some important stuff. Ty for this important info.

But I still have a question mark if it is not a real node what I marked as 5th node (4th node in real as Ive just learned now), since it has grown a big fingered leaf and it is different from the growth tips below in size and distance to the node.

posting another photo here, marked as what I was thinking at first. Is it a node or not?

Thank you very much for your help.

What was marked as the 5th node I would consider the emerging 4th node. You'd want to top the next node, which needs to be big enough that you can pinch of the apical meristem without damaging the side buds. Otherwise you're fimming (where you leave damaged meristematic growth to encourage multiple top branches instead of just the side branches), which was literally developed because someone made a mistake pinching their top off.

As a beginner I would wait for the 5th node to develope enough that you can easily pinch the tip off without damaging the side growth so you're only dealing with two tops to train.

Since I started growing again 3 years ago, I have always topped my plants. I tend to wait until I have produced 4 true leaf nodes and then pinch the new growth tip/cut it off. The plant then produces new stems at all of the remaining leaf nodes, so you can let them grow or continue stripping to manifold the plant(that's what I do). I've trained growth using 8 main tops and decided that using just 4 tops and selective training of interior growth is quite a bit less work. I only use lst on my plants outside-just to promote new bud sites. You will be amazed at how robust the plant is so don't be afraid to fold her over-the only non-repairable damage is when the branch is severed in your hand, until then don't worry.

I'm not a big fan of lst, unless you have height restrictions I'd recommend not doing it and topping or fim only,ime some strains definitely don't respond well and buds tend to be very spongey with these and don't dense up. Plant looks great, looks like you have things sorted

thank you for all your replies. i've decided to wait for another week and top her just above the 3rd true node. i think im gonna go for lst after that.

@tiltswitch ty for your feedback, I just try to keep things simple. good mix, good light, rigorous watering. overthinking is bad imo.

webraider said:

thank you for all your replies. i've decided to wait for another week and top her just above the 3rd true node. i think im gonna go for lst after that.

@tiltswitch ty for your feedback, I just try to keep things simple. good mix, good light, rigorous watering. overthinking is bad imo.

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I'd top/fim it, let it get bigger then lst out a flat wide even canopy. I just hate how long it takes to veg it vs SoG. Don't like Christmas tree shaped plants unless doing SoG for speed.