To Lollipop or not??

I have seen a few grows where the grower lollipoped his entire crop. Is it a good idea or just a prefrence? Has anyone done this and if so what did you think about it? I was thinking about doing 2 of my babies like that, I'm already a week into flowering tho so I have no clue. Hope to hear some good idea's and experinces. :blsmoke:
 

Little Tommy

Well-Known Member
Lollypopping is when the lower vegetation is removed and you focus all the energy from the plant on that single cola bud. Looks like a lollypop with the long stem and the bud at the top. It is really personal preference and a growing style to fit size and lighting constraints. This method is sometimes used in sog (Sea of Green) type grows.
 

Lil Czr

Well-Known Member
If the plant is not one that branches out much then it's a good candidate for lollipopping.

If it is a bushy plant with a lot of branching then I would go with a scrog style grow instead to increase yield.
 

NOWitall

Active Member
ahhhh ok.

well it depends. if your pot is big enough, w healthy roots and was given time to make a proper root structure it can support almost any number of branches.

its good for when you whant to use alot of pots w less diameter.

i myself clip stuff thats shaded too much.

and it can boost output to you bud, but only to a certain point, any plant can only grow so fast. they all have a maximum growth rate, so its easy to reach
a point where you have more root structure than your plant needs.

its like trying to fit a 500lbs man down a water slide. wait. no its nothing like that.
its like having a 200 man construction crew working on a dog house.... ok its not quite like that either.
lets say it like having a root structure that can produce more plant growth (potential) energy than the plant can use, cuasing waste by ineffeciancy. yeah. its kinda like that :-)
 

xanadulives

Member
If the plant is not one that branches out much then it's a good candidate for lollipopping.

If it is a bushy plant with a lot of branching then I would go with a scrog style grow instead to increase yield.
I agree with this.^^^

I also have to throw in that you have to take your growing area into consideration as well? Where's your light? Do you have lots? Do the bottom stems get light? If not they're probably just gonna be little fluff balls and the energy could've been used up top.
Pics??
 

*BUDS

Well-Known Member
I have seen a few grows where the grower lollipoped his entire crop. Is it a good idea or just a prefrence? Has anyone done this and if so what did you think about it? I was thinking about doing 2 of my babies like that, I'm already a week into flowering tho so I have no clue. Hope to hear some good idea's and experinces. :blsmoke:
its a good idea trim the lower 1/3 of the plant clean. then all the production will go to main cola.
 
I have 2 400W hps kicking in there. Most of my strains, well all of them are indica's and are very bushy. The only one that is not a bush is my Bubble Gum, she has a mind of her own. I have already topped her twice and it's about a foot higher then the others lol The light does get down maybe a little more than half way thru the canopy, but I noticed all the little growth on the bottom near the dirt and was thinking about removing all of that like BUDS said 1/3...Would that be ok being I am one full week into flowering? Will it be to much stress ? Thanks guys.
 
Week 5.jpg Here is the only pic I have atm. This is week 5 and there are 12. What do think? Should I trim the bottom 1/3 of these or let em be?
 

xanadulives

Member
Looks like you have lots of light and space man!! I'd just let 'em be. It won't stress them though. It's just a transfer of energy from those stems you just removed to the rest of the plant, the wound will heal quick. No worries about stress. You could wait a little longer a week or two cause you're only a week into flower. A little longer will show you how quickly each 'top' is growing. Then you could make a decision on clipping a couple of the bottom stems or not. Personally I think you're gonna be fine though from the looks of that pic.
I would totally do some research on scrog if I were you for your next grow. Your room looks extremely suitable for it and you could have a huge yield.

They look great man!! I'll hang around to see how they turn out! I'm a week in myself. Things really started to show today on a couple of my strains.
 
Looks like you have lots of light and space man!! I'd just let 'em be. It won't stress them though. It's just a transfer of energy from those stems you just removed to the rest of the plant, the wound will heal quick. No worries about stress. You could wait a little longer a week or two cause you're only a week into flower. A little longer will show you how quickly each 'top' is growing. Then you could make a decision on clipping a couple of the bottom stems or not. Personally I think you're gonna be fine though from the looks of that pic.
I would totally do some research on scrog if I were you for your next grow. Your room looks extremely suitable for it and you could have a huge yield.

They look great man!! I'll hang around to see how they turn out! I'm a week in myself. Things really started to show today on a couple of my strains.
Thanks man!! This is my second indoor grow and so far so good. I did'nt mess with them after all. They looked so peaceful ha ha I have noticed 6 inches of growth in 5 days tho!! All the new tops and shoots are like a neon green. I have seen a few vids on Scrog.. How would one water them tho with that screen in the way? You have any info or experience on Scrog?
 

xanadulives

Member
Hey there IA! I love quick growth!!

As far as scrog, I don't have any experience yet. Just info from reading on the web and looking at quite a few different setups on the net too. I personally know how I will do it when I set up mine. I use individual drip hydro, so that's how it'll be done for me. Once the pots are in they're places the drip lines won't have to move.
In a room like yours with dirt pots you could say leave enough room between the pots and the screen and I'd say you could get in there. I should have also mentioned LST which is another good short space method. Here's a pic I have off of a forum here>> https://www.rollitup.org/general-marijuana-growing/289070-prime-lst-example-here-short.html Also another pic showing a different way to LST, Low Stress Training btw.

View attachment 1332074
This is one way.

View attachment 1332082
And I haven't seen anything better than this idea yet. Topped when young. Each new 'top' now is spread opposite of each other than each stem off of the new 'mains' are tied to the pot in a 180 degree fashion. Look for post #15, HappyGrowing86. That plant is fucking sick. I'm about to go give him so overdue rep lol.


Can't wait for some new pics man!! Take a look at what I got going on too and tell me what you think!
 
Looking good man!! I see you and I are making the best of the small space we have lol My ceiling is only 57 inches high so I hope these don't grow to that lol I have topped 2 (jelly bean and pineapple xpress) those 2 won't give up tho, there almost a foot taller then the others. I hope to end up with at least a lb of dried weight out of these 12. I have a few pics in my profile from clone to today. Check em out if you want.
 

xanadulives

Member
Hey man!! How was all the holiday jazz??
More importantly how are your plants doing??
I haven't seen any new info!!!!
 
View attachment 1330242 Here is the only pic I have atm. This is week 5 and there are 12. What do think? Should I trim the bottom 1/3 of these or let em be?
They are looking nice and leafy. Keep in mind that if too much green is cut off then the plant spends most of its energy making up for the lost leaves. This can add a few days to your flower time.

Indica varieties are better when they get bushy. I have had them so thick that we named them "lettuce" since they were almost white without the lack of sun but they were solid and excellent. When we have topped them (with trimming the branches from the main colas) we have gotten a bigger yield as the colas were much bigger. With some experiementation I think we are getting a happy balance.

Here is what we do:

*Remove the bottom 3-4 branches about the 4th week into veg (from seed).
*After the plants have 4-5 sets of branches, we pinch off the tops. This causes the plant to shoot out two more main branches and then one more time after each of those main branches reach 3-4 sets of leaves... that ends up supplying 4 lovely colas per plant.
*Support the plant with stakes as it will get really top heavy (we have had branches snap off due to their weight)
*Trim lanky branches that are "inside the plant" or underneath the really good looking branches.
*I also try to trim the leaves when they are more than 25% yellow (bugs are attracted to yellow - that's why pest strips are yellow)

This is what works for us...but every grow room/grow is different depending on everything that goes into it. The biggest bit of advice is to proceed with caution and trim conservatively. Trying it out along side your other plants will let you know for sure the yield difference.

ps. Our Pineapple Chunk is a sativa (sp?) and we aggressively trimmed her to keep it more level...we have also tied them on a 90 degree angle which allowed the same height and max light efficiency. You do need room to do this though as the plants get over 5 feet tall (indoors).

Good luck!
 
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