topping opens a whole new world of growing to the novice... believe me as im learning it all now! Topping plants is used primarilary for 2 reasons. The first being if your plant is too high and hitting your light, and you dont want to tie it down, OR, if you want to reep the benefits of more than 1 top kola. Now realize that all cannibas plants have a "max" bud production that they will reach. All plants are different, and most breeders list it on their web sites. Experimentation is the only sure fire way to see how your plants personally respond. Through topping, you allow your plant to flower more than just one kola. As the plants all have a max bud production, some dont respond well to being topped. I know strains like big bud do fine, but i have also read that some pure sativas do not like it. Now in case you were not positive, topping should only be done in vegitative, and i always give a week or more after topping before switching to flower cycles. Hope that helped a little...