Topping in bloom?

Hey, Kinda new here but I have been reading as much as I can and This seems like a really strong community with a lot of knowledge!

I was just wondering what will happen if I top a plant during the first week of bloom? Like will it develop two tops and then bud as normal or will there not be enough time? Everywhere I have been reading says to do it in veg but I am already in the bloom cycle so I just wanted some opinions before I try this.

the reason I'm topping isn't to increase yield but rather to try and keep my canopy even. Let me explain:

I'm doing my first grow right now and have been tackling problems as they occur - of which there haven't been too many! (thankfully!) I'm growing 5 aurora indica plants from seed (nirvana seeds) and can confirm that they are a very resilient and low maintenance plant.

I seem to have two pheno types (maybe three - but I cant be sure), Type 1 is tall with comparatively thin leaves and type 2 is shorter with broader leaves. To give you an idea of the difference, type one is sitting at 20-22 inches tall while type 2 has just hit 13-14 inches. They have the same number of nodes. I have three type 1's and two type 2's.

One of my plants was miles ahead in growth of all the others as a young plant so I topped it and it has since grown two tops, more importantly (for me) it delayed the vertical growth by about a week and allowed the others to catch up. perfect. Soon after it became apparent that I had two phenos and was just going to have to accept a substantial height difference with the plants. Now they are in Bloom (first week - 5 days in) but one plant has shot of from the others again - sitting about 4 inches taller than the other type 1's. I was wondering if topping at this stage will do much damage top the plant? Like might I loose the top coala completely?

The reason this is bothering me so much is that I am using HPS lighting and I don't want to set it too high above my type 2's, but to avoid burning my tallest plant I kinda have to and I don't want to deprive the type 2's from any more light.

Any advise / opinions are appreciated guys! Thanks

Oh and if i could go back I would definitely use a screen and tie the tops down but it's a little late for that now unfortunately.....

Soil?
Hyrdo?
If in soil and containers just stack stuff under the shorter plants maybe? Bricks, books, dead hookers?

Soil grow. I will do that but they are in big ass 25 litre containers and are getting kinda heavy!! They big guy is also encroaching the max allowable height for the room so I really wanna slow him down somehow. I've seen a re-potting guide that suggests burying the stem and severing some of the roots - anyone had good results with this method?

Would still like opinions about topping in flower cycle though....It has not started to pre flower yet if that's any help.

Depends on the strain, the kush I run requires topping b/c the shit stretches to high heaven once they are set at 12 hour cycle. Even in the ground it requires aggressive pruning methods after flowering commences. Yet I have a C99 cross here that only needs to be topped once, very early in veg state...hates anything more than that.

So, from what I can tell it is determined by strain type and working with that particular strain on several grows to dial-in on what methods give best results.

So, Sunbiz1, am I correct in saying you have topped your kush plants in the 12/12 cycle before then? What were the results man? Did it continue with normal growth or were there issues?

Thanks for the reply.

For anyone who is interested I did decide to go ahead and top it. What's the worst that can happen eh? They are hardy bastards after all! =P
I also raised the level of my 2 type 2's with bricks so they sitting flush with the rest of the canopy and they are LOVING it.

Good Question OP!
great for us Noobs, I never asked it and I am "height challenged" so it is one I should have asked.,
I used a screen on my first grow and in veg I aggressively tied the bitch down.
Happy Holidays!

I would not top if I had been in 12/12 for a week if there was any other way. I have done LST and bending/supercropping to adjust the canopy during flower though, and don't think it hurts yield.

Ya gotta do what you gotta do, if you've got various heights making the canopy even, however you do it, will probably make better use of light and result in more bud.

Thanks for the help guys.

I think if it shoots of again I will try tying the top down. Keeping an even canopy is crucial I think especially as I only have one 400watt hps (and two 40w cfl's, but I'm not really counting those, they are just providing a bit of side lighting.).

scotlad said:

Soil grow. I will do that but they are in big ass 25 litre containers and are getting kinda heavy!! They big guy is also encroaching the max allowable height for the room so I really wanna slow him down somehow. I've seen a re-potting guide that suggests burying the stem and severing some of the roots - anyone had good results with this method?

Would still like opinions about topping in flower cycle though....It has not started to pre flower yet if that's any help.

Click to expand...

I may have missed something but why are you growing in such big pots? You're not trying to grow trees since you're almost maxed out at 2ft. A smaller pot will help limit plants size and it will also make it easier to position the plants closer together for better coverage under the 400w. That said I have used super-cropping when I ran out of height late in to flower but it didn't work well. Whatever you do, better to do it earlier then later.