"Topping" my plant

wheels619

wheels619

Well-Known Member
Cannabisculture said:
Its your personal grow dude, not martial law. I do know what you are talking about, i have done what you are doing. And yes it does create large fat buds but you only have 4 of them and maybe some smaller buds. AND you have to wait 3 weeks for it to get to topping size, and THEN wait another 2 or 3 weeks so those smaller branches can mature. Unless you grow hydro or aero in which you would get a more speedy growth. I grow organic soil so these are the numbers i would be looking at
I don't even top my plants anymore because i found it a waste of time and it doesn't really change your overall yeild
I grow from clone to 12" and flower for 2 weeks then cut the lower 1/3 branches(which i clone) and fan leaves usually getting 6-10 clones out of each plant. If the plant is too tall i will supercrop or if my strains stems are known to be weak i will twist the branches. Then i flower until the plants last week and trim all foliage leaving buds... which then fatten more over a week and i harvest. This is my way and im NOT telling you to do what i do. But with my method it reduced my veg time to 2-3 weeks from rooting to flower and decreased stress on my plants. I essentially combined my needed pruning (for bud growth) and cloning in 1 step.
And if you flower every week like i do.. soon your garden will be full of clones ready to be flowered

Not trying to insult your way of growing, everyone has their own methods that work for them. But for those still learning i feel they should be provided all options and information possible then decide for themselves what works for them.

-CC
Click to expand...
oh im not insulted and yes everyone does have thier own ways. i was serious if u knew about a way to clone the top without taking that much plant. i would be interested in hearing it. but for what he is attempting i personally believe the info i gave him was his best bet. but everyone is open to their own interpretations.
 
bkbbudz

bkbbudz

New Member
WOW, I really don't want to become part of this heated debate! LOL! There are a couple of very good video tutorials on topping, fimming, and super cropping on youtube
I would highly suggest watching them before attempting to top for the first time.

Also, do some research on LST (Low Stress Training) another great way to maximize yield and can be used in conjunction with topping.
 
wheels619

wheels619

Well-Known Member
bkbbudz said:
WOW, I really don't want to become part of this heated debate! LOL! There are a couple of very good video tutorials on topping, fimming, and super cropping on youtube
I would highly suggest watching them before attempting to top for the first time.

Also, do some research on LST (Low Stress Training) another great way to maximize yield and can be used in conjunction with topping.
Click to expand...
again its all strain dependent. some plants dont respond well to LSTing just like some dont respond well to topping. check youtube for sure. didnt even think about it. lol. and its not a heated debate.
 
C

Cannabisculture

Active Member
Cool,
& You can take any size clone you want. Ive taken a clone that was an inch long and it sprouted roots and grew to some dank. I clone in rockwool or soil depending on the strain so its easy to get the little clones in. Just take a cutting that has atleast 1/4 inch of stem and dip it in rooting gel. Doesn't need to be a large cutting to root
 
wheels619

wheels619

Well-Known Member
Cannabisculture said:
Cool,
& You can take any size clone you want. Ive taken a clone that was an inch long and it sprouted roots and grew to some dank. I clone in rockwool or soil depending on the strain so its easy to get the little clones in. Just take a cutting that has atleast 1/4 inch of stem and dip it in rooting gel. Doesn't need to be a large cutting to root
Click to expand...
ahh see. i like using the bubble cloner and for me to do that i have to have 4 inches or so 3 at the min. when i use rapid rooters i generally cut the same amount too tho easier to deal with something with a little hight to it in my opinion.
 
C

Cannabisculture

Active Member
Yea I generally don't take cuttings that size, but it was just an example. My cutting sizes vary somewhat but im not picky since it still grows a good plant. If its over an inch ill clone it ^_^
but if i have better cuttings ill just toss out the little guys
Whats your success rate with that bubble cloner? I made one a while back and only got 50% success so i just stick to RW and COCO or FF-LW. Some of my strains don't like the rockwool so i usually clone to that strains preference. Whichever it may be
 
POUND TOWN

POUND TOWN

Well-Known Member
when you top ur plant however many nodes you have when you top it is gonna be how many main tops you have
if you spread them out with bread twisties or somethin you get a bunch of main tops
topped this little chiesel at 3 weeks or so at the 5th node or so and had ten main tops, which all grew other large tops

kept spreading them out

kept spreading them out

ended up with a main stalk this

instead of a plannt grown naturally with one main stalk and one main large cola like this
skunk_calgary_marijuana_Dscf1501.jpg

but i would recommend topping asap at 2nd or 3rd node and cutting off any extra tops that pop up that arent the main ones or it gets too crowded too quick
and then you end up a few main tops that are real big and some other tops that are medium size
as compared to a bunch of main tops that are all medium to small
the plant above ended with 10 main tops and 45 tops total
im now going for like 6 main tops that i will let get huge and compare the weight to this plant
it will be the same strain cloned off the plant above
hope that clears up what effects topping have depending on when it is done and how much you keep up on spreading out/tying down the tops
 
aftershock

aftershock

Active Member
I like tops and have a small flower cabinet, so topping is for me. I do em all FIM, reg. top, bending them over. I can be pretty mean to them when I get on a roll, but they can take some punishment. Ive even just cut them off above a node like I was taking a clone. This helps me keep them short enough to put in flower cabinet and still be able to do that quick stretch in the first two weeks. I could tie them down, but thats a pain for watering and moving them. good luck
 
wheels619

wheels619

Well-Known Member
Cannabisculture said:
Yea I generally don't take cuttings that size, but it was just an example. My cutting sizes vary somewhat but im not picky since it still grows a good plant. If its over an inch ill clone it ^_^
but if i have better cuttings ill just toss out the little guys
Whats your success rate with that bubble cloner? I made one a while back and only got 50% success so i just stick to RW and COCO or FF-LW. Some of my strains don't like the rockwool so i usually clone to that strains preference. Whichever it may be
Click to expand...
so far its a hundred %. but i use kln rooting solution mixed in with some ORCA "bene bacteria" and xnutrients cloning gel. thats it. surprising results some just take longer. have had clones take up to two weeks to start rooting before. but once they do the root system explodes and they are ready to be planted normally 2 to 3 days after rooting. example my plp took 8 days to start rooting and was transplanted after 11. my skywalker took like 13 days to start rooting and was in a pot in on day 16. some strains just take longer.i only have a smal;l 8 site home made cloner tho. want a 48 site. would make rooting even faster with an actual good store baught cloner.. ;)
 
wheels619

wheels619

Well-Known Member
ive got one. lol. ill pull it out and take a few pics of it taken apart so u can get the idea tomorrow. super simple.
IMG_0204.jpg
 
Brick Top

Brick Top

New Member
Beansly

Beansly

RIU Bulldog
It's about efficient use of the space and light source so you can get the best yeild possible I think. You top to keep the canopy as thin as possible to maximize the light and yeild. I haven't seen any proof that topping increases yeild. Top too much, and you get a lot of small buds.
Other reasons might be to control a tall plant or to train it for a scrog or to take a lot of clones or something.
 
wheels619

wheels619

Well-Known Member
see bro super simple. shoe box sized tub with lid.
the most expensive part was the pump. at like $9 or someting
minus the orca and rooting solution. the plugs are soft foam or something.
just squeeze them into the holes and make sure the stem is submerged and pay attention to evaporation.
oh a good cloning gel will def help speed the process up.
i use a 7.4litre pump with two air stones. got the big ones for more surface area but smaller ones will work too.
if that helps any.

p.s. try to get a darker container. u may have to wrap it in duck tape if its not sturdy enough to support the weight of the water by itself like i did. the edges start to bow out if u dont. plus it helps block the light.

IMG_20111220_122331.jpgIMG_20111220_122343.jpgIMG_20111220_122348.jpgIMG_20111220_122443.jpgIMG_20111220_122517.jpg
 
Roflicer

Roflicer

Well-Known Member
Weird, im trying to stay to all soil. So guess Ill just stick to dropping them directly into the soil with cloning gel
 
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