Topping - trying to sort the facts from the fluff

I want to top my plants and would appreciate any advice. I did a lot of reading on rollitup and have to say that there is a lot of contradictory stuff written.

In particular I'd like to know:

• when to top
• is topping really worth it? some people say that topping doesn't really increase yield but just spreads out the buds.
• is it ok to continue giving ferts when topping, or lay off for a week?
• after topping, will the plant not get any taller but ONLY grow outwards? or will the 2 'new' tops eventually grow up?

if anyone can help that would be great, thanx.

Can anyone please spare a few mins of their time to add some advice? Thanks.

skip said:

I want to top my plants and would appreciate any advice. I did a lot of reading on rollitup and have to say that there is a lot of contradictory stuff written.

In particular I'd like to know:

• when to top >> you can top a plant during the vegging period and should stop topping it about a week before flowering it.
• is topping really worth it? some people say that topping doesn't really increase yield but just spreads out the buds. >> some people also still claim that this planet is flat as a disk. think about this one more branches-more budding places-more bud
• is it ok to continue giving ferts when topping, or lay off for a week? >>the plants you topped have to recover and grow some more after, would you take away an iron-pumper his poultry and then ask for more bulk??!
• after topping, will the plant not get any taller but ONLY grow outwards? or will the 2 'new' tops eventually grow up? >>the plant will slow down in grow to height and will grow 2 new tops for ever cut you made but it won't get bushy till you tie it down.

if anyone can help that would be great, thanx.

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oh my... have a look on the red stuff and peace

thanx 4 the good advice green. One thing though - I didn't get what you meant by the last bit... '>>the plant will slow down in grow to height and will grow 2 new tops for ever cut you made but it won't get bushy till you tie it down.'
What do u mean? Will the plant eventually get taller? And are you suggesting using LST'ing with topping?

If you have new plants .... started from seeds you can top the at the four or fifth node .... but that should be it ... for topping .... after that bend em' .... that will accomplish the same thing and the plant doesn't spend energy repairing the pinch ...

GrowRebel said:

If you have new plants .... started from seeds you can top the at the four or fifth node .... but that should be it ... for topping .... after that bend em' .... that will accomplish the same thing and the plant doesn't spend energy repairing the pinch ...

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Thanx GrowRebel. My pants are bigger than that already. Also this is my first grow and, although I think LST looks like a good technique, I decided not to try that on this first grow but keep things simple. Want to top, but wanted to get some advice from people on it - like i said the info i found with searching was a bit contradictory. maybe it's like a lot of cannabis growing technique - sometimes it's not an exact science.

i feel topping is directly related to strain. some strains respond well to topping others don't. you can't just top every plant and expect more yield. it's not that easy.

I just wish new growers would concentrate their efforts on learning how to grow healthy good yielding plants - that would be far more time effective than worrying about 'topping' 'fiming', 'pruning' and LST which are more advanced grower techniques for maximising yields from typically low yielding strains.

If you're already growing a reasonably high yielding strain, why should you concern yourself with trying to squeeze out every last drop of yield when your time would be far better spent trying to understand the basics and mechanics of growing healthy plants indoors under light - that's where your yields will come from - not from messing about with pruning plants when you simply do not understand what you're doing.

This is precisely why you're getting contradictory advice from the GrowFAQ - this is an advanced grower topic and subject, and you simply do not have the basic grower knowledge to truly understand when, why and what strains to top/fim/prune or lst.

It can sometimes take 3, 4, 5 or more times growing the same strain to truly understand the strain and the plants and what growing techniques work well for them and what doesn't - and that's the time to experiment with different techniques to find the best way of growing those particular plants. Not all strains will like to be topped or fim'd as Fdd mentions - it's up to you as a grower to experiment with the strains you're growing and find out what works best for them - but if you're growing a strain for the first time or it's the first grow you've done - that is not the time to experiment, that comes later.

Concentrate your efforts on growing out healthy plants to harvest with as few basic mistakes and errors as possible - that will give you the maximum yield for those particular plants - after you have a benchmark to work from - you can experiment.

Now, I realise they'll be quite a few people who don't agree with me on this - that's fine, we all have different perspectives on things, but in my opinion, new growers need to learn how to grow healthy plants first - then move on to more advanced techniques - far too many new growers here try to run before they can walk, and don't get the best results because of it.

i completely agree.. basics before anything... I've been growing for over a year now and I'm just starting to get into binding and topping/taking clones, ect... only because I know i can grow a mondo healthy plant and it will be able to recover from the shock...

i tried topping. couldn't get the results i wanted. i now just bend them over and tie them down when they get to tall.

Interesting stuff, thanx people. babygro - I generally agree with you on what you wrote. As I said earlier, I decided against LST'ing for now because this is my first grow and I want to keep things simple. Same with FIM'ing.

That said, the basic theory behind topping a plant to encourage sideways growth is not restricted to cannabis. I remember watching my dad 'pinch out' the tops of fruit trees to stop them growing taller and encourage more fruit growth. I feel fairly confident of doing this right.

I got 5 plants all of which are doing fine and looking good, growing fast etc. One of them is a good deal taller than the others - right from seed it was always the strongest and biggest plant, like a bit of a freak. Would topping that one help all the plants later when I'm flowering? It would help me to learn - and I want to learn as much as possible cause I got the bug real bad.

Anyway I appreciate your help and advice v much. That goes for everyone who gave advice.

chances are that really tall/strong one is a male..they tend to be a lil more vigourous so they can finish there cycle in time to pollinate...i have 8 plants and they are now starting to pre flower..out of my 4 biggest ones only 1 was a female(i have 4Male/4Female ratio by the way)

SmokeUmPipe said:

chances are that really tall/strong one is a male..they tend to be a lil more vigourous so they can finish there cycle in time to pollinate...i have 8 plants and they are now starting to pre flower..out of my 4 biggest ones only 1 was a female(i have 4Male/4Female ratio by the way)

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I hope you're wrong SmokeUmPipe....I bought female seeds.