Uncle Ben's Topping Technique to Get 2 or 4 Main Colas

ben you said you'd focus on what the source of the stunt was, here's some things i could think of..

I directly sowed the seeds into cottage cheese sized buckets ( a bit bigger than 20oz solo cups). Maybe the tap root didn't like how shallow the planter was

I used the cottage cheese planter (obv. washed out) and think the lights may have been heating the soil up too much, as the soil thermometer said 74, which was the same as my room temp...

the seeds all came up but didn't seem to take off like they had before, so i figured i had too much light on them . 5x 2' t5 HO bulbs, around 4-6" away. I switched that to 2x bulbs and backed them off to 8".

since then i haven't had to water as much (using nutes now cause light warrior barely has any and they had showed a small deficiency after the 2nd week)

so after 3 weeks the plant finally shows some vigor. they got to be 5" tall and i decided to take those tight stunted nodes and cut them with a razor, plant it down into a fresh 3 gal planter, and water with a dose of dyna gro KLN in conjunction with protekt. From here i will just water plain water for a week or two and very soon these ceeds will hopefully be ready for your 2 top method, and then at 18" will be trained down for the crop circle of bud method.

grow room specs go as this; 20on 4 off, temps go from ~75 on cycle then down to 62 on the off cycle, constant negative pressure intake bottom exhaust up high, planter in 3gal air pots, transplanted from lightwarrior ~24oz cups, eventually being fed mix of dyna gro protekt and foliage pro.

soil mix is 45% ocean forest 35%happy frog and 20% perlite
I plan on a light feed schedule and daily waterings, and another possible transplanting.
A problem i had once with the ocean forest is it lost its buffering and the pH went to 5.5 or so (cause they use oyster shell as a buffer)
to correct it i flushed through with 7.0 1/4 dose water 25 gallons (5 gal planter bucket) and it seemed to fix the pH issue

this time i added "happy frog" which uses dolomite as its buffer
but am realizing maybe it was because of all the perlite and frequent waterings, maybe thats what is washing away the buffer?

I know your techniques are much different and you may not have experience with these specific brands, but i just wanted any input you had on what i may or may not be doing wrong here, thanks UB, I appreciate all the help and knowledge.

for those interested in CCOB , here's a direct quote from user Hobbes, who has since passed. RIP


"Simple and Easy Low Stress Training
I do CCOB, like an inefficient scrog without the screen but the plants are
movable. I top my plants once; veg each side of the stem to 22" in a 6" pot;
transplant to a 5 gallon pot on an angle; bend the stems around the bucket rim.
The branches grow up and the stem acts like a hydro tube feeding each small
cola.
The stems virtually stop growing when they're bent horizontal, so I have to veg
the plants so they will bend all the way around the 38" bucket rim. A single 38"
stem is thicker and harder to train; two 22" stems crossed at the bottom and
following the natural curve of a topped plant will train much quicker and easier. I
often put two 14" topped plants in the same bucket, great results. "

Nizza said:

but am realizing maybe it was because of all the perlite and frequent waterings, maybe thats what is washing away the buffer?

I know your techniques are much different and you may not have experience with these specific brands, but i just wanted any input you had on what i may or may not be doing wrong here, thanks UB, I appreciate all the help and knowledge.

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With frequent drenchings, there goes your source of vigor - N. What's your fertilizer drills? What, how much, NPK values.

well once i know the N source is out of the pot i transplanted into, I go to 2-3 ml/gal protekt, 2-5ml/gal of foliage pro (9-3-6) every third or so watering
since i just tranplanted, i gave it 5ml/gal feed of protekt, and 5ml/gal feed of KLN. the forest is a pretty strong soil which is why i dilute it down with some perlite and happy frog.
i was also hoping the dolomite in the happy frog would help the buffering issue, i wish i had added just a little bit when i was mixing everything all up

Don't have a clue without personally observing your day to day activities. Most likely a poor root mass. All I know is I keep it simple using "stuff" around the shop and in 4 weeks they're ready to flower finishing out at 3-5' tall.

Dear Mr UB.
I've recently become interested in learning to grow these great plants.
In doing so I've found your various contributions here and there.
Thanks for taking the time to share your obvious wealth of knowledge with us.
There's a lot of advise out here, but less so worth reading.
Again, just a thanks...

PS. I LOVE gardening anyway, so why pay the man?

Babalao15 said:

Dear Mr UB.
I've recently become interested in learning to grow these great plants.
In doing so I've found your various contributions here and there.
Thanks for taking the time to share your obvious wealth of knowledge with us.
There's a lot of advise out here, but less so worth reading.
Again, just a thanks...

PS. I LOVE gardening anyway, so why pay the man?

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Thanks for writing, and happy gardening!

UB, this is off topic, but I was having a look over Vietnamese landrace topics and your name was mentioned. Does that have any merit as I would be curious thoughts on length of flower. Huge plants from what I see so far and compared to hybrids grown.

Vnsmkr said:

UB, this is off topic, but I was having a look over Vietnamese landrace topics and your name was mentioned. Does that have any merit as I would be curious thoughts on length of flower. Huge plants from what I see so far and compared to hybrids grown.

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I have Dalat Vietnamese seeds and have grown them out inside. Trust me, it's not worth it as it takes forever to flower (response is based on chronological age not phytochrome influences), they are leggy and even though I didn't have this problem, such pure tropical sativas are prone to going hermie. The guy that distributed them actually went back to the Dalat valley where he use to fly helicopters during the Vietnam war in the 60's, found a source and sent seeds to about a dozen of us folks from OG and CW defunct forums. I sent him F1 C99 pollen, he claims he did the dirty deed and sent me the offspring - Dalat Viet. X C99.

Here's a photo of the damn thing (on the right) growing right past the hoods, this after topping it numerous times during veg AND flower. I just moved to the perimeter and let it do it's thing....got tired of fighting it. Most folks seen to get into trouble regarding foliage retention beginning the 3rd week of flowering, just imagine the challenge of retaining foliage come month 4.



UB

I'll let you know how they get on, with the Vietnamese and the Thai's considering where I am, but your picture looks familiar . I put them next to a Durban Poison and a Super Lemon Haze and they dwarf the others. Leaves are huge

Vnsmkr said:

I'll let you know how they get on, with the Vietnamese and the Thai's considering where I am, but your picture looks familiar . I put them next to a Durban Poison and a Super Lemon Haze and they dwarf the others. Leaves are huge

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Good luck with that. I'd love to follow your progress.

I'm confused. Let me get this straight... 1st node = First single leaves right ABOVE the cotyledon? So cutting above the 2nd node makes 4 dominant colas? or cut between nodes 3 and 4?

uncle ben not sure how to get ahold of you and know this isn't the right spot but know you post here.
anyway started a dinafem blue widow started life with the 3 leaf sets on main stem then each secondary branch only had 2 leaf sets.
i am at week 9 and just found a couple nanners shooting and up a closer inspection see a seed or 2.
i have researched a bit and this type or plant is know to hermie. wondering your thoughts on such plants and seeds.
most people say throw a hermie but has a week or 2 to finish. all personal smoke so could care less to pick a couple seeds.
i trust your thoughts much further about botany than most i know is why i ask you.


thanks for your time
bob

pics are week 7. pics are just to show a bit of history on plant. lst'd then topped secondary branches to produce this many tops.
yell at me for dieing leaves was trying to grow organic and have dyna gro foliage pro i should have used about 3-4 weeks ago and def will next time.
need to hone supersoil mix and organic techniques to be able to pull this off.

hiitsbob said:

i am at week 9 and just found a couple nanners shooting and up a closer inspection see a seed or 2.

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If seeds don't bother you and you know it could stand more time, let it go. If you're finding seeds the plant is trying to tell you it's time to harvest. Did that you confuse you enough lol?

IOW, your call.......

Nothing wrong with organic as long as you know the macros and micros they're getting. I've grown many plants from start to finish with nothing more than organics. I loaded up the soil with the meals and compost. In fact, I added so much blood meal one time you could actually smell the ammonia off gassing from the pot! It was suttle but it was there.

i guess maybe chop will be at week 9 instead of 10. not confused but def learning more and more with each grow.
only other question i have is chuck the seeds? and i had a pineapple express in with it if i get seeds from that fem seeds or junk also?

as for my organics i tried organic bag soil with a bit of blood and bone meal with only rainwater. every other week during flower a couple teaspoons of hi p bat guano.
i made supersoil a bit stronger and with more diverse ingredients.
(blood and bone meal, glacial rock dust, mycorrhizea, lime, 25% cow poo compost, epsom salts)

thanks again for your wealth of knowledge and sharing with us all
bob

Some old growers I used to jive with say that if you have a few seeds, say....6, off one plant that they tend to sex pure female. I've saved some of those but never tried out the theory to confirm if that is correct.

happy to share the wealth.....

Uncle Ben said:

Some old growers I used to jive with say that if you have a few seeds, say....6, off one plant that they tend to sex pure female. I've saved some of those but never tried out the theory to confirm if that is correct.

happy to share the wealth.....

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I have used seeds from plants that have Hermed on me. So far, all female. I did extensive research on Hermaphrodites and everything I've read stated that all seeds will be female, BUT, with the Hermaphrodite strain. Interesting thing though, the last plant I grew from a Herm Seed did not Herm on me...and the finished product was excellent!

Here is my grow, using UB's Topping Technique. This is the second grow I've done using this form of topping, and the results are excellent. I'm 4 weeks into flowering and the plants are doing great. This is just 1 plant. By the time this plant is finished, the bud towers will be so heavy I will most likely have to stake them/tie them up.

uneven canopy^^^^just sayin

dannyboy602 said:

uneven canopy^^^^just sayin

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I'm working on that. As I'm sure you know, experimenting has its limitations. My last grow had a more level canopy, but I decided to try something different this time. This grow, my bud towers are much larger and this Sativa strain is WILD! I've topped this plant twice already to calm her down, and she is 55" right now (on the towers). That's in my 2x4 closet. The plant next to her is level, but that plant is an Indica.

What I will get this time (and what I didn't get last time), are bud towers that should develop at full length rather than just at the top. Of course the lower part of the plant will have diminished results because of no light.

You also can't see very well that there are plenty of bud towers below and they are developing nicely. I will post more pictures as the flowering progresses.