to top or not to top?

yeah.. for what u are looking for is to, top ur plants 2 weeks before u flower them that will make 2 colas and no bushy plant, i say 2 weeks coz u need to let them have a lil time to recover

How long did you veg your plants in your last grow?

top above the second true node and you will get 4 main colas (2 will be bigger and 2 smaller, but there will be 4)

Oie oie Dan, so it goes like this, the bigger your plant is, the better your results will be when it comes to topping.
Of course thats just a theory and the strain and growing environment will be the biggest dictators when it comes to final yield.

Ive grown a few batches with a similar set up as yours and I got a better yield from topping.
So since your growing in 3 gallon containers, I would suggest this:
Veg your plants in 1 gallon containers with a good organic soil mix. "FIM" them at about 4 weeks old. (youll get 2-4 growth shoots from this)
At about 6 weeks old, top them once more (try for 3-5 total tops) and transplant them into 3 gallon pots and veg them for 2 more weeks.
Then, "lollipop" your plants and trim off the bottom 3 branches and all the new growth shoots except for the top 3-5.
Let them recover and veg them for 7-10 days, then put them into flower.

I cant say if youll personally get a bigger yield, but youll get better quality nugs since you wont have any popcorn nugs, as all the growth is diverted to the nugs at the top of the plant.

Originally Posted by GreenChile

Oie oie Dan, so it goes like this, the bigger your plant is, the better your results will be when it comes to topping.
Of course thats just a theory and the strain and growing environment will be the biggest dictators when it comes to final yield.

Ive grown a few batches with a similar set up as yours and I got a better yield from topping.
So since your growing in 3 gallon containers, I would suggest this:
Veg your plants in 1 gallon containers with a good organic soil mix. "FIM" them at about 4 weeks old. (youll get 2-4 growth shoots from this)
At about 6 weeks old, top them once more (try for 3-5 total tops) and transplant them into 3 gallon pots and veg them for 2 more weeks.
Then, "lollipop" your plants and trim off the bottom 3 branches and all the new growth shoots except for the top 3-5.
Let them recover and veg them for 7-10 days, then put them into flower.

I cant say if youll personally get a bigger yield, but youll get better quality nugs since you wont have any popcorn nugs, as all the growth is diverted to the nugs at the top of the plant.

I wish I had the patience and/or room for a long veg. Sounds like a solid plan though!

kush seems to have it right. check out uncle ben's topping technique to get 2 or 4 main colas. I have done this a couple of times now and it works everytime. Each shoot comes up and grows just like the main stem. If you do this as soon as it is possible (when the plant is barely at three or four nodes) you'll get good symmetrical growth that you can control. Then you could switch the lights about 2 weeks after you top, and cut out the lower growth, and you will harvest several plants with 2-4 donkey dick colas on them. You can use a little metal ring (think tomato cage, only not nearly as large) to keep the plant from spreading out too much. check out "mainlining ace of spades" Here's the links to the two posts i've mentioned above.
Uncle Ben's Topping Technique to Get 2 or 4 Main Colas
"Main-Lining" Ace Of Spades (tutoral)

like tripboufe said, top about a week to 2 weeks before 12/12, buuut instead of once top twice, leaves you with 4. i suggest cutting the 2 other sides that will grow in if you dont want a bush. (you sometimes end up with 6 colas after topping twice)

I always recommend first growers to let it go without doing any training so they can see what a natural grow looks like.
After that I recommend topping. I generally top from 6 down to 4. Basically thats cutting the two leaves with the small top off right over the 4th node. I give it two weeks to recover, then flip to flower.