explination needed please!!

Ok, Ive done some research on topping plants. And it seems that the consensus is that people usually leave 4 nodes left after topping. Why is this? Why not leave 6 or 8? Wouldnt 6 or 8 nodes yield more than 4 nodes?

Hopefully someone can enlighten me. Ive been topping and usually leaving 6 to 8 nodes, and Im getting some clones ready and thinking of trying the 4 node technique.

Thanks

well I would say that the explanation is that you want the plant to be mature enough to survive the stress caused by topping so we wait untill there are 4 to 6 nodes before we cut.

some top above the second node some above the fourth, I've done both

when you cut above the 2nd you usually get 4 to 6 colas

when you top above the 4th you get 8 to 10 colas

it's all about how much space you have in your grow room and how you want the plant to grow

I only grow one plant at a time (medical) and my current grow has 6 colas because I topped it above the second node then topped those two resulting colas again

best way to learn is do it and watch what happens

ok it basicly crunches like this

your plant has X amount of space available for root growth
roots with X amount of space, will produce Y amount of (im really high, so lets call it) "magical plant grow energy stuff"
no matter how big your plant gets its maximum yield is determined by root system.
if you dont top you get one big bud and a bunch of smaller buds
if you top at 6 you get... well u know but overall budmass doesnt change by much.
cuz bud growth is determined by "magical plant grow energy stuff"

basicly im saying for any given plant if you cut part of it off during veg your not really changing its final yield,
your just redistributing the mass. (a bit generalized but fairly accurate)

i like 4 becuase nonne of the branches shade each other and they can be staggered in a pattern that lets all the branches get max light

riddleme said:

well I would say that the explanation is that you want the plant to be mature enough to survive the stress caused by topping so we wait untill there are 4 to 6 nodes before we cut.

some top above the second node some above the fourth, I've done both

when you cut above the 2nd you usually get 4 to 6 colas

when you top above the 4th you get 8 to 10 colas

it's all about how much space you have in your grow room and how you want the plant to grow

I only grow one plant at a time (medical) and my current grow has 6 colas because I topped it above the second node then topped those two resulting colas again

best way to learn is do it and watch what happens

Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply, Ive been experimenting here and there but like you I do a medi grow and was wondering the differences between the amount of nodes to yield ratio.

Any other opinions??

riddleme said:

well I would say that the explanation is that you want the plant to be mature enough to survive the stress caused by topping so we wait untill there are 4 to 6 nodes before we cut.

some top above the second node some above the fourth, I've done both

when you cut above the 2nd you usually get 4 to 6 colas

when you top above the 4th you get 8 to 10 colas

it's all about how much space you have in your grow room and how you want the plant to grow

I only grow one plant at a time (medical) and my current grow has 6 colas because I topped it above the second node then topped those two resulting colas again

best way to learn is do it and watch what happens

Click to expand...

I'm not sure what you did, but if you top above the second true node you should get 4 colas with no additional cuts (see pic). I've never topped a plant twice, but I've been told the colas end up smaller that way.

And if you top and get two, then top those two, you get 4 unless you get 3 colas from each of the second toppings.

NOWitall said:

ok it basicly crunches like this

your plant has X amount of space available for root growth
roots with X amount of space, will produce Y amount of (im really high, so lets call it) "magical plant grow energy stuff"
no matter how big your plant gets its maximum yield is determined by root system.
if you dont top you get one big bud and a bunch of smaller buds
if you top at 6 you get... well u know but overall budmass doesnt change by much.
cuz bud growth is determined by "magical plant grow energy stuff"

basicly im saying for any given plant if you cut part of it off during veg your not really changing its final yield,
your just redistributing the mass. (a bit generalized but fairly accurate)

i like 4 becuase nonne of the branches shade each other and they can be staggered in a pattern that lets all the branches get max light

Click to expand...

You've got a point, but you're forgetting that if you have more plant material, then the roots have somewhere to distribute more nutes so you can feed bigger plants a level of nutes that would kill a smaller plant.

There is a maximum to how much the roots can absorb, by FIMing to Topping properly, you're taking advantage of the max absorbtion rate, if you don't then your roots aren't absorbing all they can be.

You'll notice in the pic some bad nute burns up high while the rest of this monster is doing just fine. Once a plant gets this big it's hard to keep everything balanced. But that will give you an idea.

This is a result of a FIM not a topping (just don't want to mislead)

If I were you I'd FIM, I'm trying it for the first time myself. When you FIM you only cut off a growth tip so you don't remove any growth.

To get the most you have to make the cut exactly right (might take some practice) and you must feed her nutes. Not too many, just what she asks for if you know what I mean. You also have to pay attention to the minor nutes as well as the major ones, if she's absorbing all nutes, major & minor, you might get a monster like this. (last message pic)

Personally I think the grower of that monster has another secret. Maybe some kind of root stimulator or something. I'll be experimenting as I go to find the secret.

Here's a chart to show you the cut, you take about 80% of the growth tip. Your supposed to cut the highest growth tip at the top on your stem. She'll stop growing for a couple of days after the cut, don't worry this is normal.

Also, it's a good idea to do it when you see the 4th or 5th node because it's also a good idea to cut off all growth below the FIM so all those Colas can get more of her energy. The longer you wait, the more growth you waste at the bottom of the stem.

Don't cut too early though, I FIMed a plant at 1 1/2" and she just stopped growing and hasn't restarted yet. Wait till you see at least 4 true nodes, 5 to be safe. This way you know she has a good enough root system to handle it.

Also, here's a chart of all the nutes and the absorbtion rate at different pH levels. The Sulphur and the Molybdenum is hard to find in nutes, and you don't want to handle raw Sulfur, that stuff is nasty and can be dangerous. I recently found some nutes will all major & minor nutes, it's the only one I've found after a month of searching. It's called Dyna-Gro, I think their site is dynagro.com but if not just do a search for dyna-gro or dynagro. Most of their fertilizers have all the nutes but a couple don't. You'll want to look at the nute list which is listed on the website to pick the ones that are right for you.

I hope this helps.

Good luck with your monster