too late to top?

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smokingirl

Member
Hello all!

I'm a complete newbie, and I'm wondering if someone could give me some advice. I'm growing four plants indoors, under natural sunlight (skylight). They've been growing for a few months, not always in direct sunlight, due to the position of the sun over my skylight. And the summer wasn't particularly sunny in the first couple months.

I want to top them to control the height and increase the yield, but I'm afraid it might be too late? They're already 70cm (27in) to 100cm (39in) high. Can I cut them down quite a bit, or can I only top the new growth? It'd be great to have a shorter, bushier plant.

I've attached a few photos. Four different sativa strains. (#4 was already topped by my cat! He ate all but a few inches of stem, but it grew back!)

Any advice would be much appreciated!
Thanks!
 

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kbo ca

kbo ca

Active Member
it looks like they haven't started flowering yet, so i would say your ok to top em. Don't cut off a bunch of branches though to shorten them. I would just go with the pinching method, but you could always go with supercropping. Good luck! Respect
 
ylem

ylem

Well-Known Member
haha i was going to say it looks like 4 was topped early on already.
yes you absolutely can top a plant later in growth, but you must be aware of what it will do to the plant.
topping changes hormone dispersion as you probably already know, and as a plant gets bigger, it grows more and more branches, spreading out its growth hormone as it goes. when you top a plant early on, the flow changes from growing up to growing the branches below the cut out like a bush.
now when a plant is older and it has a lot of growth already, topping it leaving many lower branches will cause the plant to respond to the change in hormones verry slowly. in other words, the older a plant is, the longer it takes to recover from the cut and resume normal growth, which is why it's much more practical to top earlier on when there is no old growth to correct.

at this point, i'd say those all look ready to flower. they probably aren't getting quite enough light to flower by the looks of it. i recommend moving them outside for a bit or getting a few lights to get them into flowering mode.
definitely some great potential bud here.
 
*BUDS

*BUDS

Well-Known Member
You can but i wouldnt top that plant its too skinny and the lower buds will be tiny.When it flowers (must have 12 hrs dark) you will have to put it in the sun, the skylight will give you almost no weight.
 
BudNoobie

BudNoobie

Active Member
I'm just a beginner too but can I ask if you have been keeping a fan on them? It doesnt look like it by the way the stems are so thin. When those do start to bud ide think you will have to tie those to stakes or something because it doesnt look like those stem are going to support the weight alone. Not what you were asking I know but I thought I might throw that out there anyway, especially if you plan to top them.
 
smokinheavy79

smokinheavy79

New Member
I am on my first grow and don't know anything really, but I topped two of mine early and didn't top two. I kept a good breeze on them 24 hours a day and you can see how much thicker my stalk is. Good luck, they look green, just kinda skinny :D


DSCN1175.jpgDSCN1172.jpg

I think I've done several things wrong and may not get the harvest I was hoping for (4oz per plant) but may still get 2 per... I HOPE! Still have about 4 1/2 weeks of flowering. these are about 25" tall
 
S

smokingirl

Member
I've gone ahead and topped each of the plants at the new growth only (except for #4, which was already topped by my cat). I'll see how that goes...

kbo ca said:
it looks like they haven't started flowering yet, so i would say your ok to top em. Don't cut off a bunch of branches though to shorten them. I would just go with the pinching method, but you could always go with supercropping. Good luck! Respect
Click to expand...
Regarding supercropping, is it possible with a plant with only one main stem? Would I bend all the little branches except for the fan leaves?
 
S

smokingirl

Member
ylem said:
haha i was going to say it looks like 4 was topped early on already.
yes you absolutely can top a plant later in growth, but you must be aware of what it will do to the plant.
topping changes hormone dispersion as you probably already know, and as a plant gets bigger, it grows more and more branches, spreading out its growth hormone as it goes. when you top a plant early on, the flow changes from growing up to growing the branches below the cut out like a bush.
now when a plant is older and it has a lot of growth already, topping it leaving many lower branches will cause the plant to respond to the change in hormones verry slowly. in other words, the older a plant is, the longer it takes to recover from the cut and resume normal growth, which is why it's much more practical to top earlier on when there is no old growth to correct.

at this point, i'd say those all look ready to flower. they probably aren't getting quite enough light to flower by the looks of it. i recommend moving them outside for a bit or getting a few lights to get them into flowering mode.
definitely some great potential bud here.
Click to expand...
Thanks for that explanation, that's really clear now!

I'm not sure when they'll be able to flower. The days are still really long here, so I might just have to wait until autumn? Unfortunately, it's not possible for me to move them outside. I've been contemplating getting some CFLs to help them out, but I don't know how effective that will be in a large room like this one. Maybe I need to build some kind of box? I might try growing in a box next time... though maybe I need a largish one since I only want to grow sativa?
 
S

smokingirl

Member
And yeah, they're all really skinny and stretchy. I haven't been keeping a fan on them constantly, I only just started a couple weeks ago.
Also, the skylight is really really high up, so they're just reaching up towards it.

I can tie the plants to stakes if they're not strong enough to hold the buds (once it finally flowers). But -- I think if the plant is weighed down by heavy buds, then I could be worse off!
 
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