topping

Donkey, in my CFL environment, a topping can set a plant back some time indeed. It is high stress.

If you have 'side colas' coming in the very next day, I'd imagine they were coming in regardless.

--

Again, when you cut a top, you lose a branch, not gain 2 new ones.

I grow so EVERY branch is a 'kona'..

If I 'topped' the only thing missing in this picture would be one of the flower sites.

(don't laugh, it's humble)


Peace

yeah but it takes around 2 weeks to get to the point of having 5-6 nodes, and then you are only cutting off nodes above the 2nd one. so you lost maybe a weeks worth of grow? not sure on that one but it's actually not that bad. i have a cfl grow on the side going as well, and it's working just fine.

and dude, i would wine and dine those ladies you got.

"Again, when you cut a top, you lose a branch, not gain 2 new ones."

yes and no. the hormones getting pumped into the main cola move to what will be the new main colas, so they are no longer side branches but true colas. the link i posted explains it better than my retard explanation of it. there's a before and after pic of a topped plant too.

Donkey, thanks.. the pic is about 2 weeks old.. they have come quite a ways since..

[video=youtube;pGusLuNKt4g]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGusLuNKt4g[/video]

333max, if I can grow like that I'll be beatin my meat!!!!

333max, if I can grow like that I'll be beatin my meat!!!!

CSJ.. anyone can grow like this.. I'm just like you.. thank God for the internet.. (Actully I did more damage doing silly stuff I read in internet rooms, but I did learn a lot along the way)

The ONLY thing that get's in most peoples way is PATIENCE..

I can't tell you how much I want to just take scissors to this.. it hurts.. *L*

http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb258/333maxwell/E2.jpg

Cannabis is a VERY long and painful process.. or it seems.. I mean from seed the first time it can take 3-4 months if you RUSH it. And I think where many people toss in the towel, is when they get a bit dry, a bit broke, and they are sitting on a mine full of the stuff in their closet.. then they dig into it before it ever realizes it's potential..

For instance in 2 weeks when I show the photos of the plant I just put up, It is going to be quite a bit larger.. in just 2 weeks.. after hardly growing for a few weeks.. it is funny like that.. you have to wait and wait and then hurry up and wait..

333max, sound advice my friend I'm in for the long hall, I'm in no rush, id rather get it right the first time than waste a couple o months and av to start again! I'm flat out on here mate tryin to learn as much as poss and thanks to guys like u, welshsmoker and some others I'm gonna be starting on the right foot. This forum, best move I ever made, thanks guys!!!! How many cfls do u use mate?

see these are the differences of how some people top. the way i do it is the same as in that video provided before where i clip the very top set off. that doesnt cause long recovery times, really no recovery time maybe a day or two.

CSJ

Check back in a bit.. I'll try and go grab a picture of my lighting MESS..

Mine is HORRIBLY inefficient.. I just throw lights at it.. I don't use reflectors because I don't want heat issues.

That said, inefficient at the level of it costs me about 6-7 dollars a month in total electricity for it.. I can live with that kind of ineffciency...



I'll go see if I can get a shot.

I'm running two fem widows that I topped ( one by accident doing lst, another a week later on purpose) ala Uncle ben and two I am just lst on- will see what yield differences really are. The two non topped are big bushy monsters. The first UB, is recovered, haas four main colas and is stretching enough now to let me start LST- it is a very bushy, thick beast. The second topped was a runt I was trying to kick in the as- it worked and is catching up. The first top I cloned off and after a week it was pushing roots everywhere, so I popped it in the grow with two carmelicious and a freebie unknown. They are coming up on six weeks since being popped into jiffy cubes in my hydro set up ( No pre soak) and stinking up a storm. I have been cloning off the bottom shoots that are covered up in LST and they are setting up for a nice second grow ala scrog. I wish I topped a carm to try a comparison on them, but now they are too damn big and lush to mess with. Just lots of LST and selective cloning/pruning to keep them within confines of the cab. They are about 8" high with all the LST work ( Main cola now horizontal) and about a week or two to flower- can take them to 16" assuming a 2.5x stretch in flower and still fit nicely in cab. Bottom line is Uncle Bens worked for me, adding is a def bonus.

Ok.. here is the skinny..

Counted them up, I am running according to what the lights say they put out initially..... 22,000 collective Lumens at 310 Watts, including the little light strip underneath. Covering a space 18 inches deep, by just under 2 foot long (up to where the young ones start), low ceiling but no reflectors other than one diversionary strip.


There are 3 levels going on here, something one can't do very well under a single source like an HID or T'5 type system because you can't adjust individual focus points.

In the back is a Sativa that wont stop growing. In the front is a low laying plant days till harvest. And to the right are my LST'd batch ready to go in the place of the soon to be harvested girl in the center.



The lights are messy, yet stable.. not a fire hazard at all as they may appear.. *L*




Aesthetically it is a disaster.. As I am the only one in there, I am pretty much a function over form kinda guy.

Hey 333max, ur set up is obiously very functional and I'm sure it don't matter wot it looks like as long as the goal is reached! Mine is something like that but on a smaller scale, I do have a couple more questions if u don't mind, how close to the buds are ur lights and does the light have to be all the way round a bud to be effective? Or is it as long as the light os on one side of the bud thanks mate

SCJ.. hang on, I'll take a few pics of light placement..

Ok.. here is a rough idea.. hard to get perspective with a camera and distance..

I try and keep them about 2 inches.. you could get them closer if you really wanted..

I have a 3 inch air fan that just blows air around on the side for the sake of it.. if I had a tight box with cooling I probably still couldn't get them much closer..

Note how all the lights are of varying heights, some sitting surrounded by flowers on all sides.. maximizing your cfl spread is the name of da game.. put them together the lights cross over and shae some lumens.. if you put two 3,000 lumen blubs side by side, your immediate lumen output almost doubles. But if you spread them out by 5 inches, it starts to decline lumen share exponentially.. BUT you can spread them out.. one thing a SMALL hps (like you would use in this space) can't do very good is get into corners and edges.. it likes to concentrate down and center.. so you can use CFL to your advantage this way in corners and edges some..




And no, you don't have to have light surrounding each.. more light is better.. it would be nice in a perfect world.. but as you can see from this picture, the tall sativa, she is not only in a corner, but has grown 'above' the lights.. she is going to mature and eat just wonderful though.. I'll surround her with lights the last two weeks (soon) just to finish her off.. but she will still produce in a darker corner up against the wall and above the lights if she has to.. notice the extra leaf on the bud.. they are trying to compensate for the low light by leafing up.. that said they are getting and will continue to get quite crystal laden.. she still has at least 4 weeks to go.. freakin sativa..



This is what she looks like out of the room.. you may note she has even taken a bit of the shape of the corner I have her squeezed in to.



You can't tell from the pics.. but in a few weeks more time she really is going to be quite a monster for grown more low light than the others in the corner.

Mate, ur an absolute legend!! Can't thank u enough for being so helpful, with all ur info I'm good to go! Oh and by the way, she looks splendid in the natural sunlight!

Devilspawn said:

I'm running two fem widows that I topped ( one by accident doing lst, another a week later on purpose) ala Uncle ben and two I am just lst on- will see what yield differences really are. The two non topped are big bushy monsters. The first UB, is recovered, haas four main colas and is stretching enough now to let me start LST- it is a very bushy, thick beast. The second topped was a runt I was trying to kick in the as- it worked and is catching up. The first top I cloned off and after a week it was pushing roots everywhere, so I popped it in the grow with two carmelicious and a freebie unknown. They are coming up on six weeks since being popped into jiffy cubes in my hydro set up ( No pre soak) and stinking up a storm. I have been cloning off the bottom shoots that are covered up in LST and they are setting up for a nice second grow ala scrog. I wish I topped a carm to try a comparison on them, but now they are too damn big and lush to mess with. Just lots of LST and selective cloning/pruning to keep them within confines of the cab. They are about 8" high with all the LST work ( Main cola now horizontal) and about a week or two to flower- can take them to 16" assuming a 2.5x stretch in flower and still fit nicely in cab. Bottom line is Uncle Bens worked for me, adding is a def bonus.

Click to expand...

do you have a journal or thread for this. i grow ww and want to see these results

Yes you can find my grow journal with my siggy I think...Been posting every few days