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

I failed to communicate (not that you where trying to communicate with me, I know the orig post wasn't directed to me). I mistook your comment as serious. It *seemed* like a kiss ass remark that was saying we can't do what the guru does.

Just to be really clear, I'm not saying you are kissing ass. I'm saying I misunderstood.

potpimp said:

Riddleme, I consider you an expert too, if that means anything. Jjfoo, I think UB & Dave's beef is the many people that blow huge sums of cash on expensive nutes such as Advanced Nutrients. I'm one of the suckers that fell for their slick marketing. I wasted well over $400 on their junk and the grow was no better than what $10 worth of "regular" nutes would have given me. They are just trying to help.

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FWIW, I'm growing a nice outdoor plant, 2 main dominant colas (and 2 recessive 2 main colas), with nothing more than off the shelf foods except for the high N Polyon (slow release encapsulated food) which is the same type product as Osmocote. I have lost alot of leaves due to insufficient water plus we're having high heat - my fault but I have bigger fish to fry than to worry about a pot plant. It gets watered when it gets watered. Walmart sells a Tomato food, something like a 18-18-20, that is working really well. Once in a while I'll remember to throw in a tsp. of it in a gallon of water.

anomolies said:

btw I've been using MG All Purpose as well. How many tsp do you add per gallon? I do 1 tsp/gal but I've been wondering if I could push it to 2 tsp/gal cus leaves are yellowing in early bloom.

I just tried the topping method recently on some plants stlil in veg, and the node spacing is like 3-4 inches apart.
I'll be lucky if I even get colas like yours. Do you have any pictures of the tops from the same plant before it went in flowering or early flowering? Or any idea of the node spacing?

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At first I was scared to go full strength... But one strain I have eats a SHIT TONE and I can actually get away with using more than 2 tsp/gal. Just be careful, DON'T do it right away. Slowly work your way up to it. If you start to see burnt tips, ease off a bit.

Here is that same plant with those big buds - in veg, and earlier on in flower.

Sorry, not tryin to spam your shit UB.

Hi

As you can see I grow 2 clones in a PC case

The last pic shows what i have in mind,
so i need 2 colas in each plant...

... so i must cut above the 1st TRUE node.

My question is :

How i can find the 1st TRUE node in my clones ?

( is the 1st i can see or the 2nd ? )

Thanks

You dont need to top above the first true node to get the desired effect. Just locate your two most dominant lateral branches and top above them. Now you'll have your two tops and can scrog to your hearts content.

This is what I do with my clones, and you'll easily get two tops, and often 4.

gforgrow,

On rooted clipping all nodes are true nodes, first of all.

I grow from clippings and just pick three nodes (you can also pick two) and cut above them. In most cases I just top above the third node. You can top a clipping earlier than seed.

You may want to google 'subcool topping'. It is very similar to UB's style but he talks about the differences between seeds and clippings. Basically a seed needs to mature, where a clipping is mature and just needs to root.

here is one link: http://www.cannabisculture.com/v2/content/subcools-topping-tips

I don't see any point in cutting above the first node. That would be starting over. You're single node would still need to be topped.

There are some posts earlier in this thread (I think) that talk about how hormones affect what colas become dominant. You don't need to know about this but it may be helpful.

I just did this on three of my Blackjack seedlings. I did it a little sooner than you recommended. I think there was four possibly five nodes. A day later and they don't appear the worse for wear and tear. The two main outgrowths have already picked up and taken off. The reason I did this is because I am growing with some Northern Light, which I expect to be shorter, so I wanted to keep the Blackjack a little shorter. I also started some White Widow a week later. I'm going to top all of these. I've seen lots of pictures of topped White Widow. Nice and bushy with lots of colas.

UPDATE: one day later and it appears my seedlings are perfectly fine. The first two shoots on the top node are taking off. Hard to see if the bottom two are going to match the top two and give me four, but it might very well happen.

my plants are in this thread here: https://www.rollitup.org/general-marijuana-growing/358835-how-do-my-babies-look.html#post4528456

am I to late/early to do this technique? could anybody point out where I should cut

thanks

Yaaaldi said:

my plants are in this thread here: https://www.rollitup.org/general-marijuana-growing/358835-how-do-my-babies-look.html#post4528456

am I to late/early to do this technique? could anybody point out where I should cut

thanks

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It looks like yours only has three nodes. You need five or six, although I did it at four on one plant and it worked. The guide at the beginning explains clearly where to cut.

does this technique almost aways guarantee a better yield? its my first grow and I'm pretty tempted to try this out on one of my plants. does it matter that they are autos?

are there any downsides?

Yaaaldi said:

my plants are in this thread here: https://www.rollitup.org/general-marijuana-growing/358835-how-do-my-babies-look.html#post4528456

am I to late/early to do this technique? could anybody point out where I should cut

thanks

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Those are auto flowering right? Does it work with an AF? Too early to me if it works on AF.
Daniels

Daniel, it does work with AF but I don't know if the stress is worth it. Yes you will get 4 colas but from my experience, autos STOP growing - even if they are only 3" tall - when they get stressed.

hmm so for my first grow with autos this is probably not recommended? dont wanna end up with hermies.

also with auto's you probably don't wanna chop off 4 nodes of growth, because its not like you can just veg them longer to make up for the loss

please can someone help me, i've got this beautiful aurora indica that looks weird, its a week into flowering and this is what it looks like, its in the optimal growing conditions under a 400 w hps with 6 cfls for boost. is it a hermi or a male?

swann said:

please can someone help me, i've got this beautiful aurora indica that looks weird, its a week into flowering and this is what it looks like, its in the optimal growing conditions under a 400 w hps with 6 cfls for boost. is it a hermi or a male?

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don't see anything wrong? and it is not showing sex yet, which "can" be a good thing as males usually show before females

i'll put up some more pics, but thanx for the info.

I think Uncle Ben is right, this doesn't really stress healthy plants. It just sets it back a few days at most. I didn't really follow his advice about waiting for five or six nodes to cut. I knew that if I waited that long, I would be cutting too much leaf off and it would bug me. So I did it when there was four nodes, maybe close to five. This way I didn't cut too much leaf (and stress me out.) I would say it took a couple of days to start looking good again. In the wild, getting the top shoot bit off probably happens quite a bit. I think this "weed" knows precisely what to do if this happens, which is turn the top bud into Siamese twins, or hopefully quadruplets. For someone like me with a UFO and a bunch of CFL, this will make it easier for me to keep more tops close to the lights.

Hi, I am just starting veg phase of my first grow, plants are barney's red dragon, mostly indica from a friend's super female, I have a question about how the four cola topping technique applys to my plants. I read first 10 pages of this topic and am confused over what to do with one of my babies, pictures hopefully will help.



My concern is that one of the plants seems to have split itself into 2 already, should I leave this one and try the four cola technique on the other with the single stalk?, very interesting time reading what you guys have said so far and advanced thanks to anyone with some advice for me.

heres some more pics of the possible hermi, i swear it looks like balls but the plant itself does not resemble a male plant is it just a pheno type and im just being paranoid or is it a hermi, any info is much appreciated.