# can u top the side branches?



## BigJon626 (Apr 24, 2009)

or only the middle ones?


----------



## CarbonBubblegum (Apr 24, 2009)

BigJon626 said:


> or only the middle ones?


Good question, hope someone answers it. 

I have one too, how often & how much can you prune a plant? I read somewhere to only
make 1 cut a week.

But please answer his, don´t wanna be a hi-jacker.


----------



## BigJon626 (Apr 24, 2009)

lol yes please anser my side branches are almost the same size as the center stalk


----------



## CarbonBubblegum (Apr 25, 2009)

Hey, do a search on FIM for a good technique. I suspect that you can top side branches as they are basically the same. Any1?


----------



## Grubs (Apr 25, 2009)

CarbonBubblegum said:


> I suspect that you can top side branches as they are basically the same. Any1?


Yes, you can.


----------



## t0k3s (Apr 26, 2009)

Grubs said:


> Yes, you can.


yes,any main branches can be topped,side or top,or center or bottom some growers top all the main branches,to help them fill out more then grow up.


----------



## Return of the Spork (Apr 26, 2009)

node's a node =)


----------



## GoldenGanja13 (Apr 26, 2009)

When I have side branches that are going to fast I top them and they stop growing while the others get extra juice and catch up in about 2 weeks if not less time.

When you fim the main stem (meristem) then you get 6 tops, well after 3 weeks one might go fast so you top it and allow others to rise up and stay even before 12/12


----------



## wilsoncr17 (Apr 26, 2009)

not only can you top side branches, you can clone a topped side branch. This is cool because you basically have a topped plant from root, great for LST SCROG I might add.


----------



## bicycle racer (Apr 26, 2009)

yes of course you can but if you do this too much there will be overcrowding of bud sites so you will have poor light penetration and fluffy buds also you invite pest and mildew problems. so dont go topping crazy peace.


----------



## green thumb matt (Apr 27, 2009)

yes you can keep doing it forever.


----------



## darkdestruction420 (Apr 27, 2009)

i did it multiple times w/my girl (top, wait for new branches, then topped them. each branch i did this to has turned into a new top cola (other guy mentioned this briefly) lst for veg and scrog for flowering are incredible.


----------



## CarbonBubblegum (Apr 30, 2009)

Great info here, much appreciated. How many cuts can i make without stressing plants into hermies? Do any of you top/fim during blooming?


----------



## GoldenGanja13 (Apr 30, 2009)

CarbonBubblegum said:


> Great info here, much appreciated. How many cuts can i make without stressing plants into hermies? Do any of you top/fim during blooming?


 I have fimed in bloom, but I have much experience. I would never top, that could cause a hermie fast. Even my fim in bloom was risky.


----------



## darkdestruction420 (Apr 30, 2009)

it depends on how far into flower for topping and you should have all your pruning for yield done when u switch to 12/12. cloning is all you should prune for after that. thats my belief and opinion so if anyone disagrees im not saying your wrong u could be right so dont take it personal anyone.


----------



## GoldenGanja13 (Apr 30, 2009)

darkdestruction420 said:


> it depends on how far into flower for topping and you should have all your pruning for yield done when u switch to 12/12. cloning is all you should prune for after that. thats my belief and opinion so if anyone disagrees im not saying your wrong u could be right so dont take it personal anyone.


 I never had any luck with taking clones from any plant that has been in 12/12 more than 2 weeks. I here other have luck .


----------



## CarbonBubblegum (Apr 30, 2009)

Confirmative. Thank you for sharing your experience. Can I ask a final two? I watched Jorges Ultimate Grow and he talked about this grower that came in and stripped all of the lower leaves off his plants. Is this beneficial to all varieties? How & when should this be done?


----------



## GoldenGanja13 (May 1, 2009)

It's also in his Bible. When you take down the lower limbs 2 weeks before flower (12/12) it does several things, one is reroutes hormones into upper branches for bigger denser buds, another thing it does is gets rid of dead weight. Those bottoms won't get much light and pop corn bud is not pretty.


----------



## CarbonBubblegum (May 4, 2009)

GoldenGanja13 said:


> It's also in his Bible. When you take down the lower limbs 2 weeks before flower (12/12) it does several things, one is reroutes hormones into upper branches for bigger denser buds, another thing it does is gets rid of dead weight. Those bottoms won't get much light and pop corn bud is not pretty.


Sweet, super-dense-buds.  Do you take stems & leafs or only leafs? And i suppose that we leave all the bud stems intact. I've read some guides on topping & such but find there to be a lack of good guides on manicuring, with detailed info. I know there are many variables but still.


----------



## CarbonBubblegum (May 4, 2009)

+Rep to u all  Gosh, i luv this forum


----------



## darkdestruction420 (May 4, 2009)

CarbonBubblegum said:


> Sweet, super-dense-buds.  Do you take stems & leafs or only leafs? And i suppose that we leave all the bud stems intact. I've read some guides on topping & such but find there to be a lack of good guides on manicuring, with detailed info. I know there are many variables but still.


 go to the harvest and curing forum fdd2k has a very detailed explanation of it


----------



## CarbonBubblegum (May 4, 2009)

darkdestruction420 said:


> go to the harvest and curing forum fdd2k has a very detailed explanation of it


I'll check that out. But what I mean war manicuring while she's still alive and growing. I should have word'Ed myself better. What i meant to ask for: A good guide on pruning, stripping of leaves and where to cut & such. Manicure  thats like a facelift right? I'll keep searching & reading. I haven't even started yet cause of so many variables needing straightening out, you know what i mean?


----------



## DankyDoodle (May 4, 2009)

CarbonBubblegum said:


> I'll check that out. But what I mean war manicuring while she's still alive and growing. I should have word'Ed myself better. What i meant to ask for: A good guide on pruning, stripping of leaves and where to cut & such. Manicure  thats like a facelift right? I'll keep searching & reading. I haven't even started yet cause of so many variables needing straightening out, you know what i mean?


My understanding is that if you have limited vertical space, and you need to keep the plants height under control then you top them or train them. If you have to top a plant then you will want to keep the side branches which will develop into multiple main stems. These can be trained as well to grow horizontaly such as in a scrog setup. If you are going to veg for a while then you could let the plants grow tall, cutting away the bottom branches before flowering will create large concentrated colas on the main stalk. Trimming lower branches in this scenario allows air flow and will make the plant focus its energy into top cola production. Same approach really for sog, however the plants are flowered after short veg cycle, plants kept short, and lower foliage is trimmed away again for airflow, and to maximize the top bud. I think that is the basics, but every strain has its own growth characteristics, and you should use grow techniques that suit the variety you choose to grow. Hope that helps. If I got anything wrong here let me know.


----------



## CarbonBubblegum (May 4, 2009)

It helps  and rounds it up nicely. Yes i was going for SOG, maybe scrog but i have a-plenty of vertical space. Me wants precious sooner. Later on I'll grow bigger girls.


----------



## lstme (May 4, 2009)

yeah you can top or fim anywhere. well that's what i did when i was trying it out.

i did about 7 fimms and a few tops and it took about 2 weeks to get back to normal but now i have multiple head on all branches.

i had heaps of locations available for fimming because of the LST i was doing where the plant is basicaly horizontal with the soil so every internode gets two branches that grow vertically of course.

so i cloned half of the little branches and fim/topped the rest and no i have as more little branches than before i started.

i have several that got 4 heads + the 2 little ones that grow at those nodes (which have since been left behind).

the problem is now that there are so many heads, some of them flourish as they get direct light whereas the ones on the outside seem to grow slowe so i'l be LSTing the hell out of all off those branches soon too.

so just so you know it can actually get out of hand with the number of tops you'll end up with. i think i'm creating a monster.


----------



## DankyDoodle (May 4, 2009)

lstme said:


> yeah you can top or fim anywhere. well that's what i did when i was trying it out.
> 
> i did about 7 fimms and a few tops and it took about 2 weeks to get back to normal but now i have multiple head on all branches.
> 
> ...


Heh heh...Monster BUSH!


----------



## darkdestruction420 (May 5, 2009)

go with sog if speed is important to ya, scrog take forever it will seem like, lol. i just wanted my girl to finish and it kept putting out new growth it drove me crazy.


----------



## CarbonBubblegum (May 5, 2009)

I only think of frankenstein,  good luck with u'r plants. I'm going to grow a couple of my seeds up to be big & juicy and then select two, or more, of the best male & female plants. Get the females pregnant. Get some seeds. I'll write down the breeding I do, then moke test the plants and select mothers from quality of smoke. From those mothers I will create a nice Sea of Green, with mixed varieties. Pretty much like that. I'm ready to roll.


----------

