Topless Ladies!!

there is a lot of interest on this lately so i will try and help if i can.

first a little history about my learnings:
years ago (12) i was in a living situation were i could not grow. yet my need stiil burned. i had grown many times prior so i had a grasp of the basics. so i have this miniature lemon tree in a 6 gallon pot. i threw in a few seeds. as they grew i used bent paper clips to pin the shoots to the ground. i thought maybe like a vine if i bent the branches then buried them they would take root in the middle. they did everything they could do to stay above ground but i did get some nice long bent and wave like branches. they flowered and finished out at 18" long yet were only 4" inch tall. i yeilded about an 1/8 per plant but i learn a wealyh of knowledge.

so here we go. this is a Belladonna x Roadtrip hybrid. it was started from seed. it was in veg for 30 under shop lights. slow but stout growth. it was topped at the fifth node when it was 8 nodes tall. the bottom 3 nodes were removed leaving the 4th and 5th node only. these then were topped the same or very similar to. this is the procedure i use throughout the topping process. by removing the bottom branches the tops will grow longer allowing room for bending. the bigger colas are topped up until the 8th day of flower.
i use stainless steel "safety pin" wire. it is about the diameter of kite string. this allows for it to be hooked and not tied to the plant for easy moving. i will put hooks on the ends of properly measured lengths of wire. i then hook this end to the branch at that end to the edge of the pot or to a branch on the oppisite side. i do cross branches if necessary to get the best "spread". if done properly at the right time you can get your plant to do what ever you want.


Belladonna x Roadtrip at 2 weeks in.

main stalk:


bottom view:


side view:


top view:


comments are welcome on this thread.

So is this a basic type of plant training your doing? Im just trying to grasp its purpose.is it to keep short plants and get them to bush in order to save hieght? Let me know I luv learning different techniques and ideas..Luv thy nugz..ps how is the bella I never had it but am curious

this is to get myself a nice stout thick bush. i grew belladonna outdoors and loved it this is my first bella inside.

Looking good mate, i like the buds on her she is going to have some big colas if this is 2nd week of flower

i'm going to go ahead and throw this plant in the thread also. she just went into flower. so this is day 1 of flower. she is small because my flower room was getting empty. i have increased my lighting in my veg room so after this my plants will be taller. so i topped this plant about 10 days ago and started LST. it now has 4 nice main shoots. this is a hybrid strain called "Sellwood".

Very nice mate, thanks for that tip!

i forgot to mention this. when my side branches start to overgrow the heigth of the plant i will remove the large fan leaf feeding that particular branch. this will usually slow the growth of only that one branch. i found this is a good way of applying growth control. do not go overboard. 1 leaf here 1 leaf there. just enough to control things.

thanks for the helpful information mate!

1 more week down. i have stopped any new bending. the stems are at a point on the belladonna x that any bending would cause cracking of the stem. the sellwood is still bendable but it is at the shape i want it.

belladonna x roadtrip 21 days



sellwood 7 days

very nice man, you would make a good teacher

very good thinking.

another week down.

the belladoona is starving for nitrogen. i have fed twice with botanicare veg and added bat guano N high to the soil about 4 days ago. she is stiil fading. i have also fed guano bloom strength. any ideas?

the sellwood looks great!



belladona 28 days........................






sellwood 14 days................................

Eny updates buddy? there looking very nice

Does N high mean lots of Nitrogen? if not correct me

Hah looking great man. I'm going to be updating my early topping thread with photos as soon as my 8 stalks emerge from the bush lol. The early topping is a bit tedious and I may or may not have 2-4 more tops than I thought I was going to lol looks like I pulled off another double top or two.

every monday is photo day.
belladonna still giving me problems. trying little things here and there. keeping it in check, but it's not as green as i would like. the sellwood is doing great.




.................belladonna day 35...............




.............sellwood day 21....................

Thanks for all the great information.

You seems very knowledgable and congrats on your plants.

I'm a newbie, so I'll be happy when I first see my 1st homegrown bud!!

Dude, the belladona looks awesome, i wanna try some!
Peace.

so half the belladonnas' hairs are brown. the crystals are all cloudy. i do not even see any clear crystals. though no amber either. it is taking up WAY to much room in my garden. it looks really good but i think if i wait another week the crystals may pack on. it is sitting on the chopping block now. not sure how long it's gonna live.


not much to say about the sellwood other than " grow, baby, grow ".




................belladonna 42 days...............




..................sellwood 28 days...................

Looking very nice my friend, sellwood is very healthy the yellowing leafs on bell could be normal, your in flower some strains tent to have yellowing leafs but the buds are looking very nice pack on the crystal baby haha

i took out the belladonna. it seems like a very short flower time but she looked done. the leaves got that hardened look. i found a lot of amber crystals on the lower buds. i had a little mildew that i controlled with peroxide. i don't think the topping helped yield anymore. i have clones of the same plant that were not topped that look much fatter. they were flowered at a much smaller size. i'd put up a pic but i'm typing this in quick reply. maybe if a get really motivated...................