Did I top correctly??? Pic

lulutheblack

lulutheblack

Active Member
I was wondering if I topped correctly. It is "at" the 7th node. I clipped off what would have been the 8th node. Here is a pic.

Topped Day_29.jpg

Does anyone know if this will give 2 or 4 main colas?
 
dyzel said:
Yes, you did fine. The 2 new leaves forming on either side of where you topped will soon be independent branches.
Click to expand...

So, this will give me 2 main colas and not 4? I'm confused how you get 4 main colas. I read Uncle Ben's Topping Method thread but I didn't grasp the concept of 4 main colas instead of 2. Can you explain?
 
lulutheblack said:
It's a clean cut. The pic is hard to tell. What could I have done differently? This will give 2 or 4 main colas?
Click to expand...

Not sure how that works, but I'm guessing when people get 4 the set below that top set also become tops. I did an FIM and got 3 tops...figure that one out, haha.
 
sonar said:
Not sure how that works, but I'm guessing when people get 4 the set below that top set also become tops. I did an FIM and go 3 tops...figure that one out, haha.
Click to expand...

got 3? haha... ok now I'm really confused! 3?!?!

man, I wish I completely understood this stuff.
 
Balzac89 said:
Just look up FIM techniques.
Click to expand...

Ok I looked it up and I see that to get 4 main colas you have to cut roughly 80% of the top growth off. Topping to get 2 main colas is just cutting all the very tip top growth off just under the very top node itself.

The way I did it will get me 2 main colas. I got it now. Thanks for the input guys! Happy growing
 
lulutheblack said:
Ok I looked it up and I see that to get 4 main colas you have to cut roughly 80% of the top growth off. Topping to get 2 main colas is just cutting all the very tip top growth off just under the very top node itself.

The way I did it will get me 2 main colas. I got it now. Thanks for the input guys! Happy growing
Click to expand...
If you cut it when it is younger than you did, you won't be cutting "80%" of the plant. I cut mine when there were four or five nodes, cutting just about the second node, and it didn't take off that much, mainly because the seedling wasn't that big. This is why I think topping early is better than topping late. Lots of people just won't have the heart to chop as much as you should have, that is, if you wanted four colas.
 
9867mike777 said:
If you cut it when it is younger than you did, you won't be cutting "80%" of the plant. I cut mine when there were four or five nodes, cutting just about the second node, and it didn't take off that much, mainly because the seedling wasn't that big. This is why I think topping early is better than topping late. Lots of people just won't have the heart to chop as much as you should have, that is, if you wanted four colas.
Click to expand...

I only cut off about an inch or less of growth and it was only tiny leafs. The pictures make it look much larger than it actually is. The amount that I cut off was about the size of my pinky finger nail.
 
Topping doesn't really do anything, you know that right? It shocks the plant and delays the growth while the plant has to close off the cut and then resume the growth period. It can delay you as much as two weeks from what I have seen. Why don't you in the future tie the plant down and train it horizontally and then you will end up with more colas? Every node is capable of growing multipl colas. Tie them down.
 
twistedwords said:
Topping doesn't really do anything, you know that right? It shocks the plant and delays the growth while the plant has to close off the cut and then resume the growth period. It can delay you as much as two weeks from what I have seen. Why don't you in the future tie the plant down and train it horizontally and then you will end up with more colas? Every node is capable of growing multipl colas. Tie them down.
Click to expand...

Too late. Oh well we live and learn right? I have one that is only undergoing LST so it's all good.
 
twistedwords said:
Topping doesn't really do anything, you know that right? It shocks the plant and delays the growth while the plant has to close off the cut and then resume the growth period. It can delay you as much as two weeks from what I have seen. Why don't you in the future tie the plant down and train it horizontally and then you will end up with more colas? Every node is capable of growing multipl colas. Tie them down.
Click to expand...

Here is a Nirvana Blackjack that I topped four days ago. The seedling was 12 days from the time I put the seed in the ground to when I chopped it. I would say it looks pretty good. To make it even potentially more stressful, when I did the cut, it was still in the little beer cup. Two days after topping, I transplanted to a bigger pot. It seems to have bounced back just fine from not only topping, but repotting. Got to love a plant that goes by the nickname "weed."
august 2010 seedlings 003.jpgaugust 2010 seedlings 001.jpg
 
Not to quibble about topping vs. tying down, but I have had some troublesome times tying plants down. Sometimes the branch just snaps off. Plus you are pretty much adjusting your tie down for the entire length of the grow (or at least until it finishes its main growth spurt.) This topping is a one time thing. That being said, you can get excellent results with the tie down method. You can have a 1 1/2 foot section of branch practically horizontal, with a whole plethora of colas pointing straight up from the branch. On the negative, once you start tying down, it is sometimes really hard to adjust your grow space.
 
This is true Mike as far as grow space. If you do them all right though you will end u with shorter plants and therefore all node being exposed to the light. I am not here to argue, I am just trying to help growers out.
 
Exactly how you should have done it. I like to top my tops about 10 times throughout my out door, and about 3 times inside. Every time you top you will shoot 2 new stems, top those 2 after they grow about 2 to 3 inches and youl have 4 top the 4 and youl have 8 and so on. Not every one dose this but I really like the turn out. You if you shred the bottom right get perfect tree looking plants. almost looks like the perfect tree house tree.
 
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