Thick Bushes with Zero Topping(+ Poll, discussion on Topping)

Bushes with zero topping or cutting of growth shoots. Just supercrop/lst/defoliation. How/what/when/where are people topping? Pics + descriptions welcome.

I stopped topping and only tie them down,this works well for me.I try to keep an even canopy to get the most from my lights.

nmibud said:

I stopped topping and only tie them down,this works well for me.I try to keep an even canopy to get the most from my lights.

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seconded. it's less stressful and more predictable in how they respond. some strains despise being topped enough to say fuck off and take a one month vacation before getting back to work. so i think it's safer.

tyke1973 said:

The Blueberry Gum ,that I have in flower now,was not topped.I think it's the best way of getting Large Main Colas,you will still get good Colas on topped plants .But it's not very often I get Big Colas that weigh over a oz from topped plants.But on the other Hand ,my end yield is all ways better when I multi top,I got out of the Habbit of topping for a while,but this new one in flower was topped a few times,the plants are un real,Both methods are good depending on the style your growing.

I hate Super Cropping full stop,I think of it has a very last Resort,if there is no other way of controlling the height,and it's too late for a table,I was told by a farmer that has been growing for ne on 50 year ,that Super cropping is like us trying to drink water through a bent straw,it gets to you but it takes more effort .I would much rather tie the tops down to either the pot,or sides of room ,any where has long has they are growing sideways for a while till the straighten up.

Topping goes hand in hand with so many methods,I like to veg along side ,the plants in flower,So that's round about 6 week of vegging ,because it takes 2 week to get good roots on a clone,or similar time to get a seedling going ok.Once I can top I do ,then just keep topping those tops right through to when there ready to flower.i also top every branch I makes for lovely round Bushes .

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I do one main supercrop, the it's lst/defoliation the rest of the way. The defoliation is top down and acts as my topping in a way.

tyke1973 said:

In all the years I have been doing this,I all ways topped.We even do it a lot with the plants in the garden Centre,at work.The best thing you can do is do what works for you.Its no good growing bushes ,if your room is small and you have loads of plants in there,best of just leaving them be ,and aim for that one main big top.If your plants have room with good light then topping is the way to go.

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Cool man. Do you have a general pattern? I use top-down defoliation to open/activate undergrowth. I agree growing leafy bushes can be a drain, I think it needs a steady diet of defoliation, if you're bushy, to keep it even head to toe.

tyke1973 said:

I Only ever do at maximum 3 plants ,In a room with 2 x 600 cool vented HPS lights,So they all ways have plenty of light all way round.i pull the side out and tie them down so light gets into the middle of the Plant,I never take a Leaf of my plants unless there dead or dieing.3 is a number I have only just started doing ,2 was the normal number,and I'm going to go back to doing 2 ,I get round about the same amount .I like to keep the numbers down ,less plants is what I aim for,in the legal situation where at in uk.I have a Pheno hunt going on at the minute too ,that I'm hoping goes smooth ,and I find what I'm after in the first pack of 10.I have vegged a long side my plants in flower. For has long has I can remember now,It the 2 week to get them going,then after that ,I let them grow and just top around 3/4 times.The Blue Lemon Thai,I have in Flower now ,did not seem to like it .But now it's been left alone it's doing lovely 8 tops ,with 3 central Colas ,The nodes are really tight and plenty of light getting the full plant ,so should do well.

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Cool, I keep 12 plants too, for the legal situation, 4-6 in flower. 6 is the max. 1000w hps, 600 w mh, 54 w pure uv, supplemental daylight from 4'x8' window with light blue curtain.

tyke1973 said:

Just smoked a nice strain I did a while ago ,been curing about 2 Month,G13 Blueberry Headband ,real nice smoke lovely buzz .Took a jar of that and one of Ch9 Super Haze out ,to last me next couple week .I was hoping there might have been some Cookie left but ,that shit got hammered at a bbq I had .

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Nice. I'm looking forward to starting some Malawi. Wanted to for a while.

I super-crop almost every plant and clones too, have a bunch of strains I need to keep going for breeding. Run the clones in party cups and super-crop them to generate the next set of clone branches. Works well and faster to generate additional branches and manage the canopy imo. They also tend to recover and generate growth faster than topping or FIM's.