to top or not to top

is it worth it. what situation is topping good in. has anyone grown topped next to not topped and seen the difference?

Topping will give you 2 main colas instead of 1. I guess it's just a matter of preference. Refer to the growfaq for more in depth info.

-Hank.

i think it does something magical to them, if your growing under lights it will make every branch fight hard to be the queen, plus it makes almost all your buds at the top of the plant try topping two weeks before flower cuz some don't like to be topped.your stalks will be thicker to. experiment a little

i topped one of my last plants because i had it outside and an animal must have broke it or something so i figured oh well ill top it. and it came out good. but i didnt know if you could just get the same results by training it so that all the branches become colas. know what im saying? i grew one sideways, and it seemed that all the branches became like colas because they werent blocked out of light by anything. they all did grow just like colas. i had em under a 4ft 2 tube floro. cheap ass thing in my cellar and was dissapointed that the buds didnt get as big as i hoped they would, dont get me wrong the ganja was primo. it was pissa weed BUT not big enough. so i went out and got 3 100 watt hps lamps and now have the floro above and the hps lamps surrounding my plants. im hoping the extra light will add that umph im looking for.
1st, 2nd ,3rd pics under floro last is the present time

HOHO said:

i think it does something magical to them, if your growing under lights it will make every branch fight hard to be the queen, plus it makes almost all your buds at the top of the plant try topping two weeks before flower cuz some don't like to be topped.your stalks will be thicker to. experiment a little

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you should research yours strain you are growing. some respond very well to topping and some dont.
you could top them and have bushier plants and take the tops and root them for clones.

I have always been a big fan of topping, but my outdoor crop this yearn didn't yield even half what I was expecting year and I believe it was a result of too much topping I think I will discontinue topping all together and just doing the tie down method, I find that it ecourages branching if the secondary development without slowing down the growth of the plant by removing healthy leaves, just bend the tops at 90 degrees and attach it the mainstem with a piece of string, and watch the secondaries take off, when you have achieved an even canopy remove the string

sorry forgot to edit last post hope it

im growing super skunk from amsterdam seeds. they are under 2 tube 4ft floro above surrounded by 3 100wt hps lamps. i have tied down and all the branches did awsome but that was before i got the hps lamps heres some floro only pics

super skunk

smoke and coke said:

you should research yours strain you are growing. some respond very well to topping and some dont.
you could top them and have bushier plants and take the tops and root them for clones.

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could you give some examples of how to research how each strain thrives i have searched the net and all i seem to find is the same old generic info that seed banks copy off each other. alot of what i know has been trial and error, would love a short cut. +rep

just train them with weights instead. just bend the branches just enough not to break them and then you can get them all the same height and have equal light distribution. this way you get a smaller bushier plant with alot of big colas instead of a tall plant with 1 main cola

Please don't repost. I have told you all this already. It all depends on the strain if it's a good thing or a bad thing. Bottom line. Some like to be topped. Some don't. Google.

i topped a plant very early on. like only a few nodes high. it grew like it was 2 plants coming out of one root. it was awsome if you did that or fimmed it out like that you could streatch all the branches apart and have the equivelent of 4-8 plants. you have to use a big pot tho...

like this =)

HOHO said:

could you give some examples of how to research how each strain thrives i have searched the net and all i seem to find is the same old generic info that seed banks copy off each other. alot of what i know has been trial and error, would love a short cut. +rep

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well i just read info from the breeder, google, and do searches on this forum and other forums for people who have grown this strain and see what they have done.

LST works great or fim the top.

if all the research doesnt give you the answers then you just need to experiment. try topping 1 or 2 and see what happens, how it responds. you will know if it was a good idea or not . problem with only topping a couple is you wont have an even canopy unless you do some fancy tieing down also.

Yeah im gonna go with the old ty down method. I hate to pull anything healthy off my plants .

i had my seeds in dirt for a month and they were growing for about 3 weeks now i was wondering when should I add something to see what the sex is. They are about a foot high atleast.

jamanji said:

i had my seeds in dirt for a month and they were growing for about 3 weeks now i was wondering when should I add something to see what the sex is. They are about a foot high atleast.

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It's not nice to hijack threads. Kthx.

rickythepitbull said:

Yeah im gonna go with the old ty down method. I hate to pull anything healthy off my plants .

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i felt the same way at first but when you cut off and clone that its another plant already the same age as the mother. and by trimming some of the lower branches where the light cant penitrate will help the rest of the bud sites get bigger.

BOT (back on topic)

I've found that the main cola is always better when left alone doesn't matter the strain. LST to open it up to more light.

Top it if height is an issue.

(saying that.... I"m still a little bit of a hypocrit because I like to experiment and have tried to top one in every grow ive been a part of. ... experience tells me, leave the top alone) hehehe.. I'll still top one off my next grow, just to see what happens.