Topping off my plant?

I've read a lot about this topping off process and I'm wondering whether I should do it to my plants? I am almost 2 weeks into flowering and it just started showing signs of sex. What is the main reason for topping off and how should I do it?

Could I just cut the top of the plant and clone it instead? or am I not making any sense....

Thanks!

TheTashFam said:

I've read a lot about this topping off process and I'm wondering whether I should do it to my plants? I am almost 2 weeks into flowering and it just started showing signs of sex. What is the main reason for topping off and how should I do it?

Could I just cut the top of the plant and clone it instead? or am I not making any sense....

Thanks!

Click to expand...

I would have topped them before flowering. I top mine to keep them bushy and shorter as I deal height restrictions in my cabinet.

Yea you're making sense but as Chiceh mentioned this is usually done during vegetative growth, I like to top somewhere between 5 and 7 nodes. Topping is used to encourage lateral growth while the meristem recovers. It also causes two or more top colas which may be a benefit if you're growing with cfl's which have poor light penetration. And yes, just snip it on a 45 degree angle and clone it if you want. There are more advanced forms of topping, if you're interested run a search on 'FIM'. Hope I've offered some insight.

this may seem like a stupid question but does topping generally produce a plant with more bud or just a plant with the same amount of bud, with the only difference being that one plant would be short and bushy compared to taller and more slender

Normally when topping, you grow back 2 main heads instead of the one. 2 Colas as opposed to 1. So generally, more bud.