Topping your buds

I topped two of three plants one week into flower, to even the canopy out a bit and see what would happen, not surprisingly the two which have been topped are yielding less so far..

I've done this with strains that are known to mold on thick colas, it defintely helps prevent mold.
The way I came across this method is I had an outdoor plant with a caterpillar and its shit all over a large top bud, I cut it off and the buds surrounding and below turned out bigger than the other same sized colas on the plant

andy s said:

Ya stems and a healthy root system makes a bigger bud for sure, all of my branches have been stressed trained and super cropped as you explained during the veg stage. All my branches and stalks are very thick and healthy lol and I get decent buds for a 600w hps. I'm still learning a lot and haven't had more than 10 successful or what I would call proud moments/harvests. Total I've had about 15 harvests. So lots to learn haha. This was just a test.

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Andy s, if YOU think it works- ( I sure see a fatter cola on on your pinched plant ) -then i wouldn't be put off because sum comments. You do what you want n what works for you. It's YOUR grow.
Happy growing ,
Gaz

andy s said:

Right, usually in veg you basically cut the top of the plant off or pinch the new node site however you wanna say it, or whatever you're doing. But, what I did was during flower I pinched off the top of the bud/flower ending vertical Growth at that particular site. They still grow vertical like in veg but in a different way. They seemed to swell faster and are bigger. It's not finished yet so idk if the end results will be the same but by the looks of it they're gonna turn out bigger.

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Instead of doing that, why not not just do a scrog?? all of that just sounds ridiculous imo. I'm pretty certain you're doing more harm than good... here, i'll post the results from my setup. another week and these are getting cut and ready for the cure. no mold, no issues no nothin

The only thing i cut on flowers are foxtails , i hate them

Budzbuddha said:

The only thing i cut on flowers are foxtails , i hate them

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What causes foxtails?

Chunky Stool said:

What causes foxtails?

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foxes, if you grow outdoors sometimes they come upto your crop and starting peeing on them.

Chunky Stool said:

What causes foxtails?

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Heat can produce them.

Gary Goodson said:

Hey Andy, I don't top my buds. I also think there are other things you can do to maximize yields. Looking at your pics, you have some room for improvement.

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Oh I def do lol but it wasn't really a technique to really gain more weight per say. Mainly what I've noticed, they get fatter and more dense. My yield was basically the same as it would've been I think. Some plants I've trained the hell out of which is why I get the branching I do but a couple stativas it actually helped keep a little smaller. The stativa strain I have flowers late, doesn't double or triple but literally quadruples in size during flower an it's a crazy lady lol so it helped this time with her always being the tallest she ended up just barely over the rest. But like I said I see room for improvement as well. I need some better strains and I also need to have a controlled room. I have a very basic set up. This sour purple I had to end up harvesting everyone Bc it did hermi yet again. It must just be unstable. Hermied on me last run and this run but it's sooo good I love it. I'll post some bud shots like I said of a topped vs untoppped Nug. I only got about 2 3/4 oz off this plant dry. I hope to get 1/4lb per plant is my goal. Still working on a nice feeding schedule with these girls Bc they all seem to need something different most of the time.

Chunky Stool said:

This is an interesting topic. I've got major height issues in my tent right now. Various strains, various growing mediums, various 12/12 start times.
Trying to figure out how to manage it, or just let them fight it out. FML

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I had a stativa strain I used this technique with and it helps a lot. Also you might fem as soon as you initiate 12/12. I usually do that for my tall ladies

Gaz29 said:

Andy s, if YOU think it works- ( I sure see a fatter cola on on your pinched plant ) -then i wouldn't be put off because sum comments. You do what you want n what works for you. It's YOUR grow.
Happy growing ,
Gaz

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Thanks gaz! It's the glory of growing a plant that can be grown hundreds of different ways lol. I'll get a weight of two nugs of equal size and area of the plant so we can see a dry weight difference. I think it will improve some strains and really give people the dense nugs they've been working hard to get but can't due to lighting.

Feisty1UR said:

Instead of doing that, why not not just do a scrog?? all of that just sounds ridiculous imo. I'm pretty certain you're doing more harm than good... here, i'll post the results from my setup. another week and these are getting cut and ready for the cure. no mold, no issues no nothin

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Nice, I've not attempted a Scrog yet, don't really have a nice set up or area to do it. I'm still getting my process down to even get great yields. I only use a 600w at one garden and a 400 for another. I can basically only harvest small fat plants right now. I've really looked into it though and eventually I think it's where I wanna go

Chunky Stool said:

What causes foxtails?

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As he said heat can, but also genetics, and some statins do when they've gone too long.

Budzbuddha said:

The only thing i cut on flowers are foxtails , i hate them

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Foxtails are just like tops unless you meant after harvest.

andy s said:

Nice, I've not attempted a Scrog yet, don't really have a nice set up or area to do it. I'm still getting my process down to even get great yields. I only use a 600w at one garden and a 400 for another. I can basically only harvest small fat plants right now. I've really looked into it though and eventually I think it's where I wanna go

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This was only done with a 400w, I have no idea what I could have achieved with a 600. But then, heat would be a HUGE factor unfortunately :/

Feisty1UR said:

This was only done with a 400w, I have no idea what I could have achieved with a 600. But then, heat would be a HUGE factor unfortunately :/

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Right, heat is always something I battle. ESP with summer creepin up on us slowly but surely. What nutrients do you use and strain? And I personally think 400 and 600 watt systems produce nice yields. That's why I run em. If I thought it would be a problem I would honestly just go outdoors with it all.

Feisty1UR said:

This was only done with a 400w, I have no idea what I could have achieved with a 600. But then, heat would be a HUGE factor unfortunately :/

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Oh and by small and fat, my last one I took down the one in these pics ended up having over 25 main branches and yielded 2 3/4 oz around 12 grams of smaller less dense buds all the rest were all quality nugs.

andy s said:

Oh and by small and fat, my last one I took down the one in these pics ended up having over 25 main branches and yielded 2 3/4 oz around 12 grams of smaller less dense buds all the rest were all quality nugs.

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Its all on my grow journal man, just click on the link below my name in my signature.

I don't see any pics, cant you post em here? Just want a little comparison to see how much I may have pulled with this setup. Once again if you wanna do something similar to what I've done, follow everything in my grow journal Everythings there. Down the the T.

Feisty1UR said:

Its all on my grow journal man, just click on the link below my name in my signature.

I don't see any pics, cant you post em here? Just want a little comparison to see how much I may have pulled with this setup. Once again if you wanna do something similar to what I've done, follow everything in my grow journal Everythings there. Down the the T.

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Enjoying the journal man you did an awesome job. Took me a minute to find it but I did lol. I posted a pic of the plant on like the first page of this thread. She's almost dried now so I'll have some Nug shots for you guys to compare. It was early Bc it hermied again. Let me see if I have a photo or two before I chopped her

Feisty1UR said:

Its all on my grow journal man, just click on the link below my name in my signature.

I don't see any pics, cant you post em here? Just want a little comparison to see how much I may have pulled with this setup. Once again if you wanna do something similar to what I've done, follow everything in my grow journal Everythings there. Down the the T.

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Here you go