Cutting tips of the plants during flowering

[PeepHole]

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[Pharm Girl]

Did they say how long into the bud stage that they had done so??

I do, do it when they are in veg................. can be done in flower and even cloned and reverted......

Are they topping to save room??.............o r to make clones??............ .....

[wvoldtimer]

I wound'nt cut them if the are flowering, but would tie them down.

I have cut bud tips when hey where about 12' to 24' long which
causes the buds to really swell

[canhunt]

yeah and u can bend the branches to get more light if you do it enough times youll get a bansai

[smallarmsfire]

really it all comes down to intensity of light and vegetative vigour.


topping & pruning growth can obviously encourage the same sorts of bushiness as tying would, although clearly when you are removing existing growth you have essentially wasted time & energy that the plant used creating it to begin with.


but if you have enough light intensity & the plant is growing rapidly, the time lost is minimal and the benefits of topping can be seen in drastically increased yields with only a very slightly extended veg time. you may end up with a slightly more symmetric plant than you would LSTing, and it will involve less hands on work.. but essentially they will achieve the same goals.


topping as late as a few weeks into flowering might be effective with particularly stretchy bloomers, sativas & related hybrids, but for indica dominant strains you shouldn't be chopping off much growth after switching to 12/12 as they just don't grow fast enough to make up for the lost time. gentle tying (stems usually get much stiffer almost immediately during flowering) is definitely best in this case if you are trying to get more light into the center of the bush.

[dakine]

Peephole, you are correct. If you clip the very top stem off, shortly after it starts the veg stage, it will then grow two buds instead of one at the top.

[Peace seeker]

what smallarmsfire and PG said^^


I ve done it too, during preflowering on a 100% sativa (twas when i had just started growing (and didnt know better) and gave a bunch of clones to a friend). Nothing happened to the plants, apart from many 4" colas during harvest. Like 7 or 8 of them.


You shouldnt top after the plants are on 12/12. Actually, if u top right before flowering, give em a week or so, before u go 12/12.


Personally i prefer topping (only during vegging), to create an even canopy (for light penetration purposes). Does take a little longer for the plants to grow, but the results are good.

Others, just tie down the plants. Takes a little more work and skill.

[higherthanamile]

Ahh.......FIMMING, is the the term that describes what you're talking about.

Sativa is more receptive to fimming because they tend to grow longer and denser stems.


Pic 1, locating the very top of new growth.

Pic 2, with STERILIZED scissors, fold the fan leaves over and cut the top 80% of the new growth off.

Pic 3, top view of what the cut looks like.

Pic 4, After 2 days of growth, 4 new shoots appear.

I always prefered bending, tying down, and growing horizontally.


HTAM

[Peace seeker]

Is it better to top and then a week later top again the two Y's, so you can bush out the plant

or to FIM?

Some say that FIMing will give up to 6 (or even 8) tops. Anyone tried it?

[Absynth420]

i dont know all the latest research on the subject, but clipping during flowering should decrease the energy that would be distributed to the main cola would be split between multiple colas, which would imply that they would not receive as much energy as one cola.

dont quote me on this, but if i top a plant its right after sexing, and then i put it back into veg for a week or so, unless i wanna clone it, then ill veg it out to make it a mother. but thats a different story all together..


i would say best way to get the most colas would be the LST or low stress training. where you train the plant to grow its side shoots upward, so each side shoot becomes its own cola. that may be better for your goals..

see tokinglx's thread ... ill link it in a sec...


ok, heres the link to the other thread :
tokins grow room

[farmergiles]

Originally Posted by Peace seeker

Is it better to top and then a week later top again the two Y's, so you can bush out the plant

or to FIM?

Some say that FIMing will give up to 6 (or even 8) tops. Anyone tried it?

From what I`ve heard it depends on the genetics- some prefer single cola others prefer 2, 4 or whatever. I`m experimenting with NL at the mo with inconclusive results due to too many other factors (pics soon promise).
But Absynth may have a good point about LST, I`m also experimenting with that with good results so far.

[Cerebro]

peace seeker- how many stems you get depends on how well you fim, the best results i've seen are when a v was cut out of the top, not straight across, but fimming is very hit, or miss. i dont recommend it.
absynth - a hormone is produced that promotes growth in the highest cola, if you have two cola's then they each make use of it, if you have scrog, same.
fg - you're certainly right about genetics, breeders notes say that most strains are most suited to being grown and trained in a certain way, many grow best as a single cola.
htam - i'm with you on growing horizontally. they had a sativa in northern nsw that you vegged to 8ft then sliced it vertically from top to toe with a razor blade and tied each end down. you ended up with a lot of whacked out bud. google mullumbimby madness if anyone's interested.