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Too late to FIM or Top?


Smirre69
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Good Morning guys,

Need some help. Very new to growing. a Buddy of mine gave me a little lady he had in the backyard. No idea what strain or anything. She looks more sativa - hybrid by the looks of the leaves. My question is, she's just pop the 8th node, is it to late to top or FIM? (i only have a 180cm high grow tent and i don't think she''l fit in there at the end. Or perhaps SOG or SCROG? I don't want to let her go to waste, she already showed some signs of stress from the transplant, had what looked like a nitrogen deficiencey(bottom leaves yellowed).

Thanx for any help. I'm guessing i'm going to be on the help forums a lot at the beginning!

 

Edited by Smirre69
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you can cut tops off at any time anywhere on the plant, just so long as you leave a node or two. obviously don't cut when she's flowering unless you doing a clean up of the undercanopy. a lot of peoples outdoor plants are flowering already, but you got a tent and can control light cycle. what cycle you on? 

you got any photos for us?

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let's look at the extreme end of the spectrum, people reveg fully harvested plants by just leaving a couple nodes after you harvested, so basically there is no "too late to top". that's why I say you can cut at any time and anywhere so long as she's not under 12/12 light cycle and you leave a couple nodes.

"FIM" is mos if you already topped a few tops and look at the grow in a couple days to see a few tops rising above the others and realise "Fuck, I Missed", and is used -in a hurry- when refering to a specific topping method, but it's basically the same thing one is just more accurate and the other a slang term. 

but most importantly, photos? 🤠

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54 minutes ago, Naughty.Psychonaut said:

you got any photos for us?

This would be very helpful, I get you say it's got 8 nodes but how tall is the plant currently ? has it developed side branching ?

But in my opinion I'd say leave it outdoors and start new seeds for the indoor grow if you can.

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1 hour ago, Weskush said:

FIM is instead of topping the node clean between the two off shoots, you top 3/4 off the growth, leaving a 1/4 of the growth behind. Hence Fuck i missed.

thanks for the explination 😄 I get what you're saying, because when I google it, that's what I find... the reason for my statement is I been hearing 100 things about "FIM" -ing, certainly have heard the explination before, I worked with ouens that's 70 years old and growing weed for over 40 years, they "top" their plants the way you described and when I mentioned "FIM" he asked me what the hell I am talking about... soooo I don't know bout that one hey  

it's obvious that you would save the plant some stress the less of the plant you cut/take/snap/break away and the longer you grow plants the finer your touch becomes and you figure this out and naturally just start doing it, it's topping, but I will let these gurus know that the scientific word for their method is "FIM-ing" and they shouldn't confuse the newer growers with the wrong terminology. 

it's literally a modern abbreviation 😅 

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1 hour ago, Weskush said:

Last thing. I've experimented with topping and fimming and fimming is not as effective in reducing stretch/vertical height  than topping. Topping creates a lekker bushy structure

have you FIM'd as early as the 3rd node as soon as side branches form? you can trigger the bushy structure by fimming early bro. easy peasy lemon squeezy. I do all my plants like this. when they clones, even easier. just "FIM" the longest node the whole time. 

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1 hour ago, Weskush said:

FIM is instead of topping the node clean between the two off shoots, you top 3/4 off the growth, leaving a 1/4 of the growth behind. Hence Fuck i missed.

How does this even mean "fuck I missed" what did you miss? if you plucked it, you plucked it, you didn't miss it? what am I not getting?

at least with my explination, which was just one of the 100's I have heard, it's more fitting as when you realise a certain shoot taking off faster it means that one has not been toppen, hence "missed"... 

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FIM and top is similar, but there is a difference. Cannot say I have ever done a FIM.

 

fimtop.jpg.0a344658d002326fba88e2ccb563ac39.jpg

 

fim.jpg.4251c0fba95b0aea546ec4d625596ef0.jpg

 

 

Topping removes the node to allow the two bottom nodes to become the main brancehs / colas.

 

FIMing is to get multiple growth points from that node. Where you cut is the deciding factor between the two.

 

fimvtop.jpg.1bc965c0672eb52f916e86289b961d8e.jpg

 

At least this is how I have always understood it. As mentioned, I just top.

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2 minutes ago, Naughty.Psychonaut said:

How does this even mean "fuck I missed" what did you miss? if you plucked it, you plucked it, you didn't miss it? what am I not getting?

at least with my explination, which was just one of the 100's I have heard, it's more fitting as when you realise a certain shoot taking off faster it means that one has not been toppen, hence "missed"... 

 

FIM is when you do not fully top the node, hence "fuck I missed" but the way it was cut allow the plants to push multiple branches / colas still due to the way you cut it... but that top node was not removed completely, like it would have been with a topping. 🙂 

 

The images I posted above might help make more sense of it. I think majority of people top and very few FIM.

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I have just gained so much more resistance to that term, it's literally the same thing. 

does this even exist anywhere else in plant terminology or is it just with cannabis growers? 

cause if it's just with cannabis growers I am going to laugh. all plants get topped, so there better be a FIM of all plants.... let's see

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Just now, Naughty.Psychonaut said:

I have just gained so much more resistance to that term, it's literally the same thing. 

does this even exist anywhere else in plant terminology or is it just with cannabis growers? 

cause if it's just with cannabis growers I am going to laugh. all plants get topped, so there better be a FIM of all plants.... let's see

FIM can be applied to all plants.

 

It isn't quite the same thing.

 

FIM you still leave that top node there, it still grows into a branch. You are not removing it completely.

So say there are 3 small nodes, you almost remove the biggest one and you still end up with those 3 nodes fully developing.

 

With topping, if there are 3 nodes you would remove the one to force more growth to the remaining 2.

When you FIM you still remove that apical dominance without removing that node.

 

They both lead to similar / same results in the sense that they both lead to bushier plants. FIM should lead to more nodes though.

 

This is a top as that node was removed completely, forcing growth to the remaining 2 nodes below. You'll end up with these 2 nodes becoming main colas.

A FIM would still lead to 3 main colas.

top.jpg.45406b1f3a6f7fb7e728f906167fc34f.jpg

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ok so, after little investigation, so far nowhere in horticulture does the term or abbreviation FIM get used other than amongst modern cannabis growers. 

🤷‍♂️ 

I understand it might be a new thing, but it really should get a more appropriate name than "fuck I missed" cause that just sounds like some 14 year old kid growing his first ditch weed and trying to sound cool...

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2 minutes ago, PsyCLown said:

FIM can be applied to all plants.

 

It isn't quite the same thing.

 

FIM you still leave that top node there, it still grows into a branch. You are not removing it completely.

So say there are 3 small nodes, you almost remove the biggest one and you still end up with those 3 nodes fully developing.

 

With topping, if there are 3 nodes you would remove the one to force more growth to the remaining 2.

When you FIM you still remove that apical dominance without removing that node.

 

They both lead to similar / same results in the sense that they both lead to bushier plants. FIM should lead to more nodes though.

 

This is a top as that node was removed completely, forcing growth to the remaining 2 nodes below. You'll end up with these 2 nodes becoming main colas.

A FIM would still lead to 3 main colas.

top.jpg.45406b1f3a6f7fb7e728f906167fc34f.jpg

my query is this, 

as I mentioned before, I do what you're talking about, almost all the time, the careful removal of the apical node, but because I am not doing this only when there are already 3 other nodes the results I get 95% of the time is just 2 branches. the same amount I would end up with when topping. 

since the first time of a plants life I remove a apical node the way FIM is described, so does this mean I am FIM ing?

keep in mind you just described that FIMing should leave more branches....?

 

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and adding to that, why would doing the same thing at two different stages and it only resulting in different outcomes be called "fuck I missed" that makes less than no sense? unless it wasn't what you planned on doing and was going to top, but missed the branch and only got the node? 

which would give you more branches than you bargained for... how is that a miss? the only miss I see here is missing the branch when you made the cut, is that the right miss you guys are trying to point to? 

even so, it's still topping the plant 🤷‍♂️ 

contrairy to your statement of the fimming leaving more nodes, I have a Super Lemon OG now that went into flower, but I wanted to veg her out, so I cut her with pruning shears close to her base, sparing few nodes. as you know when they flower the node spacint can become very tight and it just so happens that where I cut her there was 3 nodes basically ontop of eachother and as you can imagine, 3 branches are coming out. so does this mean I did a FIM?

this term is so loose

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Fimming stemmed off topping. As far as i know it was discovered by accident when someone intended to top the plant but didnt top clean, leaving some the bottom growth leaves behind by cutting too high. It was observed that the fimmed plant grew more nodes from the partial cut than the clean topped plant(normally 2 new nodes will grow from 1 topping section). Fimming is less stressful than topping due to less growth being removed. Topping is still my go to for outdoor Sativas that wants to reach for the skies. It also creates a stronger, sturdier bush growth. Once✌️

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1 hour ago, Naughty.Psychonaut said:

have you FIM'd as early as the 3rd node as soon as side branches form? you can trigger the bushy structure by fimming early bro. easy peasy lemon squeezy. I do all my plants like this. when they clones, even easier. just "FIM" the longest node the whole time. 

Haven't tried fimming that early. Will try though.Shot. I always top at the 3rd - 5th node and feel it out from there. 

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@Naughty.Psychonaut Fimming does not necessarily mean it will leave you with 3 nodes / branches.

 

Fimming is basically where you do not remove the node completely, however you are still removing that apical dominance. The name could be better, whether it sticks around - I guess we'll see in a few years.

With topping the node is removed completely.

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so this all just made my mind jump back to a video I saw a while back, it's mr. canuk on youtube and the situation here is he is growing autos and had to find the least stressing way to get side branching to catch up with the rest and here was his solution. no need for cutting at all, but I guess this isn't gona give more nodes. 

20211119_155238.thumb.jpg.d9316f2cae111fe84f96cc66e9e687c4.jpg20211119_155258.thumb.jpg.8b9ca83f4c9645ff4c7a37cff8bf2ef5.jpg20211119_155319.thumb.jpg.bc3711c30b98e3cac8e98a83ebafec5c.jpg

 

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ok so, after little investigation, so far nowhere in horticulture does the term or abbreviation FIM get used other than amongst modern cannabis growers. 
 
I understand it might be a new thing, but it really should get a more appropriate name than "fuck I missed" cause that just sounds like some 14 year old kid growing his first ditch weed and trying to sound cool...
Yeah, cannabis growers have alot of terms that relate specifically to weed, probably because they were stoned at the time lol
I mean just look at the names of some of the strains

'Sea of green' is probably another term you won't find in general horticulture amongst others.

Sent from my SM-A715F using Tapatalk

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52 minutes ago, Batista said:

Yeah, cannabis growers have alot of terms that relate specifically to weed, probably because they were stoned at the time lol
I mean just look at the names of some of the strains

'Sea of green' is probably another term you won't find in general horticulture amongst others. emoji16.png

Sent from my SM-A715F using Tapatalk
 

hahah yeah I get you, I remember starting out I would hear guys mentioning all kinds of terms that I didn't get! 

fuck I missed is just a whole lot less professional than sea of green or screen of green even, but not that anything weed related needs to be "professional" in the general sense of the word. I mean it does sound hip and cool, but just in the wrong way hahah

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On 11/19/2021 at 4:00 PM, Naughty.Psychonaut said:

so this all just made my mind jump back to a video I saw a while back, it's mr. canuk on youtube and the situation here is he is growing autos and had to find the least stressing way to get side branching to catch up with the rest and here was his solution. no need for cutting at all, but I guess this isn't gona give more nodes. 

20211119_155238.thumb.jpg.d9316f2cae111fe84f96cc66e9e687c4.jpg20211119_155258.thumb.jpg.8b9ca83f4c9645ff4c7a37cff8bf2ef5.jpg20211119_155319.thumb.jpg.bc3711c30b98e3cac8e98a83ebafec5c.jpg

 

How well did this actually work? Did the lower branches catch up in height?

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