Jump to content

When to top


Righteoussower
 Share

Recommended Posts

My guy Evan. Thanks very much. I will wait for one more node in that case. I followed your previous advice and trimmed the flowering plant as instructed with the diagram. Oh boy!!! She’s doing well. I need to send you a picture of her but she’s in her dark session now. Will send when it’s light time.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

  • Like 1
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

you getting great advice here brother👌 

just a :-2cents from me, topping is a thing of preference. as long as you not cutting the very first apical bud above the cotyledon leaves - although you can do this, it will stunt the plant quite a bit - you'll be fine. 

either way, it is all about structure, space, what shape and how many top sights you wana create. also what time you got. in theory, as long as you don't cut below the first set of true leaves you can top whenever and whereever you like. except in flower it will just be a waste. 

I see you got one plant in a huge space there. if you got time you could literally top every single apical node there and end up with a table top canopy with a whoooole lot of tops. your limit is the walls of the tent. 

I always grow multiple different strains all at once so I can't expect a level canopy for shit, but what I do to help me is top every single dominant shoot and give the rest time to catch up. so I don't have a given time when to top. I top something somewhere every day. either top them or if the plant is already too dense in that area I soften the cambium and let the top lay in recovery for a day or two while the other tops catch up. 

  • Agree 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 minutes ago, Righteoussower said:

Thanks very much for the advice. It is well appreciated. I just want shitloads of buds bro... I don’t care how. Lol... Is it possible for you to send a marked picture of where and what I can top, like Evan did previous....Thanks again!!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

only a pleasure bro beans, that's what we all going for! 🥳 

I think you might be going for this ....

Screenshot_20220114-084934_YouTube.thumb.jpg.12f3c891f7690aa2352d50ccbd450f5d.jpg

Screenshot_20220114-085025_YouTube.thumb.jpg.b50f77a0b68709fb3a5bb3536a8af677.jpg

Screenshot_20220114-085114_YouTube.thumb.jpg.6d3f555a5fcbd92614a37e6561e32814.jpg

Screenshot_20220114-085336_YouTube.thumb.jpg.20b62c7e579b9886aea75eb220e4e393.jpg

look closely, this is just one plant... this is a guy on youtube, Mr.Canuk, completely blowing the whole game out the water. a beginner shouldn't expect results like this, but it can be something a beginner works towards. 

just to show you what can be done with a cannabis plant. cannabis plants are some of the most vetsatile plants out there, if they're healthy and growing along nicely you can bend, snap, twist, top and do whatever you want to them and they'll just bounce back and keep growing. whole mature plants can be harvested down to 1/4 of the biomass with just a few branches left over and be sent back into reveg. you can keep them in veg for however long you want as long as you maintain its health. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

as for a diagram on where to top, I think first what you need to do is get some side branches by opening up the top of the plant. 

once your side branches shooting up wards, top every single on of them. like don't even leave one top sight unplucked. if the plant makes too many shoots you can clean the undercanopy by cutting away whats's too dense and not reaching top. but rather have too many top sights than too little. when it is too late you can't add any more tops, but you can always cut some away. and when you cut some away, you got cloning stock. win win 🤘

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Topping should only occur when theres 5/6 nodes. It's not really necessary to top so early you can do with LST. I don't even top until mid veg now a days, I hardly LST anymore. All I do is top / FIM depanding on genetics and how the plants growing, than alot of super cropping in combination with Kush man's chiropractic 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

@Righteoussower if you're tempted to truly go down this path of mainlining/manifolding (advanced topping) then I would recommend that you start with just 8 main stems and get used to growing and training a plant to obtain that kinda shape.

What you want is to first obtain this kind of shape, this is a plant I did early on when I first got into growing:

20190115_195700.jpg.fc7da3fb429c289af1b762b340cd4e24.thumb.jpg.ce3cddc7b877f7ee426782e03d84cbc0.jpg

 

You obtain this by first letting your seedling get like a solid 5/6 nodes above the cotyledons. You will then top above the third node from the bottom and you will end up with something like this:

20181230_094608.jpg.818e8c36980053eee67c0118a18087f6.thumb.jpg.0c403837b1a044231a3b1a3691bba3a8.jpg

 

You will then train the branches to grow flat horizontally using ties, preferably soft ties so you don't cut into the branches. You will grow these branches until they each have grown 4 nodes. You will then top each branch after the third node again, and also remove the 2nd pair of branches each. You will only keep the first and third nodes of each branch. This is because the 1st and 3rd nodes will grow horizontally and not vertically like the 2nd node. 

remove-2nd-node-each-side-cannabis-manifold-sm.jpg.0ea1c38bfc02eafad793cfc84fc858e3.jpg 8-colas-manifold-cannabis-sm.jpg.e083819b77d46c6e7e7e961e5843df8b.jpg

 

Then you just keep training until you get something like the first picture above. Then from there you can decide when to flip. You will then end up with something like this:

20190216_184052.jpg.0b170453b28a765aea4c946e33317c7c.thumb.jpg.6778f28e2e76c4c5ff6790199686f083.jpg

 

You can literally take this technique and shape your plant however you want. Extreme versions are like what @Naughty.Psychonaut has posted above. There are guys who can fill entire rooms doing this with only a few plants. Just know that it will take much longer to veg your plant to first obtain the shape, and then you will need to really ace your flower period. You don't want to put all that time into growing such a complex structure only for thrips or a deficiency to just chop you at the knees, so go into it with confidence. 

Good luck Padawan. 

Extra sauce

  • Fire! 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah I have been using a lot of the kushmans chiropractics lately aswell, works well. 🤠

21 minutes ago, Marzcanna said:

Topping should only occur when theres 5/6 nodes. 

if you don't mind me asking, is this just to reduce recovery time or would you say it's a do or die thing? 

if it's a matter of space sometimes you have to top low and I have topped right when the first set of 3 finger leaves show with no problem at all, they just take a few days longer to recover. you can make a bonsai out of a cannabis plant and top and train it however you like. 

our guy, righteoussower here has one plant in a huge open tent, he got space for days and don't have to shove a bunch of plants in next to eachother, so he can open that girl up and make her do all kinds of things in there to fill the space. kinda look at a big cannabis plant as a bonsai in a big pot that you never have to root trim. make a whole 1000 top sites off one stem. the lower he goes with that girl the wider he can make her and the more side shoots the more surface area covered when opened up.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 minutes ago, Naughty.Psychonaut said:

if you don't mind me asking, is this just to reduce recovery time or would you say it's a do or die thing?

By that time the plant is growing vigorously so there is less of a chance of stunting the plant out from stress. Before this point the plant is focusing more on developing roots and sometimes it appears as though the seedling has stunted, then all of a sudden there is easily observed daily growth. It is at this point that topping is a great idea because you know you have the roots geared to pump your plant into its next stage of growth. 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 minutes ago, Ill_Evan said:

@Righteoussower if you're tempted to truly go down this path of mainlining/manifolding (advanced topping) then I would recommend that you start with just 8 main stems and get used to growing and training a plant to obtain that kinda shape.

What you want is to first obtain this kind of shape, this is a plant I did early on when I first got into growing:

20190115_195700.jpg.fc7da3fb429c289af1b762b340cd4e24.thumb.jpg.ce3cddc7b877f7ee426782e03d84cbc0.jpg

 

You obtain this by first letting your seedling get like a solid 5/6 nodes above the cotyledons. You will then top above the third node from the bottom and you will end up with something like this:

20181230_094608.jpg.818e8c36980053eee67c0118a18087f6.thumb.jpg.0c403837b1a044231a3b1a3691bba3a8.jpg

 

You will then train the branches to grow flat horizontally using ties, preferably soft ties so you don't cut into the branches. You will grow these branches until they each have grown 4 nodes. You will then top each branch after the third node again, and also remove the 2nd pair of branches each. You will only keep the first and third nodes of each branch. This is because the 1st and 3rd nodes will grow horizontally and not vertically like the 2nd note. 

remove-2nd-node-each-side-cannabis-manifold-sm.jpg.0ea1c38bfc02eafad793cfc84fc858e3.jpg 8-colas-manifold-cannabis-sm.jpg.e083819b77d46c6e7e7e961e5843df8b.jpg

 

Then you just keep training until you get something like the first picture above. Then from there you can decide when to flip. You will then end up with something like this:

20190216_184052.jpg.0b170453b28a765aea4c946e33317c7c.thumb.jpg.6778f28e2e76c4c5ff6790199686f083.jpg

 

You can literally take this technique and shape your plant however you want. Extreme versions are like what @Naughty.Psychonaut has posted above. There are guys who can fill entire rooms doing this with only a few plants. Just know that it will take much longer to veg your plant to first obtain the shape, and then you will need to really ace your flower period. You don't want to put all that time into growing such a complex structure only for thrips or a deficiency to just chop you at the knees, so go into it with confidence. 

Good luck Padawan. 

Extra sauce

🤩 hell yeah, that's the hot shit right there! if time is not a big issue you can go crazy with this 🤠

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, Ill_Evan said:

By that time the plant is growing vigorously so there is less of a chance of stunting the plant out from stress. Before this point the plant is focusing more on developing roots and sometimes it appears as though the seedling has stunted, then all of a sudden there is easily observed daily growth. It is at this point that topping is a great idea because you know you have the roots geared to pump your plant into its next stage of growth. 

that's a good point, I once heard a guy saying "the amount of the plant you take away matters", so if you had a 2month vegging plant and it's growing vigorously and you cut half or more than half the biomass it will also stunt the plant for a week or so. I think what adds to the reason why it stunts the plant so much when topping at such a young age might be because the part you're taking away is like half the plants biomass. 

same with vice versa, when the plant is big and you just top a single node it almost doesn't seem to stunt the plant at all, the less you take away the less it stresses them.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

22 minutes ago, Naughty.Psychonaut said:

if time is not a big issue you can go crazy with this 🤠

I know my first issue was time. From growing one or two plants outdoor for a couple years I realised having one harvest each year of around 400g of midgrade was not satisfying my needs. 

got my first setup couple years ago, went into harvesting around 300-350g of higher grade stuff twice a year... seemed to be enough for like 2 years. had a few fluctuations still getting to know the ropes, ran out of weed many times, wasn't a big decision to get a second tent cause I always wanted to grow more than I could smoke. started growing more outdoor again, but focusing on indoor and as soon as the space, money and time was right I got the second setup for a perpetual grow and get 4 cycles a year. one harvest was just under 400g, but they're mostly in the area of 350g which I am happy with, but quality can always go up so constantly looking for that new new lol. 

finally not running out anymore, my biggest issue - solved ✅ 

🤠

Edited by Naughty.Psychonaut
  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Naughty.Psychonaut said:

Yeah I have been using a lot of the kushmans chiropractics lately aswell, works well. 🤠

if you don't mind me asking, is this just to reduce recovery time or would you say it's a do or die thing? 

if it's a matter of space sometimes you have to top low and I have topped right when the first set of 3 finger leaves show with no problem at all, they just take a few days longer to recover. you can make a bonsai out of a cannabis plant and top and train it however you like. 

our guy, righteoussower here has one plant in a huge open tent, he got space for days and don't have to shove a bunch of plants in next to eachother, so he can open that girl up and make her do all kinds of things in there to fill the space. kinda look at a big cannabis plant as a bonsai in a big pot that you never have to root trim. make a whole 1000 top sites off one stem. the lower he goes with that girl the wider he can make her and the more side shoots the more surface area covered when opened up.

Yes to reduce stress, infact there's no rule to topping, you can top as early as you see the first nodes, but it's common for seedlings to take a long time to recover if done to early and in some cases I've seen seedlings get stunted to a halt completely. 5/6 nodes or even at a later stage eliminates the recovery time and almost never stunts the plant to a degree you might aswel replace it, I just don't worry much about topping early as I used 2. Mostly because I only do it once in the plants life so I just let it grow until I'm comfortable to top as much as I need or FIM that one time. The rest is multiple supper croppings

Edited by Marzcanna
  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Naughty.Psychonaut said:

I know my first issue was time. From growing one or two plants outdoor for a couple years I realised having one harvest each year of around 400g of midgrade was not satisfying my needs. 

got my first setup couple years ago, went into harvesting around 300-350g of higher grade stuff twice a year... seemed to be enough for like 2 years. had a few fluctuations still getting to know the ropes, ran out of weed many times, wasn't a big decision to get a second tent cause I always wanted to grow more than I could smoke. started growing more outdoor again, but focusing on indoor and as soon as the space, money and time was right I got the second setup for a perpetual grow and get 4 cycles a year. one harvest was just under 400g, but they're mostly in the area of 350g which I am happy with, but quality can always go up so constantly looking for that new new lol. 

finally not running out anymore, my biggest issue - solved ✅ 

🤠

Yea getting that 2nd tent really helps, I grew with one tent for many years, and once I got a 2nd one it helped me up my harvests, the best thing is let's say you have 8 plants in veg, clone them just before they go into the flower tent, and you can have anther 8+ exact copies in the veg room ready to go into the flower tent by they time you harvest those already in the flower tent , all we do is keep the rotation going, we saving time by skipping the germination /seedling phase and we save on seeds and it takes out the guess work if you cloning because you working with what you already have. It's a win win. A 2nd tent is a game changer 

Edited by Marzcanna
  • Agree 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...