How do I top my plants?

Glad your able to use my tutorials for your grow. They're not the best but I am happy with the result. Many kind folks, thanks to these, have been taking that "snip of faith" and going for a beautiful topped and trained plant. Good luck Mr. Crips.

KiG :green_heart:cheers
 
Topping is easy it's the training that takes the effort. Take a look, this Gal is 40 days old. She was topped once she reached 5 nodes, cut down to the 3rd. I also clipped the bottom shoots to create the Cross/T shape.

Before retraining
20161004_153012.jpg


After retraining
20161004_153752.jpg


Glad you found the tutorial, hope it helps you along the way. Good luck with making your cuts, I'll be checking your journal often enough.

KiG Webby :green_heart:Cheers
 
Really nice work Snidrajased .

I can only aspire to be so green fingered, I have had a little experiment with topping on two that just popped up.

I'll Deffo be having a look at your other tuts and journals.

Cheers Webby ✌️


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Snid, your knowledge and willingness to spread it is inspiring. Thanks for all you contribute, I'm anxious to try this now. Keep spreading the good word!
 
Snid, your knowledge and willingness to spread it is inspiring. Thanks for all you contribute, I'm anxious to try this now. Keep spreading the good word!

I'm simply returning the favour to my fellow 420ers, I've learned all that I know from reading the countless threads here and elsewhere on the cannaweb. Although how I've retained all this knowledge is beyond me... It comes as second nature to me now, it's all locked away in my mind and spirit. 420 family for life brother, thanks for the kind words. It means alot more than you would think :thanks:

KiG :green_heart:cheers
 
I'm in awe. :adore:
... and very fortunate to have stumbled across this tutorial. Thank you so much for sharing this in such an easy to understand format.
You, sir, would give the famous bonsai master
Masahiko Kimura a run for his money.
Much respect.

 
I'm in awe. :adore:
... and very fortunate to have stumbled across this tutorial. Thank you so much for sharing this in such an easy to understand format.
You, sir, would give the famous bonsai master
Masahiko Kimura a run for his money.
Much respect.


I should be updating this thread with more advanced techniques of maximizing your grow space with plants that are a little older. But ya, the basics of topping is fundamentally done within the first few weeks depending on the plant. But I was happy to create this tutorial, rather than trying to explain it with only words. Like they say a picture is worth a thousand words... And I agree. Thank you for the great feedback Rider :Namaste:

KiG :green_heart:cheers
 
I'm happy with the progress and growth of the secondary nodes using this technique. Not seeing as much on the bottom nodes but I'm optimistic.
b1bba593afee9c36666669901e050ecc.jpg
85117cb83ae8348669f9a0d58a36a4f2.jpg
fcf24869459b345c8b1774083e62cdaf.jpg



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Snidrajsed, I must have not taken enough off when I topped. Even in the above pics you can see resurgent growth in the cut stem. This morning it was more obvious. I recropped more aggressively. Hoping that'll spur the new growth.

Before recropping:

a47da0a2b1244c9645ff49c642237164.jpg



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In addition to simply low stress training a plant from the start you can also create multiple tops. These additional tops can then be trained in the same fashion as only Lst'ing.

First off there's the topping. This is where you will be cutting the stem above a selected node. For photoperiods it's advisable to wait until you have 4 or 5 nodes and then cut above the 3rd.

Make sure to sterilize your cutting instrument first, number one rule. Next determine where you'll be "topping" the stem. Let's get a look at what I'm talking about.

As you can see I've got 5 established nodes, including the first leafstems. This particular plant is starting to lean already above the 3rd node.
20160518_180704.jpg




I was thinking of topping it here instead, at the 4th node. But I'd like to avoid a crooked trunk to the stem. So let's make the cut...
20160518_180727.jpg




Here's the cut stem of plant. Notice the 45° angle I cut at. This is to prevent water or dirt or whatever, from sitting on the wound. It helps the water slip off and not pool.
20160518_180837.jpg




You can see the little tiny nubs that will become your new main stems. They will grow fast since they are still the pinnacle of your plant. In a few days they will have emerged.
20160518_180908.jpg




This is the remaining portion of the stem. What you could do is wait until you have 6 or 7 nodes and then top the plant. In this way you could trim the cut stalk and attempt to clone it. I'm not doing this for these test plants but it is very feasible for one to do so.
20160518_182147.jpg




Now that's it's been a couple days and the auxins have been readjusted to incorporate two top stem. We can see that both lower nodes are growing and the top two shoots are starting their engines getting warmed up for the race.
20160523_120433.jpg




And a couple days later.. Let's start the daily Jedi training.
20160524_163312.jpg

I'll bend the leaf stems away from the mainstem. Making a bid "M" shape. This gives (imo) the new shoots more room to grow freely.
Disclaimer : if you think you're going to break it, don't do this step... For steady hands only.
20160524_163335.jpg

Next I'll super gently bend the growth shoot down to meet the leaf stem. Use very little pressure as to not break it, it is very delicate at this point.
20160524_163344.jpg




And then repeat, for a few days. This is going to make your new stems stronger and become more or less oriented in the direction you'll be training it.
20160525_143302.jpg


20160525_143328.jpg


20160525_143335.jpg


That wraps up the initial topping for Lst'ing later on. Hope that shows you enough that you may experiment this technique on your own. Remember practice makes perfect, you may not get it perfect the first time but the effects on your plant will be the same.

Warning Don't forget these instructions deal strictly with photoperiod plants. Autos are a different animal all together. I will do another instalment that is specific to auto training, since they have such short veg time and are their own animal. Warning

Keep Training, Keep Learning, Keep Sharing
:ciao:

KiG Everyone :green_heart:Cheers

I just read this for the first time - excellent information. Thank you again!


Sent from my iPhone using 420 Magazine Mobile App
 
In addition to simply low stress training a plant from the start you can also create multiple tops. These additional tops can then be trained in the same fashion as only Lst'ing.

First off there's the topping. This is where you will be cutting the stem above a selected node. For photoperiods it's advisable to wait until you have 4 or 5 nodes and then cut above the 3rd.

Make sure to sterilize your cutting instrument first, number one rule. Next determine where you'll be "topping" the stem. Let's get a look at what I'm talking about.

As you can see I've got 5 established nodes, including the first leafstems. This particular plant is starting to lean already above the 3rd node.
20160518_180704.jpg




I was thinking of topping it here instead, at the 4th node. But I'd like to avoid a crooked trunk to the stem. So let's make the cut...
20160518_180727.jpg




Here's the cut stem of plant. Notice the 45° angle I cut at. This is to prevent water or dirt or whatever, from sitting on the wound. It helps the water slip off and not pool.
20160518_180837.jpg




You can see the little tiny nubs that will become your new main stems. They will grow fast since they are still the pinnacle of your plant. In a few days they will have emerged.
20160518_180908.jpg




This is the remaining portion of the stem. What you could do is wait until you have 6 or 7 nodes and then top the plant. In this way you could trim the cut stalk and attempt to clone it. I'm not doing this for these test plants but it is very feasible for one to do so.
20160518_182147.jpg




Now that's it's been a couple days and the auxins have been readjusted to incorporate two top stem. We can see that both lower nodes are growing and the top two shoots are starting their engines getting warmed up for the race.
20160523_120433.jpg




And a couple days later.. Let's start the daily Jedi training.
20160524_163312.jpg

I'll bend the leaf stems away from the mainstem. Making a bid "M" shape. This gives (imo) the new shoots more room to grow freely.
Disclaimer : if you think you're going to break it, don't do this step... For steady hands only.
20160524_163335.jpg

Next I'll super gently bend the growth shoot down to meet the leaf stem. Use very little pressure as to not break it, it is very delicate at this point.
20160524_163344.jpg




And then repeat, for a few days. This is going to make your new stems stronger and become more or less oriented in the direction you'll be training it.
20160525_143302.jpg


20160525_143328.jpg


20160525_143335.jpg


That wraps up the initial topping for Lst'ing later on. Hope that shows you enough that you may experiment this technique on your own. Remember practice makes perfect, you may not get it perfect the first time but the effects on your plant will be the same.

Warning Don't forget these instructions deal strictly with photoperiod plants. Autos are a different animal all together. I will do another instalment that is specific to auto training, since they have such short veg time and are their own animal. Warning

Keep Training, Keep Learning, Keep Sharing
:ciao:

KiG Everyone :green_heart:Cheers

Thanks Snid, fantastic explanation and looking forward to trying these techniques out ...


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