Topping question
- Thread starter datfatboi
- Start date
Hey @datfatboi welcome to 420magazine. Its hard to tell exactly what your asking.im trying to get really thick branches to resist the wind. am i topping correctly here? or am i supposed to cut one of the new branches too and only leave one?
Taking the center stalk like you have i believe is correct.
If you have a wind issue. You can stake and tie her.
Get some silicate will strengthen cell walls making her sturdy.
Bill
- Thread starter
- #3
You can stake and tie her. sorry what do you mean by this?
what i'm asking is, should i also cut the branch i circled? i'm kinda new to topping.
No thats your new branches. It defeats the purpose if you remove that branch.You can stake and tie her. sorry what do you mean by this?
what i'm asking is, should i also cut the branch i circled? i'm kinda new to topping.
It'll grow a double top now instead of one.
- Thread starter
- #5
oh i understand, and can i also top the new branches the same way i did with this one once they become longer and bigger?
Any branches you take top center growth from will automatically turn into two branches. Beware it will increase veg time.
Bill
Enjoil
Well-Known Member
To get real thick branches you should twist em! You will hear the (cellulose?) in the wall snap! I love doing this on all my outdoor plants.... every few day I find a spot and crush it up a bit. When it heals it will have knuckles all over and will be able to hold up the heavy donkey dongs!im trying to get really thick branches to resist the wind. am i topping correctly here? or am i supposed to cut one of the new branches too and only leave one?
- Thread starter
- #8
do you know of any video on how to do it? i'm not sure i grasp what youre talking about, i'm scared to fuck up my plants
Stoneface Jack
Well-Known Member
It should make them stronger against the wind as the plant doesn't get as tall as it would've otherwise, and the branches that you top will grow thicker than untopped branches as they're supporting more weight. The plant has to adapt to the new growth. At least that's how it seems to me. I have grown untopped plants outdoors, and I top all the outdoor girls now.
I was going to try LST this year but circumstances didn't allow it.
If you can, you should try to spread those out a bit, like with LST. I use soft rubber coated gardening wire as it's strong, but doesn't damage the branches.
I was going to try LST this year but circumstances didn't allow it.
If you can, you should try to spread those out a bit, like with LST. I use soft rubber coated gardening wire as it's strong, but doesn't damage the branches.
You want stronger branches for wind?
2 things will help:
1 - Genetics....
2 - Silica - pro-tekt add to you watering and you can also foliar in on and water it in.
Topping is just a training technique it wont provide your plant with stronger branches.
You thought is that shorter plants have bigger branches not really the case.
Topping will also reduce your yields. Outdoors it can be significant if done at the wrong time. IF you can VEG for 6 months it will not reduce yields as much.
A 14 foot tall plant is going to out yield a 6 foot tall plant every day. Its all about bio-mass and time.
2 things will help:
1 - Genetics....
2 - Silica - pro-tekt add to you watering and you can also foliar in on and water it in.
Topping is just a training technique it wont provide your plant with stronger branches.
You thought is that shorter plants have bigger branches not really the case.
Topping will also reduce your yields. Outdoors it can be significant if done at the wrong time. IF you can VEG for 6 months it will not reduce yields as much.
A 14 foot tall plant is going to out yield a 6 foot tall plant every day. Its all about bio-mass and time.
- Thread starter
- #11
wait, but if i do a lot of topping i'll end up with FEW- very thick branches no? i've seen many growers use this technique and get very few thick heavy branches, where as if i just let it grow it will have many many branches but all very weak and skinny
Lst can do the same thing as topping but there is no recovery time needed for lst. Topping breaks the apical dominance, when you top a plant you are forcing it to focus on developing multiple tops not just the one main stem, but topping slows down the plant for many days.... lst plants don’t even hiccup since recovery is not required..... here are 2 tutorials from InTheShed
InTheShed LST
InTheShed Supercropping
InTheShed LST
InTheShed Supercropping
Stoneface Jack
Well-Known Member
I have experimented with topping and not topping. Some strains don't respond well to it, and others are barely slowed down.
The longest most of my plants take to recover is a couple of days. The one time I tried topping vs not topping I didn't use clones, I used two plants of the same strain. I got about 1.5 times as much from the topped plant as I did the un-topped.
This winter I'll do a comparison with clones. I'll take clones from the plants I use for the heirloom strain breeding project I have planned, and we'll see how they do. I usually grow outdoors, but indoors will cut down on the variables.
The longest most of my plants take to recover is a couple of days. The one time I tried topping vs not topping I didn't use clones, I used two plants of the same strain. I got about 1.5 times as much from the topped plant as I did the un-topped.
This winter I'll do a comparison with clones. I'll take clones from the plants I use for the heirloom strain breeding project I have planned, and we'll see how they do. I usually grow outdoors, but indoors will cut down on the variables.
Nope.. topping isn't what you think it is. Do more reading about it and not in a cannabis related forum. Its horticultural science not some made up stuff.
Here's a good thing to understand what you're working with:
Apical Meristem
Apical Root Meristem
These are parts of the plant you do not want to be cutting off. Its the science and not BS.
Same with cutting off fan leaves. Dont do that either.
Reason is this and it's a simple fact:
Plant growth regulators.. this is where all the heavy lifting gets done.
Wind blows - plants react and grow stronger stems.
Cut the top off that process of communication between the different plant parts is interrupted for a few weeks while the plant has to grow a new apical meristem (top).
So now after topping you're actually doing the opposite of what you thought you were doing.
Cut side branches no problem (not sure why tho) but cutting the main stem - not good.
I dont give a hoot about what anyone says. Its the science.
Stoneface Jack
Well-Known Member
Sorry Bob, but that's not what I have observed in my plants.
One of the things you haven't mentioned is that the apical meristem secretes hormones that slow the growth of the lateral branches. That's why their growth speeds up after topping.
Another is that the buds that would have been side branches then become two meristems. If you put a topped plant that has recovered beside an untopped plant of the same height they both grow at the same rate.
I would suggest you try it out.
Evolution has had a lot of time to work out ways around rough weather and grazing animals, both of which have a habit of removing meristems, and to select against plants that don't recover from it, and to select for plants that do.
Topping is a common practice in horticulture for a reason.
I have never had a plant that took more than 4 days to recover from a topping, even the ones that didn't take well to it. To say that the plant takes "...a few weeks..." to start growing a new meristem is just plain wrong.
One of the things you haven't mentioned is that the apical meristem secretes hormones that slow the growth of the lateral branches. That's why their growth speeds up after topping.
Another is that the buds that would have been side branches then become two meristems. If you put a topped plant that has recovered beside an untopped plant of the same height they both grow at the same rate.
I would suggest you try it out.
Evolution has had a lot of time to work out ways around rough weather and grazing animals, both of which have a habit of removing meristems, and to select against plants that don't recover from it, and to select for plants that do.
Topping is a common practice in horticulture for a reason.
I have never had a plant that took more than 4 days to recover from a topping, even the ones that didn't take well to it. To say that the plant takes "...a few weeks..." to start growing a new meristem is just plain wrong.
I was comment but everyone seems to have you covered brother , just longer veg time the more you top like Bill said , I would lst the 2 new branches away from one another , any how plant looks good hell yeah brother
Enjoil
Well-Known Member
You control the plant with your training... don’t be scared, if it breaks tape her up and learn from it. Just top a plant once or twice or you will have crazy plants like these. I like training plants a lot., it. Is one of the most fun things about growing is shaping them!
Enjoil
Well-Known Member
Thi
Think of how you give someone a Indian burn on their wrist. But do it with your fingers, twisting in opposite directions and you will hear a little snap. You can also bend the branches at 90’ angles and kinda supercrop here and there, you don’t have to do it to every branch... I like my stuff uniform.... it will get crazy if I let it go... there are probably videos on YouTube...I never looked but I’m sure you can find plant training tips that cover that.
Just giving you the science - take it for price paid.
Top away its just not what you think it is.
The plant has to grow another apical meristem after you remove her main stem.
"recover" and growing an new meristem are not the same thing.
Here's the thing about "topping"
People that grow cannabis think its some sort of "thing" that is required to grow bigger plants and get a better yield.
Remember yield is biomass/time. Anything you do to lengthen time and/or reduce biomass is reducing yields.
Indoors I will do it occasionally to a VEG plant thats not going into flower this round and I need her to stay shorter. Outdoors a week could be the difference of harvesting when ripe or harvesting when NOT ripe enough. This can happen when the rainy season starts a week or 2 earlier.
Stoneface Jack
Well-Known Member
Biomass does not equal bud. I don't think we're going to agree on this, and I really don't want to argue, so this'll be my last post on this topic.
If you want to give me the science I would really appreciate it. If you could link me the research you used to arrive at your conclusions that would be great.
Peace.
If you want to give me the science I would really appreciate it. If you could link me the research you used to arrive at your conclusions that would be great.
Peace.
