Topping

[McBudz]

Another topping thread for those you are wondering what is topping, how do I do it, and what is the benefit?


Here is an example of my plant that was topped a few days before the picture was taken:

The "red arrow" is where I cut/topped the plant.

The "green arrows" (kind of hard to see) is where the new tops started to grow.

Looking at one of the new tops "red line" and "blue arrows" I'll show you where to cut to acheive these results.

The "red line" is where you will cut the top off. The "blue arrows" represent the new tops that will grow out as a result of the top. Be careful not to cut these when topping.

In a couple of weeks the plant will look like a nice sling shot like this:

This plant if it ends up being fem will have 2 evenly sized colas at the top. Topping redirects growth to all the remaining tips. The next 2 furthest down from the top grow the quickest but it also causes most of the growth tips along the stem to speed up.

When cutting make sure to use a sterile instrument. Rubbing Alcohol and flame will do the trick. Wait for the instrument to cool if using flame before cutting. And don't burn yourself.

You can top more than once and you can top just about any growth tip but this will slow down vegatative vertical growth if you go crazy with it. For some this is desirable. Topping can increase your main cola from 1 to 4 or more colas if done right.

 

[Ms.Fox]

This was very helpful for me! Good post!

 

[sandman4090]

Yea I would like to do some topping as well, but how can I determine when to begin to topp the plants. Thanks.

 

[McBudz]

Yea I would like to do some topping as well, but how can I determine when to begin to topp the plants. Thanks.

Wait for about 4 or 5 full nodes of growth. make sure the plant is in good overall health before topping or topping could stress the plant further if it is week.

 

[happiehippie]

great info man...goop it coming. This is the kind of info that is needed around here with the pics you have ....thanks for the good pics.

 

[growrilla]

Good post. I need a bit more info if you could....................

Why are you ripping part of your plant off? what benifits do you get from topping that you dont get from bending the top down. Im just confused i think. over that last 5 months ive seen hollands hope, 2 phenos of ak 47 our personal cross of skunk#1 x nl and several bag seeds. with all of these strains and everything else ive ever grown topping means...........you just lost your main cola. bend it and you KEEP the main cola but still have the same effects. can anyone help me understand the value of topping your plant? all the info i can find says it does the same thing as bending you just screwing yourself out of the best bud...

 

[McBudz]

Good post. I need a bit more info if you could....................

Why are you ripping part of your plant off? what benifits do you get from topping that you dont get from bending the top down. Im just confused i think. over that last 5 months ive seen hollands hope, 2 phenos of ak 47 our personal cross of skunk#1 x nl and several bag seeds. with all of these strains and everything else ive ever grown topping means...........you just lost your main cola. bend it and you KEEP the main cola but still have the same effects. can anyone help me understand the value of topping your plant? all the info i can find says it does the same thing as bending you just screwing yourself out of the best bud...

I see where your thinking is but its not removing the main cola, especially when you are doing this early on in the veg process. I sure as hell would not do this flowering. You can actually create 2 main colas per plant and even more by topping again and with the proper training (bending). When you top the plant redirects its energy into creating to the next 2 growths down the main stem. You end up with more colas that are stronger. I will take a pic of the plant that is in the above picture (which is currently at day 40 of flowering. The result ended up being a Y split in the main trunk with 2 equally thick main trunks (colas) growing out from there. I could have topped those and ended up with 4 main colas and as a result every other branch grows out even stronger. The end result is a very bushy plant with lots of colas and bud sites. I did not top my first grow and did top my second and I can tell you already I am very happy I did. I just started topping some of my clones and think I may go with a second pass of tops in a few weeks to make some crazy bushy plants.

 

[McBudz]

OK here are the followup pics. First set are from the actual plant above.

Here is where the plant was topped 1.5 months ago. You can see the Y. Notice how thick each side of the Y is? Those are 2 colas that would have been as large as just 1 cola had I not topped.

You can also notice how thick the other branches are from below that point.

Now here is the canopy of the same plant. Lots of nice colas ey?

Here is the Y of another plant that I actually topped early than the above plant:

I trained the canopy slightly different on this on. I wanted the main colas on their sides once they stopped stretching so the bud sites would grow perpendicular to the stem. I like the results but not as cool as seeing a bunch of spires coming off the plant.

Not as pretty but there are a bunch of fat ass buds on this gal.

Hope this helps and convinces anyone who can't bring themselves to cut the top of their plant off that it is ok and well worth it. I wasn't so convinced either at first.

 

[chaosridden]

what if you want to go to 12/12 asap after topping? how long to wait?

 

[Racefan]

OK here are the followup pics. First set are from the actual plant above.

Here is where the plant was topped 1.5 months ago. You can see the Y. Notice how thick each side of the Y is? Those are 2 colas that would have been as large as just 1 cola had I not topped.

You can also notice how thick the other branches are from below that point.

Now here is the canopy of the same plant. Lots of nice colas ey?

Here is the Y of another plant that I actually topped early than the above plant:

I trained the canopy slightly different on this on. I wanted the main colas on their sides once they stopped stretching so the bud sites would grow perpendicular to the stem. I like the results but not as cool as seeing a bunch of spires coming off the plant.

Not as pretty but there are a bunch of fat ass buds on this gal.

Hope this helps and convinces anyone who can't bring themselves to cut the top of their plant off that it is ok and well worth it. I wasn't so convinced either at first.

Actually your reasonong is flawed. A plant can only promote so much bud mass period. topping will not increase that mass. By topping you "split" the energy from one to two.
And topping creates a huge amount of stress. bending the top over provides the same exact results with little to no stress. After all, the desired effect is to redirect the growth or flower hormones to branches lower than the top which is what happenes when you remove the top or bend it over.
Nice looking pictures though.

 

[McBudz]

Actually your reasonong is flawed. A plant can only promote so much bud mass period. topping will not increase that mass. By topping you "split" the energy from one to two.
And topping creates a huge amount of stress. bending the top over provides the same exact results with little to no stress. After all, the desired effect is to redirect the growth or flower hormones to branches lower than the top which is what happenes when you remove the top or bend it over.
Nice looking pictures though.

I seem to see faster side growth from topping then when LST'ing or bending over. I understand you may not get more of an overall yield but the density of the bud seems to be more uniform throughout the plant. Rather than having a massive cola and fluffy side and bottom buds. Thank you for your insight Racefan. Its much appreciated.

 

[stratlogic]

Very nice pics McBudz. Excellent quality and very contributory to your point. I think I am going to have to try this on my next ScrOG grow. It sounds like the plant might be easier to manage under a screen during the stretching phase bcause the main stem just never wants to stop growing at times. Either that or double my problem haha. It took me a bit of courage to just prune my plant, but I was glad I did afterwards. Similar to how you felt with topping. Thanks for the great info.
+reps

 

[Bee23]

Are there any youtube vid's of this?

 

[McBudz]

Are there any youtube vid's of this?

haven't looked. What do you need to see?

 

[Wogs]

Very Interesting topic.
Cheers
Wogs

 

[bige1511]

What do you need to see?

what kind of light u got above those massive collas

 

[McBudz]

what kind of light u got above those massive collas

2 x 600 watt Eye Hortilux Super HPS

 

[happiehippie]

nice job man. Im doing two 5 gal bucket grows myself. What do you have those babys in and what nutes you got going man. Nice pic and keep the updates comming. PEACE

LETS SMOKE......

 

[happiehippie]

you sold me one the topping deal....im going to this bucket grow this way....thanks man.

 

[McBudz]

Check the grow out in my signature for updates