Quote Originally Posted by Help_Needed
I'm not sure I'd agree with this. My clones start out with alternating nodes because they come from a mother that was taken during late flower. I've had no trouble topping them and they seem to grow just like any other plant I've topped. Maybe that's just the strain I'm working with, though.
By the time a mother plant is mature, (5 to 7 internodes, or so) her shoots are in alternating mode. If you top a shoot in alternating mode, it will grow one new shoot from that internode. If you top a young plant with symmetrical internode spacing, you get two shoots. (one from each side of the stem)

Topping a plant with alternating internodes nets you no real gains, and stresses a couple of weeks healing time into the process. Have you tried bending and tying the rooted clones to promote more side branching?