Topping vs Not Topping

[dylan]

i beg to differ, but it does depend on the type of plant. some will naturally grow branches and others are more resistant, so it can increse the yield. also, topping is better outdoors than indoors because the sum light will reach the bottom of the plant much better than HID lights. i easly get colas 10-15" long on plants topped several times. indoor, however, the buds do get quite smaller when topped, but most states punish growers for the amount of plants rather than the amount of weight, so a few plants topped could fill the same amount of space as many more plants grown S.O.G method, thus giving the grower less jail time in the worst case situation. moreover, larger buds are more susceptible to mold, and are usually cut into smaller buds to cure any way.

[kuri]

interesting conversations here. yes i as well have smaller buds in my big baby. but the ones on top are very nice and plump and starting to get that glistening look to them. i'm thinking of flushing for a week, then harvest the good size ones AND the ones with good pistil color change (don't have 30X microscope to see cloudiness) and then let the rest try to fill in and finish the flush. i'm going to try a top off on my next grow so i can have first hand experience.

[del...]

topping/pinching is a good thing but it must be done early or well before flowering...preferably early.
i top once (and only once) at the 3rd or 4th node then veg for another 6 weeks minimum before flowering begins.

[PartypokerPlayer]

thanks for all your opinions guys...alotta good converstation and different views from different growers...does anyone have a decent pic of a plant that HAS NOT been toped and is close to harvest ?....thanks for participating all

[newgroweroldsmoker]

in this picture ,even though it is low quality, i drawed with the red line the two diggerent plants i have that are going to be harvested within 10 days.....the one on the left was LST only once, from one side so as to reduce the height....then it was released after being tied down for almost two weeks.....the other plant on the right is the one that had broken stem and recovered....big colas are great , oh well, even a large number of small buds makes me happy....same strain different height and same yield more or less

[phillykid420]

It depends. Sog is high yielding and you don't top at all, Scrog is also high yielding and you usually have to top it quite a bit. The end goal is just getting more budsites in an even canopy so they get more light. It also depends on light setup, a vertical setup and horizontal setup throw light differently.

Training, topping, sog, scrog, pruning are all just different techniques to direct the plants energy into making an appropriate canopy to make the best use of your light setup. Coli's are freakin cool.