TOPPING - vs - LST

[Opie Yutts]

I think it applies to your situation. If you ScroG, topping would be the best option... If you don't ScroG but you still want short plants because of height restrictions, LST is the best option.

This is a good point.

Also, I have done both, and as far as I can tell they produce about the same results. So, if I need to bend a plant (I SCROG), then I bend it. If I want a plant to bush out more, I cut the top off, and do it perhaps 1 or two more times.

[Opie Yutts]

aaaa i just found out that you should never top a plant before flowering. Neither do both methods on the same grow on the same plant.. it stresses it to much and dies :S

Then you just found out incorrectly, because I have topped and LSTed the same plant many times in the past, sometimes more than once, and they never died. You had better learn to avoid reading one post that gives you the answer you want, and taking that as golden. There are many ways of doing things, and it is best to read many posts on a particular subject, then try some experimenting for yourself. If you don't try stuff yourself you will never no for sure. Just because one weed grower says something, that doesn't mean that it is true.

And don't you mean that you should never top a plant after flowering? When else would you do it, if not before flowering? I can't say for sure because I've never tried it, but it seems like topping after would greatly decrease yield.

[Opie Yutts]

I just had a thought:

Isn't using a screen esentially the same as LST? I mean, I look at blizma's pictures above, of him pulling the branches and stems out away from the main stem. Seems like he's spreading the plant out, instead of having it grow straight up, and I thought, hey, that's just what I'm doing with my screen.

Anyone?

[BlueBear]

One other thing to consider whenever doing either method is that more veg time is needed so that the plant can recover from topping and extreme bending for LST. Also as another person pointed out some strains react best to different things. I have a friend that was topping his plants for a few grows and the plants got real bushy, but when he tried a grow without topping he got a better yield without such a long veg time.
Another technique that I am going to try in a few weeks is super cropping so I can veg out some seeds in order to get them old enough to throw off some mature clones, this is where you take the mane stem and crush it between your fingers until you hear a slight crunch and then turn the plant in a almost 360 twist. I know it sounds cruel, but people have had some pretty good results doing it. You can do this in a few areas along the stem. This will cause the plant to react by pumping extra nutrients threw the stem in order to repair the damaged areas providing more uptake to the plant and while doing this the stem can almost increase its thickness by 50%. The plant also seems to stop it's vertical growth while this repair is taking place and send more nutrients to the branches resulting in a shorter and bushier plant and for me this is what I want as I select a couple mother plants. Like all the different methods, some swear by it, and they combined it with LSTing sometimes.
Hope that this helps some
Adieu

[blizma]

BlueBear that sounds very good idea. But i wont risk it
Im sure the stem would thicken up alot, but risky. If the plant is a bit week then i think it would be a failure. Find out for yourself and post us results

Opie Yutts I cant answere your question about screening because i have not researched that at all. Would you post a definition for us? Thanks.

Yabatab thanks for the pics update looking good good luck and hoping to see more pictures
LST : 11
yabatab
UnitedParcelSecrets
Pothead4204life
MeatRulez
jamstigator
greenmonster
smokinbass
slowthestone
postmandave
smokey mcpot 05
BlueBear

TOPPING : 4
yabatab
mscaboo
jamstigator
postmandave

[slowthestone]

How bushy and short do ya want it?

[attachment=o80305]

[smoky mcpot 05]

supercropping is dangerous if you don't already know that strain will supercrop and thrive. Sometimes it works and increases yield but then some strains don't like it at all and never recover. and opie yutts is correct. You will find in this community (not cannabis.com but the whole cannabis growing community) the longer you're around the more you will see statements from 'growing authorites' that totally contradict themselves. Sometimes even by the same people. The only way to truely know is to grow. See for yourself, who is just talking shit. If it sounds to good to be true, it usually is. If it seems plausible than it usually is, the more you understand how plants work. The easier it will be to disern these truths and un-truths. Best of luck my friend. Be careful.

[slowthestone]

Thats sage there mcpot...

Unless two people have the same grow environment...the same nutes...identical feeding schedules...most importantly, the same strain from the same mother...results will always vary.

Learn by paying attention to your grow. I may say such and such worked great...but thats here in my grow environment...what does and can occur in anyone else's environment is up to the grower to determine.

[blizma]

slowthestone - your correct It all depends on the grow room + strain. each strain + grow room is different in many criterias.

[Opie Yutts]

Opie Yutts I cant answere your question about screening because i have not researched that at all. Would you post a definition for us? Thanks.

Search scrog.

You put a screen over your plants and let them spread out under it instead of growing straight up. Seems pretty much like LST to me, but easier.