Topping troubles...

[Abattoir Dream]

right, so about 4 or 5 days ago i topped two plants of two different strains, and they quickly showed signs of growth... heres a few 'day 1' pics;

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Abattoir Dream Reviewed by Abattoir Dream on 11-01-2006. Topping troubles... right, so about 4 or 5 days ago i topped two plants of two different strains, and they quickly showed signs of growth... heres a few 'day 1' pics; Rating: 5

[Abattoir Dream]

As you can see they are both Hybrids, the taller, brighter plant is more Sativa, and the stumpy darker coloured one is more Indica, the following pic is of the Sativa dominant plant at day 2;

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[Abattoir Dream]

Day 3: some of the pics are good and some are bad, thats life, really starting to grow now;

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[Abattoir Dream]

Day 4: Lots of improvement since day 1 thats for sure, now they are this size they should be fine, here are the pics...

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i have no idea why its done that /\
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[Abattoir Dream]

so, thats the topping part over, but where was the trouble? well, it was there all along lol, the Sativa dominant plant was topped on the 5th - 6th node, whereas the Indica dominant plant was topped on the 4th - 5th internode, now, they both grew at the same rate, in the same conditions, but eversince day one the sativa plant's stem has been turning red from the 4th node upwards, and has become very springy, whereas the Indica plant has kept its stem rigid and green, i'm not sure if the plant is stressed or if its just storing certain hormones, one thing is for sure, it wasnt too happy about being topped at the 5th - 6th node.

This brought me to the conclusion its better to top a plant at the 4th-5th node, now im glad i know, as ive seen and heard people topping at all sorts of places.

I was wondering if anyone knows WHY a plant would do this and whether its a bad thing or not, heres a couple pics, tell me what you think...

See what i mean in this pic..
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Its so springy and bendy....
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.....I can do this...
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Both plants together:
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[CanGro]

Why do people insist on toping plants so early. Topping a plant should be done just as flowering starts, so then the plant thinks its being eaten by bugs and decideds to grow harder.

[Abattoir Dream]

well, no, essentially thats not what topping does, when you top a plant you are cutting the main stalk so it cannot grow again, that way the plant puts in more energy to growing the small branches that produce buds, they then grow thicker and stronger and grow much bigger than usuall, also topping is used to make plants easier to hide, and the lower you top, the lower the plant, so topping at early vegetation stage is often done for a good reason, unfortunately the internet holds little information on topping, so its hard to understand whats happening until you do it yourself, anyway thanx for the reply lol

[Abattoir Dream]

DOES ANYONE KNOW WHY MY PLANT IS GOING RED?!?!?!?!

[InsomniaBomber420]

OK I no I sound like a total re-re asking this but what is toping??? Help me out please

[Abattoir Dream]

lol thats alrite im glad u asked, topping is basically a technique used to make a plant shorter and bushier than it would have been before, it also increases yeild, which is always a good thing. now i will try to explain how it does it...

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When you normally grow a cannabis plant there is one main stem, (C. in above pic) which houses the main cola (A. in above pic) the main cola is like the brain for the plant, and basically tells the rest of the plant how to grow, by removing this, everything runs on its own clock, and grows as it wants, when you cut the top off the plant cannot continue growing the main stem, instead the growth on the nodes (B. in above pic) receives all the plants energy and begin to grow at a much higher rate, the reason you want these branches to grow more is because these are the branches that produce buds, some say removing the main cola is a stupid idea, and that it has the 'best smoke on the whole plant' - this is not true, the main cola is more dense, but not necesserily (-excuse the spelling) any more potent, topping is just another method used to get a bigger yeild, and i can see why, another thing you might want to find out about is LST i think its something like low stress training but im not sure... anyway hope that helps...