Advice on topping/harvesting technique?

[Fat J]

Hey everybody!

I was wonderin if anybody has any input on a technique a friend recently told me about... They said I should wait till I think they r ready, and chop all the tops and let the canopy ripen for another week.

Normally I wouldnt consider this, but the plants i have this round have some huge main colas and slightly underdeveloped canopy flowers. I'm wondering if anybody uses this method and how well it works...

Heres my canopy im considering for the method(the 2 in the foreground), they are GDP:


Thx in advance for any input.

 

[highonmt]

This technique is pretty common and works well. On some cultivars the tops will ripen much more rapidly and you'll see more benefits from chopping in stages. I like to lower the lights as well to give the little devils as much light as possible. good luck
HM

 

[Fat J]

got some big girls so i cant lower it anymore, lower canopy is about 2-2.5 feet away from the light. Was worried i may shock/hurt my girls if i tried this, thx high

 

[highonmt]

got some big girls so i cant lower it anymore, lower canopy is about 2-2.5 feet away from the light. Was worried i may shock/hurt my girls if i tried this, thx high

Once you harvest the tops I drop my lamp to 18-24" from the plants; if you have a unenclosed hortilux 1k hps 24" is best. Cutting the tops makes the plant think these lower buds are the last hope for the species. You'll notice it in density and resin content of the lower buds. But your at 24-30" now so wont make too big of a difference in this case. Good luck
HM

 

[Fat J]

Thx again man. I also heard of another trick a friend uses, she said the day b4 u harvest, chop off all the fan leaves and shut the lights off for 24 hours then chop - she called it depoing and said it would make them extra gooey n extra purple... U ever heard of this?

 

[highonmt]

Thx again man. I also heard of another trick a friend uses, she said the day b4 u harvest, chop off all the fan leaves and shut the lights off for 24 hours then chop - she called it depoing and said it would make them extra gooey n extra purple... U ever heard of this?

Yes. But I don't strip leaves before the 24hr dark period. I was taught that the nutrients are concentrated in the fan leaves during night and the 24hrs dark in effect is an internal flush of sorts. I just like the way it makes my herb finish. I strip when the lights come on and then chop em up.