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Topping Uncle Ben's style

R

Ratzilla

Member
Veteran
In order to learn more about my plants I topped every one that i have in veg.
24 to be exact.
All grown out to the 5th and 6th node then taken back to the 2nd.
This is how Uncle Ben suggests. Pretty radical Huh?
I did 4 plants on the 14th and then 5 days later did the other 20.
4 plants are 5 days older then the 20 which are 20 days old.
The ones topped on the 14th are looking quite nice with 4 growing tops on each plant.
Looking to up my yield i am.
I have been growing my own strain for 5 -6 years now and I have given them a topping a few time but never this drastic and thought that this strain of mine did not take to toppings well.
I think my mind is changing on my Skunk A Rella responding well to this practice.
My Skunk A Rella is a red hair skunk X Cinderella 99.
I have self her 4-5 times and she has morph into a purplish sticky beauty that i truly admire.
You see after growing the same plant over and over one becomes somewhat bored and i find myself trying different things to see what i can see.
Last grow it was all about foliars with fish emulsion early when they were starting there 4th node.
Plants grew huge spacing between nodes and got to big to early for my liking but learning this helps me be a better caretaker.
This grow i decided to go the other way going for short and squat with many growing Leads. My plants are 20 days from seed and looking happy ,happy ,happy.
By the way i am doing some foliars with fish emulsion @1tbl/gal.
Ratz :tiphat:
 
C

CosmicGiggle

Well-known member
Moderator
Veteran
wow, Uncle Ben, haven't heard that name in a good while, lol.:bigeye:

..... as I recall, the purpose of topping UB style was to produce an even canopy, is this what yer going for here?
 
C

CosmicGiggle

Well-known member
Moderator
Veteran
Ratzilla said:
My main purpose is more growing lead's.
Ratz :tiphat:
Click to expand...

OK, makes sense, you prolly have already considered this but with more growing heads yer gonna want to up-pot to an even larger container than normal to accommodate the larger root structure needed to feed those extra colas.

Good luck with a very interesting project Ratz, I'll be following along!:tiphat:
 
therevverend

therevverend

Well-known member
Veteran
Wow I've done plenty of topping indoors but never that crazy. Too bad you couldn't do a couple controls, topped like you normally do and not topped at all. Probably not a good idea considering you want an even canopy but sometimes you can sneak a taller plant in on the outside of the patch.
 
B

Breadwizard

Active member
I top this drastically, going for manifold style. Top once they hit six nodes, all the way down to the second, then top the ends as soon as possible without damaging anything, for 4 tops.

It's really out of necessity though, as I have horizontal space, but not really much vertical.
 
trichrider

trichrider

Kiss My Ring
Veteran
i believe i'll try this soon.
interesting.
pumpkin growers suggest snipping all secondary trailers to the first leader to increase size. they also suggest burying the leader behind the fruit for more roots, and some even inject sugarwater into the vine to augment natural sugars.
it's pretty simple to get four colas by topping but i've never done it this radically.
good luck ratzilla
 
R

Ratzilla

Member
Veteran
I got some pure protein fish powder[amino acids] and foliar some at lights out yesterday and see no immediate results.
Will do this again in 7 days or so.
I have been spreading the plants tops to open them up for more growth.
I suspect that my vegetative time will be increased much. lol
I have always thought that my plants from seed was somewhat immature when flipped to flower because of height restrictions this should take care of that.
so much more to learn/
Two of the first four plants that were topped twice are looking spectacular with 6 or more tops.
I don't think that i will do a 2nd topping on the 20 plants that are following.
I must admit that this drastic of a topping does slow things down considerably but i am sure that it will be made up for in yield in the end.
Ratz on a learning curve.
Ratz :tiphat:
 
R

Ratzilla

Member
Veteran
I could not help myself and did a second topping on the 20 plants.
The first four that I topped a 2nd time look so good that i just had to do it.I shake a lot so ha ha ha
These plants are in 6 inch sq pots that hold about 2/3 of a gall.
Hope that i wont see a root binding problem what with all the roots i'am growing. lol
Once sexed they will go into 10 in.sq. about 3 gallon pots for flowering.
I only have room to flower out 10 plants
I do have my eye on some bigger pots for the future.
Even though i just started i am sure i can say
no more Christmas trees for me from now on bushes.
I can see 6-8 growing tops on the first four that had it's 2nd topping 8 days ago.
Now to get them 20-24 inches tall.
I know i'll run out of room so maybe less plant count in the future.
Ratz :tiphat:
 
R

Ratzilla

Member
Veteran
Yesterday after a 2nd topping i made up a nice top dressing.
Here is what i laid over the pine bark nuggets.
Equal parts of 1/2 cup
Worm castings, Ancient forest humus. chicken manure and cow manure,
I add these things for the microbe that each bring.
To that I add still in 1/2 cup measurements Alfalfa meal,Kelp meal,10-2-1 bat and a complete fertilizer of Agricola's best 4-3-4 most of this is for the organic matters they bring you see my medium is JUST loaded with macro life, mostly spring tails who I consider my little helpers.I consider this organic matter as a food source
Over 70% of what this life eats come back as things ready for immediate take up.
All ready the second twenty plants are showing branching and spreading that i am looking for.
It's usually at this point i need to remember not to give my plants to much love.
lol
We all been there.
I keep reminding myself that the plants are in charge but I need to set the stage properly now to leave them be on there own for awhile.
Ratz :tiphat:
 
R

Ratzilla

Member
Veteran
So it's been 19 days since i did the last topping and i am having some mix feelings about topping.
I am now @ day 44 of vegetative and of 24 plants 4 are short around 12-14 inches the rest are almost double coming in @ 24-20 in.
For certain i have filled these 6 in sq pots with many roots i feel this when i stick a moisture meter in the pots.
Another clue that my pots are getting root bound is they are needing water much sooner in their watering cycle.
Another negative in this kind of growing is i have not found even 1 pre-flower ,not 1 lady and i usually have them sex by now.
I am looking for 10 ladies out of these 24 plants.
Being i have OCD ( obsessive compulsive disorder) bad coupled with a lack of patients i went and flip them so i can get find 10 ladies.
They will suffer if not transplanting soon.
I mean this experiment of many tops is to see if i can up my harvest weight.
I mean most all plants have 6-8 tops.
MY little closet is quite full.
I will see if these many tops while some what smaller then my Christmas tree style of growing will out produce my donkey dick size colas.
Ratz giving a update. :tiphat:
 
R

Ratzilla

Member
Veteran
UPDATE
It was not until day 6 of flowering that i was able to get them sexed and transplanted.
I went from liking this topping style to hating it.
With my style of growing,from seed to vegging in small pots to sexing then into bigger pots it is NOT good!
The plants got badly root bound in the 6 inch squares 2/3 gall and the topping twice @ day 19 and then again @ day 25 i believe put much stress on the plants in that i only found 7 females out of 24.
I am of the opinion that stressing the plants in the second to third week is most crucial in the determination of the sex of the seedling.
When trying to sex these root bound plants they would fall completely over thinking that this was something on the potassium side, that K was not being taken up.
I read that in (teaming with nutrients) lol or i am just intuitive enough to think root bound plants falling completely over when being moved about is a K thing.
You know i been in this space doing this for 14+ years and this was the very first time i felt failure yea i almost aborted 2.5 months and wanted to start over.
But after staking them i manage to find but 7 females plants and after but 1 day of getting these plants into 10 inch squares 3 gall. these 7 are looking somewhat better.
I wanted to try new things and i think experience is the key to learning but maybe just maybe staying to the path that one knows is more comfortable.
I am now glad that i powered through this and did not abort this grow.
Now i am rambling.
Ratz :tiphat:
 
h.h.

h.h.

Active member
Veteran
If I top, I do it after transplant.
It sets them back for a longer veg time.
The main reason is to increase light canopy and to keep plants at a manageable height.
More stealth outside.
Otherwise I wouldn’t.
picture.php
 
R

Ratzilla

Member
Veteran
Fred Sanford said:
Really interesting Ratz, would you share some pics of your project? Thanks mate!:tiphat:
Click to expand...

Sorry no pics allowed by wifey a deal i made with her long time ago.
Ratz :tiphat:

I am thinking if one was to do this it would most definitely be better with clones so you could transplant before they became root bound.
Ratz :tiphat:
 
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