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A Complete Guide to Topping, Training and Pruning
- Thread starter Kodiak
- Start date
Tuggo
Member
Excellent guide Kodiak, quick question regarding pruning. I see pics of plants with multiple
huge colas, and I understand about trimming the bottom part of the plant, but what
about all of the side shoots and side shoots growing off of side shoots? Does trimming
these as well encourage more growth to whatever shoot youre working with? Or will
trimming these side shoots decrease yield and is 4 weeks into flowerer too late to even
worry about it?
huge colas, and I understand about trimming the bottom part of the plant, but what
about all of the side shoots and side shoots growing off of side shoots? Does trimming
these as well encourage more growth to whatever shoot youre working with? Or will
trimming these side shoots decrease yield and is 4 weeks into flowerer too late to even
worry about it?
Hi Tuggo
It all boils down to how much light each node or branch gets. Although the plant usually supplies the topmost buds with most energy, it will also have to distribute it's energy somewhat evenly across the board. You can remove some of the lower shoots on the main branches in order for the plant to concentrate it's energy further up the line.
You could for example remove all the growth from the bottom half of the plant. That way the plant can concentrate more energy to the top half, supplying the buds that receive the most light with enough energy. The buds that are left intact will therefore also mature at a faster rate since the plant directs more energy to these areas.
Think of it this way; the more growth you remove, the more energy becomes available for the rest of the buds. How that affects the yield is difficult to determine since there are so many factors at play here.
My advice is to look at the plant and how she grows, then remove a little bit of growth at the time until you find nothing more to remove. Picture in your mind how the plant will look and carefully select and remove the growth that you think will become energy sinks, which means that they drain more energy than they are worth.
I hope that made sense.
It all boils down to how much light each node or branch gets. Although the plant usually supplies the topmost buds with most energy, it will also have to distribute it's energy somewhat evenly across the board. You can remove some of the lower shoots on the main branches in order for the plant to concentrate it's energy further up the line.
You could for example remove all the growth from the bottom half of the plant. That way the plant can concentrate more energy to the top half, supplying the buds that receive the most light with enough energy. The buds that are left intact will therefore also mature at a faster rate since the plant directs more energy to these areas.
Think of it this way; the more growth you remove, the more energy becomes available for the rest of the buds. How that affects the yield is difficult to determine since there are so many factors at play here.
My advice is to look at the plant and how she grows, then remove a little bit of growth at the time until you find nothing more to remove. Picture in your mind how the plant will look and carefully select and remove the growth that you think will become energy sinks, which means that they drain more energy than they are worth.
I hope that made sense.
orionsbelt
New member
The clearest guide I have read on training, Excellent! By the way did you get to the castle anthrax yet (I'd be stuck there)
G
greenhornets
bump
Thanks everyone, I'm glad that you liked it.
Training sure makes vegging a lot more interesting as there is more to do than usual. You have to give the plants enough time to adjust and grow strong. Patience is a virtue, it's the thing that you need most when dealing with plants.
Happy Growing and Keep It Green
Sure did, those frisky nuns kept me busy for days..
Training sure makes vegging a lot more interesting as there is more to do than usual. You have to give the plants enough time to adjust and grow strong. Patience is a virtue, it's the thing that you need most when dealing with plants.
Happy Growing and Keep It Green
Sure did, those frisky nuns kept me busy for days..
Well done Kodiak, nice name too ;-)
Very nice guide Kodiak......I'm thinking of trying supercropping. I usually don't top my plants but I'm growing some strains that are strechy.......Thanks for the info
For sure
Supercropping or topping and LSTt'ing will keep those stretchy plants under control and make them stronger and bushier as well.
That fat, untopped main cola sure is sweet but in the long run you can probably get more bud by training your plants. It all gets manicured and chopped up in the end anyway, so you might as well give the different techniques a shot. Especially if you have not tried them before.
Like I said in the guide, some plants do not like to be topped but you can still try some of the other techniques in order to increase your harvest. If you are growing the same plants over several grows, you will also learn what works for that particular individual.
This is usually the case with favourites. I keep a couple of mother plants in veg and usually throw a clone or two into the mix when I start new seeds, just to make sure that I at least get some nice back-up bud.
Good luck and have fun
Supercropping or topping and LSTt'ing will keep those stretchy plants under control and make them stronger and bushier as well.
That fat, untopped main cola sure is sweet but in the long run you can probably get more bud by training your plants. It all gets manicured and chopped up in the end anyway, so you might as well give the different techniques a shot. Especially if you have not tried them before.
Like I said in the guide, some plants do not like to be topped but you can still try some of the other techniques in order to increase your harvest. If you are growing the same plants over several grows, you will also learn what works for that particular individual.
This is usually the case with favourites. I keep a couple of mother plants in veg and usually throw a clone or two into the mix when I start new seeds, just to make sure that I at least get some nice back-up bud.
Good luck and have fun
P
PaulaFloraFauna
woo hoo!
Well I supercropped my beautiful female Rez Super Silver Chemdog Haze.....I got 1 more I'm gonna top or supercrop soon......and I definatly wanna supercrop my 2 Krip Chemd x OG(sfv) females soon as I've heard this strain works great supercropped. But I think my first supercropping try has been a success.......at least I hope so as it looks good and I'm sure it will be fine. I don't have much of a choice as I gotta veg these ladys awhile to get a few clones and there already getting huge and I plan to grow them out as I'm only gonna take 2-3 cuts from each plant because I'm gonna repot these into 5 gal pots and flower them out......so I hope that supercropping will keep my trees from goin through the roof because when they go from 2 gal pots to 5 gal there gonna explode......Good luck guys
Sounds good kindbud, you have some really refined genetics there.
Yeah, I think it's wise to just test the technique on a few branches first and see how it goes.
Since you have to keep them in veg for a while you might as well train them. Remember that you can have several different approaches. If supercropping still gives you too stretchy plants, you can top or LST them for further control or even scrog them.
Sometimes you have to plan ahead. Say if you have a really stretchy plant with long internodes. My Kali Mist responds very poorly to topping so I have to encourage it to grow into a bush by topping and training the bottom half of the plant, while allowing the rest of the plant to shoot for the sky. When the lower branches are large enough, I top the main stem.
You can be fairly creative when training your plants, they will always find their way into the light.
Happy Growing
Yeah, I think it's wise to just test the technique on a few branches first and see how it goes.
Since you have to keep them in veg for a while you might as well train them. Remember that you can have several different approaches. If supercropping still gives you too stretchy plants, you can top or LST them for further control or even scrog them.
Sometimes you have to plan ahead. Say if you have a really stretchy plant with long internodes. My Kali Mist responds very poorly to topping so I have to encourage it to grow into a bush by topping and training the bottom half of the plant, while allowing the rest of the plant to shoot for the sky. When the lower branches are large enough, I top the main stem.
You can be fairly creative when training your plants, they will always find their way into the light.
Happy Growing
excellent tutorial kodiak. definitely one of those to save for future reference. one personnel recommendation- after supercropping, i use 1/2" nylon tape to hold the branch or top where i want it. the nice thing with tape is you can tape a branch down to a fan leaf stem, the side of the pot, anywhere. tape also easier to use for LST than string (imo). and if you work in the medical field ya have access to unlimited supply.
I
itsus
i gotta quick one....i've checked this thread out for a while, mostly on lst. what i wanna know is how many tops is too many tops? if your growing a closely noded strain, say...shark shock, and each branch, say 8, each have 8 growing tips, let alone branches. should you flower all 50-60 potential sites, or prune to the 20 or so tips? outdoors i'd say fuck it and leave her alone, but how many tops should one have per square foot or square six inches? how much wider can one expect any given plant to grow when flowered? not new to the game, but don't want to lose it either!
It all depends on how many plants you are growing, what light you are using, how large your grow area is and how the plants respond to training.
As you already know, the idea is to create a plant that produces the maximum amount of bud in the shortest amount of time.
It's hard to give an exact number but let's say two large colas per square foot.
Generally I would advice that you select a number of strong tops and remove the rest and anything that looks like it will consume more energy than its worth. Topping the plant numerous times might also become counterproductive at some point. If you top the plant too many times you will get a lot of budding shoots but they will also be quite small in size and grow slowly because the plant has spread it's energy somewhat evenly across the board. Ten tops will grow larger and finish faster than twenty. It all boils down to the energy need of the plant and how you want it to distribute that energy.
Training can also influence the flowering time by several weeks, depending on the shape of the plant.
Topped plants will not necessarily grow much wider if they are trained properly. You are just helping them to fill out the empty space in between.
The longer you veg the plant, the stronger it grows. So if you veg and LST your plants for several months in very large pots, they will also be able to adequately maintain a greater number of shoots.
You will have to put the plant into flowering in order for the most productive tops and branches to reveal themselves. You will also have to identify the growth that will become energy sinks. Any growth that you remove corresponds to a certain amount of energy that is lost. In order to minimize the loss, it's best to remove the less productive growth as soon as it is recognized.
What you really are looking for here is the middle road, or the perfect balance between the number of tops and yield.
As you already know, the idea is to create a plant that produces the maximum amount of bud in the shortest amount of time.
It's hard to give an exact number but let's say two large colas per square foot.
Generally I would advice that you select a number of strong tops and remove the rest and anything that looks like it will consume more energy than its worth. Topping the plant numerous times might also become counterproductive at some point. If you top the plant too many times you will get a lot of budding shoots but they will also be quite small in size and grow slowly because the plant has spread it's energy somewhat evenly across the board. Ten tops will grow larger and finish faster than twenty. It all boils down to the energy need of the plant and how you want it to distribute that energy.
Training can also influence the flowering time by several weeks, depending on the shape of the plant.
Topped plants will not necessarily grow much wider if they are trained properly. You are just helping them to fill out the empty space in between.
The longer you veg the plant, the stronger it grows. So if you veg and LST your plants for several months in very large pots, they will also be able to adequately maintain a greater number of shoots.
You will have to put the plant into flowering in order for the most productive tops and branches to reveal themselves. You will also have to identify the growth that will become energy sinks. Any growth that you remove corresponds to a certain amount of energy that is lost. In order to minimize the loss, it's best to remove the less productive growth as soon as it is recognized.
What you really are looking for here is the middle road, or the perfect balance between the number of tops and yield.
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