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A Complete Guide to Topping, Training and Pruning

M

moses224

Always remeber there are different levels of pruning
Thinning
Light Bending
PRUNING FOR YIELD
Topping
and FIM

FIM for me is pushing the leaves apart at very top of plant you see a small bud (not flowering leaf bud) use nail clippers to pinch / cut 3/4 of the bud......in a single fim clipping i can get eight new colas.

so top
then fuck i missed an your good with bush as sacred as the burning bush a mean green bud making machine...keep a fan on em so they get real solid thick ass stemz

just my 2 cents
 

Kodiak

Mad Scientist
Veteran
Good to hear that you found it helpful, I always try to make the text as comprehensive and linear as possible.

Including a lot of pictures is always a good idea as they speak for themselves and they also make the guide a bit more entertaining.

Good idea to use the nail clipper moses224, probably makes FIM topping a whole lot easier.

Go for it Equilibrium, I am sure that you will find that training adds a whole new aspect to growing, which makes vegging a whole lot more interesting and fun. In the process you will veg them for a longer period of time which means that the plants are strong when they go into flowering and you'll end up with a harvest that you can be really happy with.

The grow will take a bit longer to finish but once all those buds start packing on weight, you'll know where that extra time went.

Happy Growing :smoke:
 

barletta

Bandaid
Veteran
SUPER clean thread, Kodi :D I just got back from a round of 'late flower leaning' :D Took a plant with lots of ~even height tops (and wimpy stems) and bent her down. The weight will take care of the rest!

Supercropping/stem smashing and leaning are lazy means to the same ends. You achieve the same effects (plant shaping/height reduction), but with little effort, and a few days of stunted growth. I'm a lazy shaper, lol. Supercropping and lollypoppin. I did go top a plant nice and clean after reading this thread!
 

magiccannabus

Next Stop: Outer Space!
Veteran
I've always thought that "super cropping" was an absolutely stupid name, but I do use the technique a bit sometimes. Crushing the stems just a tiny bit does really toughen them up, and doesn't slow down growth at all. That's the trick though, you have to know your plant's threshold. There's a fine line between properly roughed up and clearly damaged. If you're breaking stems ever, you're probably being too rough.

Personally I prefer to FIM the plants first, then train the resulting branches. My current grow actually requires a tall plant, so I no longer use either method on the tops, but I still "top" the side nodes, which fills out the plant so much better.
 
C

Cerb

Despite the fact that I understand these techniques well, this is a great thread. I enjoyed reading it and it will definitely help quite a few in need.
 

piosh

Member
Nice thread - good advices well and clearly presented...
one question:
Kodiak what do you think about topping in early flowering stage (2nd week)?
I have plant that is too stretchy and I want to stop it before I cant support it, so do you think its ok to use topping(its already Lsted / trained hard)?

Sry if u already wrote about it and I missed...
 
M

moses224

I would avoid topping anything in flowering. try to train or bend . I have a plant that twines between to others because it xceeded my ht expectations so i put to stakes in container at 45 degree angle and tied tops down they now are between a plant on each side....I wouldnt cut ..... IMO
 

Equilibrium

Member
Good to hear that you found it helpful, I always try to make the text as comprehensive and linear as possible.

Including a lot of pictures is always a good idea as they speak for themselves and they also make the guide a bit more entertaining.

Good idea to use the nail clipper moses224, probably makes FIM topping a whole lot easier.

Go for it Equilibrium, I am sure that you will find that training adds a whole new aspect to growing, which makes vegging a whole lot more interesting and fun. In the process you will veg them for a longer period of time which means that the plants are strong when they go into flowering and you'll end up with a harvest that you can be really happy with.

The grow will take a bit longer to finish but once all those buds start packing on weight, you'll know where that extra time went.

Happy Growing :smoke:


Thanks Kodiak. I appreciate the help. :)
 
M

moses224

I left that out on purpose as I never found any need for the "super cropping" technique. Crushing the stem does not really seem very logical to me as that involves damaging the xylem and phloem that are responsible for transporting water and nutrients along the stem.

It takes the plant some time to heal from this injury and from what I have seen on accidentally damaged stems, the only effect is stunted growth. The breaking point does grow a bit stronger though, like broken bone.

When you combine topping and LST training, there is little need for other methods in my opinion.

I could be wrong but I have found that when the plants are happy campers they also yield the most. The topping and training I put them through provides enough stress for the plants to grow to their full potential.

agree one hundred percent kodiak......
 

Kodiak

Mad Scientist
Veteran
Hi Barletta, thanks for dropping by Bro :D

I agree, it doesn't matter what technique you use if you end up with the same result. That's why I pointed out in my guides that there are many ways of going about it. Everybody has their own style and that's good because then we also learn more.

I agree with moses224, generally you should avoid topping plants in flowering. Try bending the branches over a scrog net instead, that works really well. If you have no choice and the plant is really heavy to begin with, topping a few shoots in early flowering won't really matter that much. It all depends on the shape and size of the plant. Here is an example of a plant that I let go wild as I was away for weeks at the time during the grow. I had to tilt the branches over the scrog net as they were getting very heavy. Perhaps not the best example of a well trained plant but it proves a point.

 

Equilibrium

Member
Kodiak, I have something funny to show you. Thanks to your thread, I discovered that one of my plants topped herself:









She grew a very weird unique leaf when there are two of them normally. I thought whe was going to die since she was not able to keep growing the norwal way, but looks like she found her way out! Now she is an awesome looking plant (well at least I like her!).
 
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