[plantingplants]

If all other variables are mostly equal, how can a big plant only yield two lbs and get outyielded by a small plant? Is it just number of tops? How do you make a big plant that has fewer tops create more through lst like pulling through a trellis?

I have some plants that get bushy with short internodal space, and some plants that get tall and lanky. I kinda just let nature do its thing but pull beqnches sideways through trellis but idk what else to do. Really i am stumped in general on the topic and i feel like my yield suffers because my lack of knowledge..

Any help is greatly appreciated!

[Ibechillin]

Number of tops/bud sites and removal of shaded inner nodes seem to be the main correlation in reference to yield from what ive gathered.

Originally Posted by Shcrews

I usually wait to do any pruning until the plants are well-established in their final homes. This year we did the first round of pruning about a month ago, at the beginning of june, about 3 months after germination and 1 month after transplanting. They will need it again sometime this month, and possibly once more as they enter flowering.

We do a pretty extensive pruning of all the inner branches and growth tips, even small ones. Not the fan-leaves though. Tom Hill called this the "pistil-whip" technique. Some strains require more aggressive pruning while some require very little. The goal is to clean out all the growth that will not receive light, or cannot support itself.

It's kind of strain dependent but usually each main branch gets the first 3-4 shoots pruned off... more on the lowers and less on the middle branches. the top of the plant stays untouched always, pretty much.

[plantingplants]

Thanks IBC. I had been following shcrews' advice of not topping but i think that works for him because he gets such great growth and his plants just fill out. i definitely have some plants with a lot of height but not many tops. Is it too late to top?

[steasy88]

I think u could pinch the top head and it should let the side branches catch up with the top and bush out for you plus u get to keep the main cola as well not to Sure if u can still do it but if u have at least 3 weeks of veg left before the turn its do able all the best on it

[gorilla ganja]

Top the tallest shoots, supper crop,FIM, lst the top it all has the same effect.
Fools the plant into producing side branches instead of growing taller.

My favorite is lst. Simply bending the main top, or any branch that grows taller than the others down lower than the other tops. secure in place and watch side branches take off.

In the following pics I tied down the top for 2 weeks then went back and released it to grow natural. It is very low stress. And you can see the difference in branches in only 2 weeks.





To answer your question. It all boils down to bud sites. A "small plant" that is shorter but has twice the bud sites or nodes than a "large" taller plant will produce more in the end.
Hope this helps.

Peace GG

[Zarezhu]

Its quite simple really. It's not height that determines plant yield, but surface area of the canopy. If you have a short, but wide and bushy DOME shaped plant, your sq. ft of canopy recieving sunlight will be higher than simply a tall plant with major colas. You need to encourage the dome shape, as thesun is not a fixed light, and it moves in a 180 around the plant throughout the day.

[Ibechillin]

Planting in huge 1000 gallon mounds really lets the plant fill out on its own, i remember him saying the mounds were 10-12ft in diameter lol.

Heres an example on topping and time to recover from my blue cheese plant. Notice how open it is before.

Day 49 end week 7.
I topped all the main branch tops.

Front


Back


Front 10 days later, day 59


Back 14 days later, day 63


I plan on doing another round of topping this sunday 3 weeks after the first round. Then the plant will have about another 3 weeks to grow more side branches before stretch begins.

[steasy88]

Wow that is a big plant don't think I could hide that monster in my back garden have to keep them small how many time can u top a plant before it start to affect the quality of the nuggets or can u just keep topping to have multiple heads

[Ibechillin]

I dont think topping affects quality at all, just creates multiple smaller colas where you would of had one larger cola.

Throughout veg you can top quite often to keep creating more and more tops. I feel like the key to it is letting the new side branches fill in for 2 to 3 weeks before topping again so they have a chance to get some girth to them. You dont want a bunch of spindly side branches and spindly tops.

[plantingplants]

Thank you guys.

IBC, those photos help a lot-- i have a number of plants like that first photo. Some of my HSO Green Crack like to do that.

So it's tops. I need tops. This is simple.