Clone

Yup, i top to get more shoots. more shoots definately increases yeild.

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Trancerdancer33

Nope "stem bending" is supercropping which many also refer to as pinching the stem because you just pinch and crush the stem a bit to force the plant to grow it back a little stronger. It also allows side branches to catch up.

FIMing is very similar to topping, except you make your cut right where the new growth is coming out... probably need a picture to really get the idea. This causes several new shoots to grow out (4+) but takes more time to recover from than your average topping.

You apparently have a different pinching technique...

Many ways to train the plant. Yup.

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mattdreads

indeed there are.

knuckleup378

can someone post a pic showing what the best age to top at looks like
thanks

also i think im gonna tie her down shes about a ft im gonna wait a nother week and half see how she looks and then most likely tie her down

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Clone

This is what i've been talking about.. the circled spot is where the plant was topped. As you can see, the result is 2 shoots of equal height instead of 1.

Attached Thumbnails

 

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shrubz

I tend to disagree that more shoots equate to more bud. but, more shoots might be better, reason being, outdoors because they arent as prone to rot because they dry out faster after rains and morning dew and what not. all of the energy goes to one main cola or a bunch of smaller ones, same yeild give or take. maybe even less by topping because it stresses plants and slows growth down

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Clone

I think that with more shoots, you have more bud sites exposed to direct sunlight, which results with more power put to flower. If there is 1 main cola at the top, the bud sites below it are shadowed and develope poorly. It doesnt matter if you top or tie down to get these extra shoots.. the point is to get as many shoots at the same top height as possible.

With outdoor plants over 2 feet, when topped the plants are not stressed, the energy is just diverted to lower growth points... which is what you are trying to accomplish in the first place.

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ILLEGAL-SEED

age dont matter, you should wait until its grown atleast 3 sets of leaves. or 3 nodes. it could be a week and a half it could be 3 weeks. just dont do it before its 3rd node, and dont cut/bend every new growth at once. except for the first time when the only new growth is on one stem.

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shrubz

It kinda looks like you hacked a leaf branch off in that picture. arnold layne posted a very fine example of what topping can do in the outdoor thread. he also must be feeding those right. sure it can make a plant bush out alot more. I'm still not convinced that it equates to higher yeild. all of those other sites are taking energy from the overall plant. plenty of branches get shadowed on a bushy plant yet they continue to branch more and more and then bud like crazy. it has nothing to do with being shadowed

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buzzmobile

I top and prune my plants to train them. I think equating cutting oneself with a razor to topping a plant is a mistaken conception of biological processes. Plants are remarkably well equipped to deal with wounds through a process called compartmentalization. Healthy plants will suffer no ill effects from topping. Arguing about which method is the better or best of all the rest is laughable. Start your own "pinching" thread, mattdreads, and demonstrate what you are suggesting.

Topping can be started as early as the second node on a seedling. I prefer to top seedlings above the fifth node. As long as the seedlings have opposite branch arrangement topping will give two new grow tips to replace the one removed. Topping turns into pruning after the branches begin to alternate. Pruning removes vegetative growth above a node that grows outward from the center of the plant. The node that remains after the pruning will then sprout laterally away from the center of the plant and a wider canopy is produced. Auxiliary growth sites develop behind the now laterally growing tip growth and fill in with vertical growth.

When topping/pruning make sure your cutting instruments are sharp and that your plants are healthy. I have some specific information about topping and pruning larger plants in the Growing Basics thread linked below in my signature.

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