knuckleup378

i cant decied if i wanna top or tie down

can i do both hight isnt the issue just wanna maximize bud sites

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outdoors

Tie her down, don't lose out on the main cola.

Peace- OD

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420oz

Just let it grow naturally, it is always the best. I like organic ferts, spring water, actual sun/ moonlight, and absolutely no cutting, tying, or any other unnatural stuff.

guerilllataktic

tie it down ,too late in season to be topping

HellRaiZeR

Ive always topped and used it for clones.. Usually a 2-node cola will pop-up. Am I missing out on a bigger cola?

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Trancerdancer33

Assuming you're in the northern hemisphere... flowering should be getting going soon if it hasn't already. You want to top or tie down during veg stage prior to the onset of flowering. Topping will only set you back at this point, tying down probably wouldn't hurt too much but I doubt it would help.

Now if only those damn deer hadn't topped my most promising blue mystic last week...

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mattdreads

I read from an australian grower that he uses a differernt method to topping that gives the same, but better effect. I saw his pictures of a plant that had 99 baseball bat size colas on one plant...what was that guys name...

anyway, he said he didn't cut the tops, but rather, pinch them. not enough to really damage it, but just a good...pinch. you can do this at every point of new growth and it'll split, so instead of just toping your naim cola, you can split many smaller ones as well. make sure she's got a lot of room to grow!

this forces the plant to split into 2 colas without cutting anything, risking chance of infection and creating a wound that needs to take energy to heal. energy that would normally to spent maximizing your plant. I've done this on every single grow I've done, and then I relized, I need to do it without pinching it once to to see what the actual difference in face to face. so this year's outdoor get's no pinch. too bad I don't have any pictures of the top44 I grew, she reacted really well to it. started her in the beginning of june and had around 60 full size cola's. insane!

I didn't have a scale to mesure it but you know those huge pickle jars from costco? I had 2 and 3/4 jars completely full from one plant in a pot, outdoor. smoked it forever.

I'm diggin through my mags now, I'll find that dude name and try to find a link on the net. or scan in the pictures. the dudes plant is insane.

mattdreads

good point


you do want to start earlier then this, even with this method. how much it'll help you now...I'm not too sure.

Clone

I say top it. If you just let the 1 shoot grow without topping, it will tend to shadow out lower growth and prevent it from developing. I start topping early in the season, and each time i visit I top the highest growth points.

Fig 1 is before topping, fig 2 is about a week later.

When I top a branch, it usually takes about 2 weeks before i can top that same branch again. If you look in my diagram at figure 1A, you can see where it was topped originally. After 3 new nodes are produced, It is ready to be topped again at point B, producing the 2 new shoots.

As of right now I have about 10-20 main shoots on my plants. i'll continue to top these until about aug 15 or when flowering starts to kick in. I'm expecting to get 30-40 colas of roughly the same size from each plant.

Tying down works good too, but it requires more attention and needs to be started early on.. or else the branches will be too big and hardened and will snap off much more easily.

Good luck!

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growing outdoors all the time
I throw stones

outdoors

I have plants that are really tall and I'm just now tying them down.
It just depends on the growing temps and weather how long the internodes are and how sturdy the trunks are.
I gave some clones to a friend and they are like trees, stiff and hard trunks.

Clone, do you do this because you are getting more bud off your topped plants. Basically you are shearing, producing lots of shoots... so you get many bud sites. I always think those buds are not as big as the main buds. I dunno really, different things work for different folks.
I think it's all a matter of preference. I find tying down easier and I like growing strains that are more branchy than the xmas tree style strains. I guess toppping/trimming/pruning could be a good way to deal with one of those xmas tree type strains.
Peace- OD

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