Sso

depends on the plant and lighting.

i have 1 accidentally topped plant (clone now rooting) it is a very compact plant, high light levels and strain.

maybe 1/3rd of an inch or less between nodes, so when i broke the top. light got to the lower buds and they were all more or less equal in height, less then 1/3rd in between nodes.

and i lst´d it bit before i broke the top

now i have 8 tops which i lst to create a wider plant and more room for big tops.

incidentally, i never top, right next to this plant is a former runt, that i only lst´d, that plant has about 10-12 tops and has caught up with the former plant in size, even despite nutrient problems and whatnot.

i dont see the point of topping, if all you are after is 2 tops, that btw wont reach the big tops size in quite awhile. the lst´d plant has about three equal size tops now, the topped one has 8 equal size tops, but they are only about half the size of the original top.

i want 7-8 tops and i want them equal big, i consider it othervise a waste of light. you cant really grow tall trees unless you got something like jamesgang going.

i want to fill the space with buds, not have one huge top, maybe a foot between these tops and below a lot of small buds that Do fill the space, but because of the big tops are way too low to enjoy the light.

CamperDon

Good morning,

Of all my growing (on/off 35) years and until recently when I started training using LST i've always grown larger main cola's on any given plant .. Now that I have done some LST'ing and see that the days of BIG top cola production is gone I decided I want them back and LST'in isn't giving it to me.. So, i'm going back to growing vertical!!
Of all the trainning i've been doing one thing i've noticed you do not get the huge bud on top but, rather many more smaller scaled versions maybe due to the stresses of trainning. But not one of the trainees i've done in the past three flower sessions grow them biggin' anymore.. (at least not under my 8-tube H.O.T5)
Recently (the last several flower cycles) I decided to try larger containers and went from 5 gallon tall to 5 gallon short ones and i'm finding the shorter ones grow as big a plant as the taller one maybe a little wider as there is more room for root footprint which in (in the case of a real tree in your front yard) the size of the canopy above ground is proportionally sized to the root system below. So when watering water to the outline of the canopy to water all of the roots. Now this is for outside growing trees not MJ trees..
But, the same should hold true for MJ the wider the root system the wider the canopy - i'd think..
So, I guess (for me) no more big top cola's with LST - Camper' goin Vertical

Have a Great day
don

buzzmobile

When you water your trees, Don, don't stop at the dripline of the canopy. Roots extend on average three times the canopy spread. Where are tree roots? -- Dr. Ed Gilman