how many times to top...?

Discussion in 'Growing Marijuana Outdoors' started by myrrhlynn, Jul 27, 2019.

  1. i have 4 nice looking plants about 6 weeks old now. i've topped them twice and each plant has from 12 to 14 tops. they are in ~3.5 gallon pots. think i could top again, or should i just let these mature as they are cut now?

    thanks.

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  2. So it looks like they are being grown outside....what is your current solar timetable looking like?
     
  3. outdoors, yes,... i'm in San Diego. when i'm home and can shift them around, they are getting about 5-6 hours of direct sunlight. this is my 2nd year growing and i got a late start. last year i had plants with about 4 more weeks growth at this point.
     
  4. Well I dont grow outdoors and I'm on the east coast so I dont have a clue as to when your plants will be at that 12/12 light schedule to induce flowering....but if it's getting pretty close then I'd say leave em be....that's just what I would do if they were mine.
     
  5. i thought the entire world gets a 12 hour day and a 12 hour night on the equinox ... March & Sept ~21st.
     
  6. Could be......I wont hesitate to tell ya that I haven't a clue...lol!:confused_2:
     
  7. I would leave them be as we are pretty close to them getting ready to switch over to flowering and it might not be enough time for them to fully recover.

    Maybe trim one up and leave the rest and do a cool little experiment and then let us know what you found :)
     
  8. so i was thinking about the equinox today and although it is the time when the entire world has a 12 hour day and a 12 hour night, because of the atmosphere, sunset is not the beginning of darkness, but the beginning of twilight. from flying i recalled that there are a few different definitions of night flying based on the different definitions of twilight. after sunset, there is about 1/2 hour of civil twilight followed by 1/2 hour of nautical twilight and finally 1/2 hour of astronomical twilight ... then it is technically night.

    so today i sat outside and naturally after sunset, i still feel it was light enough that plants do not consider it dark at this time. it takes until the end of civil twilight to start feeling like it is actually nighttime. when i looked up i still could see blue sky and there was only one star out... Jupiter. this quickly changed, though, and within the first few minutes of nautical twilight, stars start appearing. by the end of nautical twilight... an hour after sunset... it is very dark. i can see why astronomers give it another 1/2 hour, but plants see darkness.

    so then i went to a sunrise/ sunset calendar and for San Diego, the day that daylight + civil twilight = 12 hours is October 22nd (11:10 daylight + 0:50 civil twilight) for NYC it occurs on Oct 17th (11:04 daylight + 0:55 civil twilight). this is probably the 12/12 time you are referring to. of course plants as well as the sun are more analog than digital components in the sense of natural time.

    i'll have to see how this plays out in real life, but i can't see how i don't have at least 2.5 months the plants can keep maturing. what i am most concerned with is enough root space to support more tops.
     
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  9. You'll get what you get. Bigger pot/growing medium equals bigger plant. And yeah I wouldn't top it anymore either, but that's me.
     
  10. 12/12 Is for indoors. Only equatorial sativas bloom around 12/12 outdoors. Most hybrids will start bloom at 14 1/2 hours.
     
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  11. In San Diego your plants will begin to bloom in late August. I wouldn't top them any more. They should have a decent amount of lateral growth before then. The equinox has nothing to do with blooming. They'll begin bloom long before the equinox.
     
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  12. Outdoor grows = no light cycles.
     
  13. Sunrise Sunset Calendars

    This will show you sunrise and sunset times, day length, etc. Just select your city. Most outdoor plants begin to bloom with 13-1/2 to 14 hours of light and bloom ramps up to full production each day as the dark hours grow longer.
     
  14. Not sure what you mean. No man made light cycles. But they sure do have a light cycle. From dusk to dawn is their dark cycle.
     
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  15. i'll go you one farther on this... nothing is preventing me from artificially increasing the daylight hours. grow lights work outside as well as inside, don't they? all i probably need is a good hour or two starting at civil twilight to keep my patio garden vegetating, no? i've actually got 4 more plants about two weeks behind these guys. i might consider that.
     
  16. Indeed they do
     
  17. damn such healthy plants well trained to its really a bummer you got a latestart tbh you coulda turned these into some beastso

    n the bright side tho is it looks like theyre still vegging since you started so late but looks like veg to me. you can probaly get away with topping at this point but i am pretty sure seed or clone they wont be vegging to much longer so it may be a gamble since growth may be effected. growth is usually a direct correlation to yield and stress may hinder the growth.

    im honesly not to sure. personally i think they are trained enough for where you are at in the season other then gettin some stakes/sticks and tying those girls down more and away from the canopy so when they stretchas muchas possible in flower and gett fatter colas in flower.

    id also consider using some neem if you havent already catipeillars sp can be a bitch in cali
     

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