My strain is White Russian if that helps. I am not limited in my vertical space, but in your opinion from your experience does the two new buds mass together exceed the mass of the one bud if you don't top? tl;dr: does topping increase yield?
Topping will increase number of 'main' tops and will promote lower growth. I don't have enough experience to comment on the yield but I think it will be about the same either way just different finished product. If space is not a problem I wouldn't top and depending on what you are looking for and your grow area you could do any number of different training methods or just grow out 'naturally' but will probably get a bigger yield from doing lst or scrog.
When I have done single cola plants that have gotten HUGE colas, they weren't as dense as I would like. I think multiple tops harden up better because they get more light. I prefer to top my plants at least once.
The buds will be smaller the more times you top. So, Untopped = 1 massive bud; 1 Topping, 2 Big buds; 2 toppings, 4 medium sized buds etc. With proper training (Topping, FIMing, Supercropping) extra light will be let in to the lower buds resulting in less popcorn bud and a heavier harvest. I would say a topped plant that bushes out will harvest more than an untopped plant.
I've seen some pretty massive colas on plants that were topped multiple times. Though I don't have experience with the yield of topped plants, it definitely does promote a lot of new growth on the plant during the vegetative stage. I think if all the colas were exposed equally to sun and the plant was fed well then the bud size/quality wouldn't suffer much at all.
What this guy said. Here's a really good guide for top & LST: LBH's "4-Way LST" tutorial (with a topping sub-tutorial) - THCfarmer
That guide looks great. My plant is about 3 weeks old and 2 inches tall. I def. has at least one full leaf set. Would this be too early to top it? Also, do most plants recover well from topping? I heard it's very high stress for them but have no experience in it.
First timer here so bear with me...is a "leaf set" considered a set with 5 leaves? My first set of 5 leaves came up and the next set is starting to grow in, do I top between these two sets or? thanks
Yes. Your first too sets of leaves, the cotyledons and a set of false leaves don't count. I would top either your third set of true leaves at the earliest, the fifth or sixth at the latest.
what I do is I top the plant usually 1-3 times and its early on - but its different for each strain depending on how it grows - however if you give it 2 weeks after topping before flowering you should not notice any difference in the bud sizes, but if toped and then put into flower you can get small rock hard really good buds but if you waited a little they could still be really good just bigger I take clones carefully and have a mother plant that I hack up just for this purpose and I will make sure I get a cutting that has 1 top and at least 2 bottom shoots that are close together or more and its about 6-9 inches tall depending on the strain after my clones get roots I put them into 4x4x4 rockwool cubes and after about 5 days when roots come out of that I put it into dirt and about 10 days latter when it starts gaining a hold in the soil I top it - I will usually have a plant with 3-6 bottom shoots and 1 top, I will cut the top off and leave it so I end up with a nice amount of branches that I bend and tie down so all the tops are at the same level - there are also inside branches that will grow up and become tops them self in the pics the dates are in order the date the cutting was cut, then rooted, then cubed, then put into dirt, then into flower and so on here are 2 pics (these could be different plants or the same I cant remember) of what it looks like late in flower, you can see where the top should be and how the other branches were bent down and others grew up, others were also cut off that didnt make it to the top - here is a pic of a different plant that I never toped and just bent the top over and the pics show that also, it was taken at the same time but put into flower a full month earlier then the other one as you can see from the dates however the plants were the same size ruffly and produced ruffly the same amount of product, 7-8 oz each so its not about topping it or not its about knowing how to train the plant to get what you want out of it and each strain is different this is L.A. Confidential from dna genetics - with sour diesel (not sure where from) and OG Kush (I got it as a clone only from some guies I knew after 3 years of buying seeds and clones at dispensaries and not getting what they had I finally paid them and it was worth it) with these 2 strains I will do the same but usually have to top the branches that come up again and sometimes again after that
id higly recommend super cropping, or if not that, the FIM technique over topping any day. but to answer your question, if the lights and nutes are great enough, you can have a field of colas the size of 2 liter pop bottles
I get avg 30 colas per plant that can be anywhere from 7-12" on a plant under 16" tall and that is with cfl's. That's pretty good in my eye for small plants. We used to Christmas tree outdoor plants but with indoor plants that have stationary, overhead lighting, topping is the way to go. If I were to go for a large main on an indoor and when the plant is young, I would soft-crop the trunk about 2" from the bottom, tie the whole plant down and grow it sideways. That would give the benefit of both topping and the main being intact. The ideal situation with topping is when you learn to grow plants that have exceptionally close internodal (say 1/4-3/8") spacing. This way, nearly the whole branch becomes a solid bud. If growing from your own clones, it's easier to get plants that grow tight if the clones are chosen from sexually mature tops. If you plan on training your plant, pay attention to which way the leaves are aiming before choosing when and where to top it. It is typically better if they are horizontal from each other so that the tops don't crowd each other or at least helps with cutting down on the creative training with extra ties needed etc. If I have a hole in my canopy, I will top a branch so that the offshoot grows towards an empty, or less crowded space. You don't have to just nip the tip tops. Top it wherever need be above any set of leaves if the new branches will fill a space better.
Yes, topping will increase your yield while decreasing your chance of losing bud due to mold. If one cola starts to grow mold you can isolate it and chuck it without wasting as much bud. It also depends on whether you plan on growing indoors or out. Different techniques work for different environments. Lastly, as a general rule; Sativa-dominant strains tend to respond more positively to topping than Indica-dominant strains.
I have cloned off of plants and got massive five to eight massive mains and never topped had great yields but dried too fast and stored improper but still got the job done ✌️