Hello eveyone. I was recently watching the "I grow Chronic" growing guide on www.youtube.com The presenter advised to top after 1 week in flowering but he didn't explain why...? I was wondering if anyone has some insight into topping during veg or topping in the first week of flowering? Thanks for responses.
typically you would want to top or fim in veg. to create new branches and bug sites. when the guy topped 1st week in flower he was producing 2 colas insted of 1 big one. you dont want to cut the plant up too much during flower cuz of the extra stress and you dont want to hermie. so keep the toping in veg. you can do it as much as you want just give time to heal and youll end up with a big ass bush.
Top/fim during veg. You can get away with it very early in flowering but it's not the best way to go. You really should not put your plant into flower until you have it bushed out the way you want, then leave it to produce bud during flowering.
I've topped the same week I began flower cycle, and it did as expected and produced two buds instead of one, but due to the fact that it was so close to the hormone switch, the buds were "secondaries" rather than double primaries. With that in mind, I'd suggest at least a week to two between your last topping/lst and when you flip the switch. When you top the plant, the "apical maristem" or top-tip of growth, previously responsible for the production of many hormones that control the plant's growth, is replaced by the next two (to 6) maristems. After some "recovery time" the plant restructures the root system to match the new canopy, and the secondary maristems become new apical maristems. This is used to increase the yield in a small space. However, doing so without a recovery time will slow the production down until the plant can restructure, so for however long that is, your buds wont be growing as well as non-topped stems. This is why it's advised to do your topping/lst in VEG so you don't waste the precious 8-16 weeks of flowering on this. Instead, placing a healthy, "recovered" plant into bloom will allow it to actually use all of the LSTing you've done, and not spend time healing/switching maristems.
the first 2 pics are of a plant that was topped early in veg. the last pic is of a plant topped 2nd week flowering. she stretched and burned on the 400w hps so about 3 nodes were removed from the top. both plants were from the same grow. White widow big bud 9 plants 2 400w hps 3gallon bags/ maxipots promix soil amended with worm castings, 1-10-1 guano and Dr earth bloom booster(good stuff). Fox farm full line (at the time) Pics were taken after plucking fan leaves before harvest. I wouldnt advise topping during flowering but if you have to... well I did less bud on the 2 topped late. A few other plants from this grow (topped early) looked like baseball gloves or hands so you decide.
I didnt understand why that guy topped in flowering either but if you want more colas heres my approach to topping. Top above 3rd node after 4th node starts. Let plant grow 2 new stems Top both of those new stems above 1st node after 2nd node starts. Let plant grow 4 new stems Top all 4 of those new stems above 1st node after 2nd node starts. Let plant grow 8 new stems Veg till its as big as I want it and then put in in flowering. Technically you could top 2 or 3 more times getting 16 or 32 branches total. It's just simple multiplication, everytime you top a stem/branch you get 2 new stems/branches Got it? good, now go grow A pot bush!
Just wanted to add that how big those buds get are up to genetics. My technique works for heavy yielders to get more from a plant but dont work so well for others. It all depends on what your going for, do you want A couple of big colas or several medium sized colas....