What's up blades ? I have a question that I'd like some insight on from experienced growers. Do you think indicas should be topped? Do you think they'd respond better to fimming? My main goal is to maximize yeild of course.
It's really your call. There isn't really a huge difference between topping and fimming plants. I'd personally go for it though. More tops exposed to light will add a lot to bulk. You could also low stress train. That way, you're not doing any cutting, but you're still getting way more dominant tops on your plant. It doesn't stunt growth like topping does, it just makes all the new nodes grow towards the light, and they become the new tops.
my plant is like 80% indica http://forum.grasscity.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=941816&d=1343758960 i topped twice.
[quote name='"DrGreenthumb22"']What's up blades ? I have a question that I'd like some insight on from experienced growers. Do you think indicas should be topped? Do you think they'd respond better to fimming? My main goal is to maximize yeild of course.[/quote] Indica is by far my favorite to grow, as I get more out of them medicinally IMO. I've always topped them to force the rest of the plant to grow. The Grow Bible explains it much better. But the vigorous growth of the main stem. Can be stopped when topped and the vigorous growth is sent throughout the rest of the plant. I've done the opposite with sativas before, but now I wait for the right size and cut the main stem. I don't have much room and are only doing a small amount. Which is enough to cover my medicinal needs for the year.
Why top when you can LST? Your not increasing your yields any, your mostly shocking your plant and increasing root growth instead of vertical plant growth. When you FIM or TOP your new shoots are 1/2 the size, meaning 1/2 the flow of minerals and compounds to the plant meaning 1/2 size buds. Your forcing the plant to redistribute it's auxin's instead of using that energy for vigorous growth! With Light Stress Training you can increase yields by allowing the plant to grow without shock and still allow light to reach the lower bud sites and allow them to catch up to the main shoot. All this without delaying your veg time. Just my 2cents
I top and then train them. I don't top like most ppl though, I just cut the entire top branch at a node during week 1 of veg. This causes many of the lower branches to explode out from beneath. Once they are long enough, I tie them down to the stakes in each corner of the pot in week 1 of flower. This exposes the entire plant to light and results in about 20-30 nice tops by the end of the run. This won't work well on all strains but works insanely well for ones that respond to topping. GL
Since I tried the LST method I'll never use any other to train plants no matter what strain. Back in the day, it was topping or one major bend down and that's all we knew at the time. It's funny how a new generation of growers figured out how to increase yields by a method that should have been so painfully obvious to begin with.