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What ya smokin' tonight????

Discussion in 'Marijuana Stash Box' started by deacon, Aug 22, 2010.

Page 407 of 3980
  1. #8121 nb790, May 14, 2011

    aye, so stick with lst?
     
  2. #8122 Freshfed, May 14, 2011

    I have topped upto day 18 of flower with great results... just my experience tho, all depends on the strain I guess, but generally, I remove all branching thats too low, top or fim and sometimes tie branches or tops down to allow lower branches to catch up/ even the canopy.
     
  3. #8123 KGann, May 14, 2011
    Last edited by a moderator: Mar 15, 2016
    No, I wasn't looking for envy... My humor is simply too dry for forums lol.
     
  4. #8124 deacon, May 14, 2011
    first off...it depends on when you start countin' days of flower...i count from the first sign of sex...not the light switch...that makes a difference......i found the recovery rate slowed down the growth of the plant i topped resulting in less yeild overall...but like most things in growin'....there not just one way ta do things....its so strain dependent...on a 13 week flowerin' sativa ...might give it a shot:smoke:
     
  5. #8125 deacon, May 14, 2011
    i got ya bro...sometimes blades get bud envy and thats the last thing i want....this thread is for fun and killa buds...glass gear...tunes..etc....so post up any time.....:wave:we'll work on the humor;)
     
  6. #8126 Freshfed, May 14, 2011

    I often debate about when to count flower with my grower friend, he gives 10 days after switch to count as flower day 1 (with plant biochemistry taking time to switch etc) whereas for me, I count from the second I flip the light as day one (what are your thoughts on this?)... I'd definately say if growing any hybrid with sativa mixed in (8wk+ flowering time) then toppping the top branches is a good call... plenty recovery time and yes it would slow growth in a side by side grow (one topped one not) but the difference is you'd have a much better intensity spread of light (light intensity is subject to the inverse square law) on the canopy instead of a few top cola's that stretch beyond the majority of the plant (meaning your light height restricted to top bud heights) giving nice fat top cola's sure, but the mid and low buds would be weak and could actually reduce overall production potential. So I personally would sacrifice the slowed growth in week 2 due to topping to gain the rewards of efficient light spread on my canopy... but ONLY in sativa hybrids or influenced plants.

    just my opinion tho... actually doing a side by side grow of grapefruits to test this out the now, got one fimmed, one topped, one tied down and one left as standard. all looking pretty good with the topped one looking heaviest so far, but others have amazing numbers of tops and canopy that I'm confident will catch up (maybe surpass?) with others!

    Peace :smoke:
     
  7. #8127 nb790, May 14, 2011

    why just sativa? whats the difference between that and indica? just a shorter flowering time for it to recover/grow?

    btw sorry for bombarding with questions haha.. but thanks to both of ya for the help! :wave:
     
  8. #8128 drhell2pay, May 14, 2011
    You can top early into flower as the plant technically still is vegging for a while when it's making the transition. However, Deacon is right on, its not something most like to do because the purpose of topping is to divide your colas for more bud sites. If you don't leave enough time for the plant to grow new colas, it just adds un-needed stress for the plant as it repairs the cut or pinched site.

    Really though, it won't make much of a difference as the area you are topping is so late into vegetation cycle, growing two more sites isn't really going to do much.

    Topping is very effective when the plant is young. My grow (in my signature) is using topping and LST techniques combined for multiple cola production.

    Too many toppings and the colas get divided too much anyway and the buds won't be as big as if there were less colas because the plant has to feed all those sites with whatever root structure and nutes it has (it still can only produce so much). The idea is to find the perfect balance and not go under or over. An artform many of us spend a long time learning (and failing at in my case a few times). I only topped these plants twice after the 4th set of leaves came in and again 3 weeks later.

    The good news is that without topping, your main cola will be huge :). My last grow didn't get topped and the main cola was 2 ounces dry. I know Deacon probably gets even bigger than that :) Most of this advice is subjected and up for debate, but its based on my own personal experience and a lot of reading. Like anything, people may have other methods which contradict mine.
     
  9. #8129 Freshfed, May 14, 2011

    no problem, its my passion so I enjoy talking bout it! typically speaking, sativas are stretchy, like to go tall and indica's are short fat and dense (I usually remember it as INdica is common for INdoors usually with shorter flowering time and rock hard nugs that leave you blitzed... the high is different, as is the way it reacts to nutes etc, so the sativa's (more cerebral) are generally longer flowerer's so training, topping etc would work to an indoor growers benefit!
     
  10. #8130 staggarlee, May 14, 2011
    Here's an untopped ak47 x white widow:
    [​IMG]
     
  11. #8131 deacon, May 14, 2011
    i count from first sign..i find breeders hedge here....they count flowering from first sign but then in over legnth of time to finish they subtract this...they want their plant to flower faster than the next guys cause people want short flower times...too many people go by legnth of time breeders say too flower and harvest their buds too early...see this all the time.....time gets ya in the ball park....trich's get ya in the game;)i pay no attention to flowerin' time accept for the broadest planning use...and what you say about toppin' is true more so in an indoor setting..i revert to outdoors so much...and there the light does not fall off in a couple feet of difference...but in a tent..yep...i scrog my tents so height is not a factor...only yeild

    [​IMG]
     
  12. #8132 Freshfed, May 14, 2011

    I have to disagree, although nice post and I agree with the majority of it, good read! IMO and experience, topping may be primarily to turn one branch site into two but in removing the head, plant hormones redirect to lower branches whilst repairing the newly topped head resulting in an overall 'catchup' effect for lower branches giving a better canopy and ergo better bud site production under the inverse square law of light depth intensity. So I'd say topping isn't all about making more heads, but also about canopy control and increasing the light intensity absorption efficiency.

    peace!:smoke:
     
  13. #8133 mr greenman, May 14, 2011
    Super frosty no name dank my boy picked up for me the pictures dont do it justice
     

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  14. #8134 Freshfed, May 14, 2011

    lovely grow! yeah was referring to using lights not the sun... wish I could grow outdoors! hmm... well my 'grapefruit day 24 may actually be only day 14!? win haha... yeah I go by hairs to get ballpark, then trichs to tell me when they're ready. The cheese i grew took 10wks from switch, breeder says 8wk reliably haha... just no, all my hairs were still electric white in wk 8 :p
     
  15. #8135 deacon, May 14, 2011
    Last edited by a moderator: May 14, 2011
    like everything here at gc...it depends so much on growskill of who your talkin' about...people top 2 times mostly...in veg to promote more yeild...and when plants get too tall..lets just skip the second:rolleyes:...if your havin' height problems ya haven't got it figured out yet....what fresh said and topping to promote even canopy is spot on...if your only topping the high points of the plant;)then...its pure canopy control and i have better results super cropping and tying them over to expose more bud sites already on the plant and ready ta go...in an indoor settin' the light footprint is so much a factor...400hps...2x2 max..3x3 is good...outside of that....sup. lighting...lovin' the side bys..i have done a ton...on this topic...the overall yeild was increase with lst and topping but taking into account incresed veg times it depense on your runs...and how many ya wanna do...keeping an even canopy increased yeild a little but resulted in much more uniform buds..midsized....probabily the best quality smoke...if your worried about height control and wanna max yeild..scrog

    [​IMG]


    also...topping and canopy control takes space....ya get shrubs...so ya gotta consider that in tents...but if ya got space ta spread out...canopy control is the only way...barrin' strains that just dont top well
     
  16. #8136 drhell2pay, May 14, 2011
    Yep, we don't disagree either Fresh, if you read in my grow journal, I talk about exactly what you said, redistributing the hormones (that's the point of topping and why new colas form), so we do agree, but from different points of view. I just believe (my opinion is just that an opinion) that you aren't going to get enough time to redistribute the hormones/colas when you're already in flower and the plant is transitioning. Maybe you will, /shrug, I dunno enough growers that top in flower to say otherwise. Just my guess based on reading up on it and doing some basic topping myself.
     
  17. #8137 WizTheKhalifa, May 14, 2011
    sleeping over my friends and smoking 1.0g of Jack herrer.
     
  18. #8138 Freshfed, May 14, 2011

    my sentiments exactly!.. and plus rep for you lol
     
  19. #8139 deacon, May 14, 2011
    read my sig quote..that says volumes.....we're not disagreein'...were sharin' opinions...thats what its all about..thats how we get better...but as ya can see..opinions differ...so it almost always comes down ta doin' it yourself to fully scratch that itch...for me i gotta do to see for myself..only way that works...thats why i plant extra plants..ta play around with...and extra buds never hurts:D...also there is the herm factor..transition from veg too flower is the most stressful time to a healthy plant...toppin' adds to that also..but i have never had a herm:smoke:..good stuff..good discussion...thats what we're here for...thanks guys
     
  20. #8140 Freshfed, May 14, 2011

    yeah and I totally respect your opinion, good posts bro:D, that's the same with me, opinion based on experience, I guess you'd be more correct with indie genes and my account would apply more effectively to longer sativa hybrids etc . I really do think its down to the plants genetic predispositions etc, hence my little grapefruit experiment will be interesting to see the end result (8-9 wk hybrids, one was fimmed resulting in 4branches per node instead of two, over 3 nodes giving 12heads in 3nodes :D) So I will know the answer to these questions for grapefruit soon, but whether the result can be generalised to other strains is an entirely new debate haha!

    peace... oooh 4:20 right now here!... blue cheese or regular cheese :confused: hmmm....
     
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