If you're looking to maximize bud sites, top. You can top as often as you like, it just means a longer veg time. My first grow I had a single plant in a 5 gal fabric in coco. It was maybe 2 ft high but it was almost 3 ft wide by the end of veg. I vegged it for like 6 or so weeks. On the down side it was a male from bag seed so I wasted a TON of time money and energy on a male plant. On the upside I learned how to veg and top plants. I seriously topped the thing MANY times. You can also FIM each top. Seriously, it takes a lot of time, and I only recommend doing it with fem seeds or clones, but you can get bushes with this method. I collected probably a 1/4 oz of pollen from that male. If it had been female I probably could have gotten 2-3 ounces at LEAST.