medicine21
Active Member
Is this technique good for a large bushy plant SCROG or are you better off topping higher to get more branches to spread for SCROG?
Is this technique good for a large bushy plant SCROG or are you better off topping higher to get more branches to spread for SCROG?
Nope, those are the cotyledons. No lateral branches come from them. Kinda looks pale, so a Nitrogen rich food should help.
I'd top in the same place but instead of waiting till the plant hits 6 nodes top above the 2nd node as soon as the 3rd node forms. I have used both techniques and I think you would have better luck with a SCROG if you did it this way as you get MUCH more side branching. Although if you did it UB's way essentially you would have 4 "stems" you could LST and if you did that I'm sure it would force the plant into side branching as the 4 stems would be growing horizontally instead of vertically. Now if you let your plant grow to the 3rd node then top it down to above the 2nd node you typically can not control the amount of main cola's the plant will put out. I did it to 3 of the plants I am currently growing and I ended up with 2 main cola's on one, 3 on another and 4 on the last one. But it does make the plants MUCH more bushier than UB's technique HOWEVER I prefer UB's technique. It just seems cleaner to me without all the side branching and 4 MASSIVE main cola's. As far as yield is concerned I have not harvested yet but will let you know when I do what the results on yield are.
As of now tho it looks as if yeild is going to be VERY similar. My question is why SCROG? If space is an issue for you well let me just tell you this look on page 366 of this thread. You'll see a post titled "Bud Porn" That's my BubbleBerry topped the UB way and is ONLY 30" (2 and 1/2 ft.)tall. I know it looks much taller in the pic but it is completely possible to keep your plants under 3 feet using UB's technique and still get AMAZING results as far as yield is concerned. The only reason my plant ended up at 30" is because I gave her another month of veg time after I topped her but had I switched to 12/12 right after topping I'm positive she would have finished at about a foot and a half instead of two and a half. I just view SCROG, SOG and LST as unconventional, unnecessary and MUCH more work than what it's worth. I have yet to see a SCROG, SOG or LST'ed plant yield much more than my plants grown the UB way! Of course SCROG and SOG are all based on a ton of tiny plants being grown but when I base my grow on averages SCROG and SOG don't compare to UB's technique!
Thanks for your insights. I don't know about "SCROG being based on growing tiny plants"... Have you seen the Under Current threads doing massive SCROG bushes? I have 5g bubble buckets and I am trying to figure out how to fill a 4x4 area or larger with just 4 plants. Space is not really an issue, but I want to fill this area with an even canopy and trying to figure out the best training technique to do so.
Hey Uncle Ben for those who grow with a vertical light what is your take on topping?
Thank you Uncle Ben! Here is the results of your topping technique (and a bit of a tribute with the picture). There is only 3 heads because 1 of the heads was used to make 10 clones early on. After the clones took she was flowered. My 3 headed beast, thanks to Uncle Bens Topping Tech.
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