Determining your ideal plant height and # of primary branches for particular strains in your available grow space.

I realize it's mostly strain/pheno-specific genetics, but plant size, shape, # of branches also have to work in your grow space. What's your approach? I realize many of you have successful grows without being as concerned/anal about plant size/shape/# of branches, I'm not knocking you; I just have to figure out what's going to work for me, given the limitations I created in my build. haa.

I don't have to have the biggest buds, I actually want consistent size and shape ... buds that would get sorted into 8th/qtr bags in a dispensary, not popcorn or bulk ounce/lb buds (if that makes sense).

Right now, I'm thinking I want 10-12 primary branches, lolli-popped (except for maybe the highest branches), and I plan to prune most of the secondary branches. Until now, I'd been topping too early. Plants were low, wide, and roughly uniform height; but secondary branches on my strains don't yield as well as primary branches ... consequently, I want more primary branches and fewer secondary. I want compact, efficient plants. Will veg for up to 4 mos., beyond that would probably be too large for current grow space. However, note, my overall plant sizes are getting larger for the 10-12 branches. Consequently, I'm reducing the # of plants in bloom at any time (perpetual bloom), which, in turn, gives veg plants more time to grow....

It's a great topic. I'm experimenting with # of primary bud sites in my current grow. In a 4 plant 4x4 grow, more primary bud sites-say, enough to totally pack the canopy-results in greater yield, than fewer bud sites but much bigger buds. All of my current plants were mainlined, but one has 8 main colas, whereas, the other 3 have between 20 and 30. Some plants don't take well to this kind of treatment and grow better as a single cola, or at least, as a less aggressively topped plant-so doing this is strain dependent. 8 cola plants are good for pics because they have much bigger colas, and more space in between the colas (more light), so the internodes are better developed further down. The 20-30 cola plants have smaller buds, BUT, more total bud surface area is exposed to light, so you end up with a mass of heavily trichome covered bud (as opposed to a single cola with much more internal area that is not directly exposed to light.) In your scenario, with 10-12 colas per plant, you can achieve nice big buds and good production-it's a good compromise. However, you mention vegging for 4 months, which is totally unnecessary for so few main bud sites. I think you'd be better off vegging for two months, and adding an extra grow cycle per year. Good luck to you friend!

I keep it at 4 or 8, beyond that I find it can get a bit floppy and I don't like having to have a lot of supports for the plants. Similar to the above, the extra veg time to support more tops doesn't seem worth it when I can just do more plants.

Under 10 seems reasonable, I think of it as always being exponential, 1 top becomes 2, that becomes 4, then 8, then 16...but that isn't right as you don't always need to top each cola/branch so I would just shoot for under 10. I am sticking with 4 myself, I like to tie down the plant lst style and that is just an easy number of branches to work with.

HGCC said:

I keep it at 4 or 8, beyond that I find it can get a bit floppy and I don't like having to have a lot of supports for the plants. Similar to the above, the extra veg time to support more tops doesn't seem worth it when I can just do more plants.

Under 10 seems reasonable, I think of it as always being exponential, 1 top becomes 2, that becomes 4, then 8, then 16...but that isn't right as you don't always need to top each cola/branch so I would just shoot for under 10. I am sticking with 4 myself, I like to tie down the plant lst style and that is just an easy number of branches to work with.

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Thanks. With only 4 or 8 branches, are you growing out a significant amount of secondary branches? I'm trying to rely mostly on primary branches. I may have to post pics to clarify the gap between what I'm saying and mean to say, but for my 10-12 primary branches, I'm lolli-popping branches below the 6th branch more extensively than branches 6-(10, 11, or 12). My 32 oz drippers have a neck that forces me to cut off the lowest branches. And the only ones I top are on shelves and it's just the top node split into two (so the plants don't stretch and hit lights). Ten to 12 primary branches with selective lolli-popping is what I hope yields more consistently-sized buds, eliminating nearly all popcorn/weird-shaped buds.

I LST but just to create space. + selective defoliation, mostly in veg and once or twice before mid-bloom ... maybe a trim in ripening.

This is about the best way to control height and consistent spread.. Max control and small time invested, minimum effort max yield.. This was under 100 days.. The first dozen pages lays it all out.. It's worth a read.. You just keep the bitch down until you tell her it's time to get up and flower..
Pineapple Express G13 Lab's Seed to Harvest | Rollitup

mytwhyt said:

This is about the best way to control height and consistent spread.. Max control and small time invested, minimum effort max yield.. This was under 100 days.. The first dozen pages lays it all out.. It's worth a read.. You just keep the bitch down until you tell her it's time to get up and flower..
Pineapple Express G13 Lab's Seed to Harvest | Rollitup

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Thanks twice: suggestion, avoiding ~40 pages.

The pics tell the whole story.. The root ball is on page 14

No, just 4 or whatever main colas. I tie them out to shape the plant, each one getting its own side of the pot. I try and stick more plants in, so ideally the footprint is just slightly larger than the container. No side branches.

HGCC said:

No, just 4 or whatever main colas. I tie them out to shape the plant, each one getting its own side of the pot. I try and stick more plants in, so ideally the footprint is just slightly larger than the container. No side branches.

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Interesting. Before I add new strains, I'm finalizing phenotypes (1 per strain) and standardizing plant size/shape/# of branches. Should be done with that by March (probably sooner).

I don't think we're far off in our general approaches. By March, I may @HGCC so we can compare yield/outcome. Strain genetics may be a factor. Open to adjustments.... I'll be doing this unless stopped by death, debt, or capture.

I've agonized over this for years. Nothing I've done beats lots of plants with a single cola. But, producing hundreds of clones every month has loads of drawbacks. If anything goes off schedule the whole operation falls apart.

Currently I'm stuck between 6-12 branch short plants, and all out dwc trees.

Great topic... one I haven't really experimented with, so very much looking forward to more replies.

Myself, I top early. After the first topping I will continue topping once a week, but only the branches that are ahead of the rest. I might have a plant with 4 mains but if one main is 3-5" for example taller than the other 3 mains, I only top that one tall main.

I'm not sure if this is the best way to go about it. My goal like most is to get get an even canopy. My approach seems to work OK but would like to know if there are better approaches.

Is topping to early a bad thing? I typically start topping about 1 week into veg from rooted clone.

I break my down into two main groups. Ones that do well topped or not. From there once they reach scrog I decide to veg for one more week and train, or flip and start training till buds show. The first run with a new strain I try to do as little as I can to see how it grows.

Hiddengems said:

I've agonized over this for years. Nothing I've done beats lots of plants with a single cola.

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This is the outcome I reached too. So I grew that way for 10+ years. Every system has its drawbacks, and requires work to make successful, but single cola SOG growing is one of the most productive and efficient methods.

Medical numbers decide everything and work from that in my case.

DaFreak said:

Medical numbers decide everything and work from that in my case.

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"Medical numbers"? Do you mean, % of THC/entourage with documented cases showing medicinal efficacy? Sounds helpful, I'm just not sure what you're focusing on.

No, medical license numbers. I get 6 plants for medical and 3 for adult use, same for wife. So I get 18 in flower at any one time. Can’t do sog because of that.

DaFreak said:

No, medical license numbers. I get 6 plants for medical and 3 for adult use, same for wife. So I get 18 in flower at any one time. Can’t do sog because of that.

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I'll have to update with pics, standardizing/phenotyping currently ... 18-21 blooming plants that's about where I'm at. I don't sog either. Perpetual bloom photos.

2 bloom-dedicated tents: 1 fits 6-8 plants depending on size, the other fits 13-15 comfortably. All plants in same area are roughly the same height.

The more interesting tent is slightly larger. Ten 66" lights, so roughly 5.5' x 5.5' in that space.
- 3 parallel shelves
- between shelves, 2 gaps wide enough for plants. I put untopped plants down there ... little tweaks to height/propping up with objects as needed.
- each shelf/row fits 3 plants, I usually put 4 on the beginner shelf.
- perpetual bloom.

2klude said:

Great topic... one I haven't really experimented with, so very much looking forward to more replies.

Myself, I top early. After the first topping I will continue topping once a week, but only the branches that are ahead of the rest. I might have a plant with 4 mains but if one main is 3-5" for example taller than the other 3 mains, I only top that one tall main.

I'm not sure if this is the best way to go about it. My goal like most is to get get an even canopy. My approach seems to work OK but would like to know if there are better approaches.

Is topping to early a bad thing? I typically start topping about 1 week into veg from rooted clone.

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Thanks. Weekly selective-topping? Practically, for me, 18 plants in bloom means I probably have 40+ at some stage of veg and another ~100 clones. Like defoliating, a lot of that high-maintenance stuff went out the window when I had to make it happen ... despite my day job/other priorities.

I found that yield with early topping was hit or miss. Didn't see as much "girth," haha, in buds on lollipopped secondary branches as I did on primary branches. And too many bud sites isn't always a positive. So, I'm finding that ... I can get closer to a predictable outcome with 10-12+ ... less than 20 primary branches. And like DaFreak suggested, dividing plants/strains into those that do better topped/untopped (+lst) is my main thing. So, when I top, it's above the 10th primary branch ... necessity ... selected ~10 as the cutoff so plants wouldn't hit lights.

5 Alive, a 70/30 sativa-dominant strain, is one that may be more suitable for topping earlier. Although I'd read that sativas tolerate light better than indicas, 5 Alive is the most light-sensitive strain I'm currently running. I've had to start it low, and lower it again just before ripening or it fox-tails badly. It's also slow in both veg and bloom..... Opportunity-cost for wasted space; eventually, I'll replace it (it's super frosty, bubble gum, a few fruits/pie strains, subtler than it sounds, but it's also a damn decent strain potency-wise).

All that to say, to continue running 5 Alive and not tank tent productivity, I'll probably do what you're doing and run it low, wide with about 6 primary and more (lolli-popped) secondary branches lst'd. Yeah, so. Ok.