Do you think this topping will hurt my yield?

teoborg said:

I should maybe start a new thread but actually i'm dealing with the same question : I'm growing a Martian mean green which had 8 colas and it was just about to preflower.
I cut off the lower 2 colas and I topped the rest 6. Did I made wrong?

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No, but you will end up with 12 smaller colas instead of 6 big ones...it just sort of redistributes the plant's growth from growing up one cola to growing up 2...
So the 2 you get will be smaller than the original one...but 2 will equal the bud of more than just that one the plant would have grown...
You get more pot, but also more trimming time...Anytime you can top or train you should...and the earlier the better, because then the plant has time to make all those colas into big colas again...
But even if the plant starts to flower when those colas are puny, they will grow in---Fast!

Not true...I just squish or pinch or tear the tops off of my plants...the degree of cut has nothing to do with anything...


Do a little research. Straight cuts work, too, but angled cuts stimulate growth. The same is true for roses and many other plants. Learn something new everyday

PS "Squishing and pinching" is never good. Break down and buy a pair of Fiskars...

I really think your adventure into topping will increase your yield.
I can get an oz off of flowering a 6 in tall clone...simply because the plant is 16 inches when flowering is over...so I get one 16 inch cola...which is pretty neat looking in and of itself...
So I mean the plant will regrow 2x what it lost...no worries at all...

To the newer people here, I must ask that you not give advice, until you have tried that advice and actually noticed a difference...
If you haven't applied advice you have been given in real life, then it isn't your advice to give...it belongs to the people that know if that advice was right or not...
So, if you think that topping is some unnatural bane on Mj, then you have nothing to say...
If you think that the angle at which you cut has anything to do with growth, then spend more time with your plants, and less with the computer...
This is not goddamn rocket science...it is a few plants that are damn easy to take care of...

Laney said:

Do a little research. Straight cuts work, too, but angled cuts stimulate growth. The same is true for roses and many other plants. Learn something new everyday

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Do a little research my ass...
I get all the research regarding Mj I need everyday...and I know for a certain fact that you can cut at any degree you want...and even if you just brutally rip off the top of a plant it will regrow 2 tops for sure, just as fast as if you had cut it at whatever you might think the magical degree of cutting might be...

When I started I followed all the little weird advice that people gave..and my clones were always cut at 45 degrees, and there is no difference in times of growth between then and now...
So totally new person, how does the angle of the cut affect the growth of the plant at all...
If anything a 45 degree cut would take longer to heal than a straight cut...
More surface area...
I am no expert, but I know a lot of what newer people post is just internet nonsense...nonsense...and unnecessary.

Laney said:

Not true...I just squish or pinch or tear the tops off of my plants...the degree of cut has nothing to do with anything...


Do a little research. Straight cuts work, too, but angled cuts stimulate growth. The same is true for roses and many other plants. Learn something new everyday

PS "Squishing and pinching" is never good. Break down and buy a pair of Fiskars...

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It creates more growth for the cutting, but not the plant you took the cutting from...no matter what plant we are talking about here...I mean I take clones of bell peppers, tomatoes, coleus, and all manner of other plants...so I have done a lot of cuttings off of plants...more in a few months than a lot of people will ever do...I mean when things move along every 2 months, and you have been doing this for years, you get a lot of practice in a small amount of time...
Once you have finished 20 or 30 plants trying all manner of different things, then perhaps we could discuss the properties of angled versus straight cuts...that way you will then know also that it matters not a speck...

ill post a picture of that plant in a month or so, thanks everyone for your reply's.

missnu said:

It creates more growth for the cutting, but not the plant you took the cutting from...no matter what plant we are talking about here...I mean I take clones of bell peppers, tomatoes, coleus, and all manner of other plants...so I have done a lot of cuttings off of plants...more in a few months than a lot of people will ever do...I mean when things move along every 2 months, and you have been doing this for years, you get a lot of practice in a small amount of time...
Once you have finished 20 or 30 plants trying all manner of different things, then perhaps we could discuss the properties of angled versus straight cuts...that way you will then know also that it matters not a speck...

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I've grown way more than that. This is my seventh outdoor grow. I hate to admit it, but I've been an avid gardener since probably before you were born. It's just accepted horticultural practice for pruning. You can take a chainsaw to your girls for all I care. They tend to be robust and will probably do quite well

Dont worry about it, i dont think you lost any yeild at all. youve still got plenty of veg time left to regrow quite a bit.

What is hurting your yield however, is that tiny little bucket youre growing in. plant that thing in the earth!

Actually mine seems glowing healthy and as missnu said not bad at all!

missnu said:

No, but you will end up with 12 smaller colas instead of 6 big ones...it just sort of redistributes the plant's growth from growing up one cola to growing up 2...
So the 2 you get will be smaller than the original one...but 2 will equal the bud of more than just that one the plant would have grown...
You get more pot, but also more trimming time...Anytime you can top or train you should...and the earlier the better, because then the plant has time to make all those colas into big colas again...
But even if the plant starts to flower when those colas are puny, they will grow in---Fast!

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In just two days she started to grow eight fat colas. You were right, thx man.

missnu said:

...When you top you are pretty much splitting the main branch into 2 branches...so in 2 or 3 weeks that plant will have 2 main stalks to take in light and make buds...

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I hate to take this thread further off track but you raise a point which sparks some curiousity for me. From my reading it is my understanding that if you top a plant once alternating growth has begun it will not produce 2 NEW growth tips as it would during symetrical growth stages. I would assume that the most upper branches would just take on the characteristics of a main cola as opposed to having 2 new main colas.


Any insight or experiences would be appreciated.

Thank you

well it did it right before it flowered so there really is no harm done youll get two colas now wich i always think is a plus. so i think youll b good man

Anytime I remove the topmost growth off of a plant it will regrow 2 tops, but once the plant starts to alternate it's leaves back and forth then it will still grow 2, but they will be kind of spindly for quite awhile.... once the plant is growing in a mature fashion you just have to cut lower on the branch to get 2 bigger sites to come up...like instead of taking the very top, take like half of it off, and it will grow in 2...you just don't want to start it growing 2 new growth tips at the very top, because when they flower these will just fall over...
So it still works out the same, but just cut the top off to a few nodes lower but leave the little growth piece coming out of where the branch is.

Its not flowering yet, but if it were i would presume you are correct.

Also, Ive been told some variety's don't like to be topped, the single stalk top cola kinds, like the one im growing Early Girl, but I'm hopping to prove that theory wrong!

but once the growth is alternating it is a little harder to get 2 tops, but if you cut lower down then it will still make 2 new shoots. The earlier you top and train the better.

I have a Colombian Gold that doesn't top too well...or rather it does...but the resulting branches are just all wispy and pitiful...I guess I just prefer the way that indicas grow...I like how thick the stem and buds are...all my sativa strains are thinner and wispier...I mean the smoke is awesome, but they just don't look as striking.

yeah i guess what does it matter when its in a jar a few monthes down the road.

Not at all...
I just took a plant down last night that had 20 or so smallish colas...or I could have left it alone and gotten one large, or 2 medium large, or so on and so on...and the more veg time the bigger each cola can possibly get...but I need my plants to stay short...so as a plant starts to get too tall I just cut it back...which results in me having very low short bushes as opposed to large trees...But if I keep having to do it and I don't have time to let it regrow before flowering then I pretty much end up with a whole lot of popcorn bud distributed all over the plant...I mean the top nugs are larger by far, but still no colas to be seen...more like a small fruiting weed bush..lol...but I have to cut up any colas before putting in the jars anyway...
I have to stop growing for awhile so this is my last flowering run for a bit I guess...but i have been kind of lazy about it all, but I had a few old clones that I was tired of hacking away at that needed to be flowered...one looks great, but the one I harvested last night was ehhh...alright I guess...got perhaps 2.5 oz or so...Gotta wait til it dries...but the amount that I got should dry to around 2.5 just eyeballing it. I repotted one, but left the other in it's small pot...the repotted one looks great I guess because it had room to grow..but the one in the small pot stayed entirely too small for the number of branches it had...

1sttimeguy said:

I hate to take this thread further off track but you raise a point which sparks some curiousity for me. From my reading it is my understanding that if you top a plant once alternating growth has begun it will not produce 2 NEW growth tips as it would during symetrical growth stages. I would assume that the most upper branches would just take on the characteristics of a main cola as opposed to having 2 new main colas.


Any insight or experiences would be appreciated.

Thank you

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that's bullshit

All my clones are mature, so they start off with alternating branches...It all evens out the same though...