I Was Told I Should Top My Plants Can Anyone Help with Some Advice (Pics Attached)

Constructive criticism would be greatly appreciated

right now in my grow room i have one topped plant, and one untopped, the topped is showing way more budsites, but budsites dont always mean that it will have more yeild, ive seen buds on untopped plants the size of someones forarm. You may just want to experiment. Its what im doing. Experimentation is the key to success....well i think so anyway lol

pics three and four look pretty healthy, 1,2 and 5 dont look so good, probably over watering stress? maybe lack of N?

to answer your question...its strain dependent, like blake said, its best to experiment. Some plants don't produce as much when topped some produce more. I top EVERYTHING. Personally if those where my plants I'd top them right now. Some people say not to top till you toss them in flower. I like to top in veg.

pics 3 and 4 seem kinda lanky...may just be the strain. What kinda lights you got them under?

Yea thats what i am doing with these plants we just came home with them from the collective one day to experiment on the whole growing process i transplanted 2 days ago but havent seen a big difference in them, i know i overwatered the first days because i had no idea what i was doing but i transplanted 2 days ago with nutes and superthrive, is there anything you suggest for me to do to revive my plant the branches are browning and the indica plant seems to be yellowing =( and also if i decide to top them off how should i do it? is there a certain amount i am supposed to cut???

another thing i heared about was spraying the leaves with water? some say good and the guy at the hydro store says its not necessary and some one online told me spraying them everyday will kill dry or burn out the leaves what do you think

pics 3 & 4 are my sativa plant and the others are my indica plant the branches are getting brownish i did over water the first few days i had them because i didnt know but i transplanted 2 days ago with superthrive and some nutes but i havent seen the brownish going away at all, the bottom 2 leaves actually got way more yellow so i pruned them becasue they were more than 50% damaged =( my indica plant (pics 1,2,5) is roadkill and my sativa plant (pics 3,4) is head band i have them under a 2' t5 light

I personally don't foliar feed, that's not to say it doesn't bring great results, I just hate when my leaves look like they are full of salts (im to lazy to wash them off). What kinda of soil/soiless mix do you have them in? what nutes are you using? and how strong did you feed them?

if its just simply a over watering issue, let them dry out...lift the pots to make sure you know when they NEED to be watered. Add some h2o2 (hydrogen peroxide) 1tsp per gallon next time you water, this helps with over watering by delivering oxygen to the plants root system.

how far away is the light? bring that sucker right down on top of the plant...t5's wont burn em, Id get another fixture to add the mix.

i top all my plants...always have and most likely always will.

I make a 45 degree cut above the 2nd true node and i end up with 4 main colas instead of 1. If you go any higher you will reduce the size of the top buds and end up with popcorn buds.

i generally just clip the top off the plant, after the 2nd node. Sometimes I pull the two fan leaves off that are right below the area I topped, to provide more light to the new growing shoots down below.

The soil i used is happy frog organic potting the nutes that were recommended to me were pure blend pro gro for vege i put 1tbs in a gallon of water and i also put a 1/4tsp of superthrive when i transplanted i was told that it will keep the plant from going in shock when i transplanted it, the guy at the hydro shop also gave me a these lil bottles to try called sweet raw and silica blast idk how to use those lol

the over watering was done about 4-5 days ago since then i have transplanted them into a 3gl pot and watered with the pureblend and superthrive this was 2 days ago and since then i have only been spraying water on the leaves because i heard its good, im not sure tho lol, was i supposed to mix some nutes in the foliage water?

the light is about 2inches away i have a bat wing ballast that i am trying to connect in my closet but havent been successful at that yet but when we connect it i have a 250watt mh light and hps light do you think those are strong enough???

throw that 250w MH on them now! and there is no reason to use any nutes in that soil at the moment. There should be enough in that happy frog to keep them happy for a week or two. As for the botanicare sweet, pretty sure you don't need to use that till flower, and as for the silica, silcon supplements help to build strong cell walls, prevent disease and pest infestation.

Stop spraying them with water. are you making sure your ph is between 6.0-6.8?

and to make sure im correct your using the bonaticare pure blend grow and bloom? You made sure these are for soil and not hydro correct? They make two different versions.

I'd jsut give them plain ph'ed water for the next week or so them start out with 1/4 the recommended dosage.

i mean this for your indica strain, as your sativa strain looks like its doing good....but I would top the sativa strain as she will get pretty large if you dont.

Yea it is botanicare for hydrogarden soil and coco, i want to put that light on it now but i dont know why its not working maybe i should upload some pics of that maybe you can help me with that lol

i have no idea about the ph balance of anything, what do i need to buy to read that?

at what point is spraying them with water good?

and how far along in vegetative stage do you think my plants are? when do you think i should start flowering?

thank you so much for all your help =)

So the silica blast is good now? so it will probably help the plant thru all the stress im putting it thru huh? the sweet raw says to use all thru vegetative and flowering stage but its to give the buds a sweet taste to it right??? and all the nutrients should be flushed out 2 weeks before harvesting right???

wow....um.

ph balance is key bro. if you have to save cash get a ph water tester.

http://www.amazon.com/General-Hydroponics-pH-Control-Kit/dp/B000BNKWZY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1304990970&sr=8-1

if you can afford it, get a digital tester.

http://www.amazon.com/Oakton-pH-Tester-EcoTestr/dp/B004G8PWAU/ref=sr_1_5?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1304991016&sr=1-5
that one is your best bang for the buck. although you cant replace the electrode.

PHing is simple, just test your water, after you have added your nutes, then adjust it with ph up and ph down (included in that first water tester kit i posted)
but also, when you go to do a plain watering ph that water first also. In other words ALWAYS ph test and adjust accordingly.

you can spray with water all you like, I'm telling you to stop cause you had a over watering issue, if you feel you must foliar feed, go with the directions on the botanicare bottle, just use 1/2 the recommended dosage.

Your plants sure dont look like clones, I'm pretty sure by the looks of it they where started from seed. Unless it was feminized seed, you need to veg for 30-40 days to make sure they are female. That is...30-40 days from seed....I'd say your maybe 2-3 weeks in right now...maybe more maybe less as plants can become stunted and need to "snap" back into reality as I put it.

as for your light issue...is it a digital ballast or magnetic?

And on the sativa i should just cut off the top node?

let me take some pics of the ballast cuz its kinda hard to explain its just a little cheapy one we bought for 30 bucks,not digital at all, we plan on moving and making a complete grow room so this is just a learning step for us we dont want to spend hundreds of dollars on lights that we wont be using in our grow room, and the plants are for suuurreee clones we bought them for 10 dollars at a collective that makes clones all day, our delivery guy told us we bought some great clones, and he says he has like 6 plants under a similar light just a little bigger, i dont understand how he is doing that im over here practically crying cuz my indica is getting brown lol

sure man wack it off. As for the silica...go light, I use dyna gro protekt...same thing just a silicon supplement, Ive never used a silicon supplement with soil hopefully someone else can comment on that. I grow in coco, and use it every watering, mine is concentrated and I use no more then 2ml per gal...I dont know about your recommended dosage though.

I mean this with all respect, you seem very new to all this....this forum has TONS of useful information on it, I suggest you read read read as much as you can.

ya now that I take a second look the nodes have shifted on your plants, which is a sign it has shown sex....I'm sure you must be seeing calayxes with two little white pistols (hairs) poping out? if so then you can toss em in flower whenever you want, but personally I'd veg them longer, get them in nice healthy shape, and LST (low stress training) that tall sativa bitch.

Yea i am completly new at this i been reading the growing bible and my husband is supposed to be helping me with all the lighting and shit but hes always at work so im stressed to do this all quick and his ass just came home with 2 plants like a week ago we had no lights i had no idea what to do with them lol i guess im just on a crash course or growing huh? lol hopefully they dont die and they harvest some decent bud im not expecting to get ounces lol just to learn the whole process in and out so my next plants will be killer buds, so for anything i add to the plant like the sweet raw and supplements and sillica it is going to go mixed with the feeding right?

and as for the the white pistols i do see them but personally i would like them to get much bigger and healthier, well the indica at least, so like 2 more weeks in veg you think? or less? how long is too long to leave them in veg stage? and when i start flowering is 12/12 with the hps light?

there really is no rule of thumb to vegging, you can go as long as you'd like, or as short as you want. I DONT throw plants in flower that are under 9", and most would agree to let them get even bigger before hand. I like to throw little bushes into flower something along those lines is what I like to veg too...those HAVE been topped, in fact they've had a couple branches cut on each for clones.


I dont understand what you mean about feeding, for your application in soil packed with nutes already, you would feed plain water for a week or two, maybe not two weeks, but close, then start alternating feed>plain water>plain water>feed. Feed being your nutrient mixture.

If you just continually feed nutrients you will burn the ever living hell outa your plants....and we dont want that.

Most people feed based on PPM or parts per million, or commonly called EC (electrical conductivity) or TDS (total dissolved solids)...all the same thing really.

your common tap water comes out at 200ppm or round abouts. When you start to feed you want to gradually work the does up acclimating you plants to the new feeding schedule.

and yes 12/12 with the hps when you toss them into flower....make sure the room they are in is totally dark when the lights go out for the other 12 hours or else you will be dealing with hermaphrodites....do you plan on cloning these strains to keep the genetics?

on a side note....yay! for me 200 posts!