Short and bushy

If I wanted to keep my plant squat can I just start toping em after a certain height?

yes you can start topping anytime after there are are 4-5 nodes. I just topped a church plant that was 20inches tall because the rest of the plants in this cycle (cheese) are a few inches shorter and I want them to catch up this week before begging to flower them.

yeah, my goal is to keep it short enough so that it doesn't get too top heavy. The dwc system I used has a floating platform, and while it can support alot of weight before it sinks, I am just afraid that it will tip over.

so, if I do top it, does that cause the lower branches to get longer and thicker? How do you think it will effect the yield?

yes topping will make your lower branches grow longer and thicker.

As far as yield goes that is really dependent on the strain. some strains produce more with several moderately large colas, while others produce more when left to grow one large cola.

awsome. Cool, that means my dwc system won't be useless lol.