TOP/FIM alternating nodes...no answers anywhere!?

Where would you top alternating nodes on a clone? I understand you could top from the very top and that is fine but some of my plants are much taller than the others and for those i would like to chop off somewhere lower from the top on the stem to even them all out to the same rough height. That puts me at a dilemma when every node only has on branch coming out from it. How is this done and what would happen? Would i still get 2 main colas by topping even though the node only has 1 branch from the top location and the closest 2nd branch is the next node down?

This is ridiculous. I've searched on multiple cannabis forums and not a SINGLE answer as to how to go about topping or fimming altnerating nodes. My research tells me that almost all clones will have alternating nodes and preflowers since the mothers have most likely been kept as mothers for a few months which is guaranteed them to become sexually mature.

So that being said, that means A LOT of people have alternating node clones, and yet there isn't a single piece of guidance out there on how to top or fim this type of grow pattern? Seriously??


Sorry to rant guys but its very frustrating when there is so much info about every little thing regarding cannabis cultivation and this subject isn't addressed anywhere.

Meow......
I'm trying to pick up what you're putting down......so........
Keep in mind a plant will do wtf it wants to no matter how you try to 'train' it.
Mother Nature is a real mo'fo.
You may just need to do it yourself.....then share.
Welcome to the wonderful world of cannabis.
Good Luck.

Cmon lol there is no way that thousands of people haven't already done this or figured out the best way to go about it. Again, assuming most clones come from mothers that are a few months old that means that the mothers are more than likely sexually mature, which in turn means that the clones will be sexually mature which means that they have clones with alternating nodes! Right?!?

Dude it's your plant just do whatever you want with it. Bend it, pinch it, chop it in half.

bbyb420 said:

Dude it's your plant just do whatever you want with it. Bend it, pinch it, chop it in half.

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What a stupid thing to say. Yea it's my plant I could piss on em if I want to. I'm here asking for guidance, opinions, and suggestions. Don't bother posting useless remarks like that, just wasting everyone's time.

Lol it's not useless if you'd use your head you'd figure you can bend your plant anyway you want to encourage equal growth and a nice flat canopy.

You're sure getting frustrated over such a simple task.

Its the same as when there's even nodes. Cut after the node of your choice, alternating or not.

I don't want to LST them I want to top them. I want to have multiple tops from the top of the plants so that I could put a screen and scrog. So essentially what you are saying is that topping or fimming a clone with alternating nodes is not the best route to go. That if a clone has staggered nodes that LST would be the best route to take for the best results. Is this the statement you are making?

Here's an example, this was an "alternating" clone that I didn't even top. All I did was keep letting it grow out, then bending. This will fill out to become a bush with over 10+ kolas

For what u wanna do bending is a must, you could even incorporate topping and bending together.

Dividedsky said:

Its the same as when there's even nodes. Cut after the node of your choice, alternating or not.

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I see. Thanks for the straight forward reply. I guess what's throwing me off is that with the staggered/alternating nodes, each node only has 1 branch and the next closest branch is at the next node down. So if I top at a node will only that 1 branch on that node become a top? Or will the closest branch down (at the next node down) kick in and become the 2nd branch?

Topping asymetrical nodes doesnt work the same way that topping symetrical nodes does. In fact, doesnt seem to work at all...tried and failed... and after that i dont see how it could... maybe i did it wrong...i dunno

hot cheetos said:

some of my plants are much taller than the others and for those i would like to chop off somewhere lower from the top on the stem to even them all out to the same rough height.

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When this happens to me, because i veg in a different area, I fim the tallest cuts, I dont chop them at a lower height. This puts the brakes on vertical growth. Soon the stragglers have caught up and soon all are growing at an even level more or less.

bbyb420 said:

View attachment 3743141
Here's an example, this was an "alternating" clone that I didn't even top. All I did was keep letting it grow out, then bending. This will fill out to become a bush with over 10+ kolas

For what u wanna do bending is a must, you could even incorporate topping and bending together.

Click to expand...

Baby that looks really. Even looks like A 4-way uncle Ben. You didn't top this plant? I don't see a main stem. I don't understand the science behind that. Why does te main stem stop growing? Or is it that the other shoots get equal amounts of attention and catch up to the main stem and all become essentially the same? I read about this before a while ago, sorry my memory isn't great right now I can't recall.

It's basically just distributing the auxins evenly to all growth nodes. The main kola is the one closest to the broccoli with the yellow leaf. It doesn't stop growing, but I consistently bended it back down to allow the other nodes to grow out evenly. FIMIng would also work like morbid angel suggested to let the other nodes catch up

Fim. Cut only the new shoot, it is tiny. Don't just hack off the stem. Do it right, you'll have 10 Or more tops with one cut.

I'm still new to the whole scene, but all I've dealt with are cuttings from a mature plant....so I've never seen the symmetrical growth that looks so awesome to top/train. Instead of topping, I just bend/supercrop and it works great! Love it.

Here's a series of pics showing one I've got going now. This plant started as a dying/stunted top from another plant that I cut off and decided to stick in dirt and see if it rooted....and it did!

for Scrog grows bending is important to insure canopy control. Every time you bend a stem it activates side shoots. Eventually after much bending you'll have an even canopy so that when you flip your plants you will have buds that are at the same height. That's what makes it a scrog

This is the current state of my plants as of yesterday. Yesterday was the 3 week mark from clone. I struggled with them a bit in the first couple weeks by under feeding them. But they are really blowing up now. So, still suggest LST and FIM? The tallest ones are about 10 inches and the shortest about 8.

Yeah nows the perfect time. You can use trimming scissors or anything sharp to poke a little hole in the fabric pot for feeding the tie through. Works good. It'll look weird at first but given a day or two to recover you'll notice new branches coming out of the side shoots.

If your that worried than just FIM it and get 4 tops or super crop it and get multiple tops or Lst and get multiple tops each technique will work for a scrog