Topped vs Untopped

I just finished up my second grow which consisted of 3 topped and 1 untopped lady. My first grow I grew 2 topped plants out.

After leaving a plant to do its own thing untopped, I noticed that the buds on my untopped plant were overall much more dense and yielded a significant amount (around 25%) more than my plants that were topped. Even the secondary branches fruited much more dense buds than the ones on the other 3 plants. It's important to note that this untopped plant was left to flower a week longer (9 weeks as opposed to than the other plants due to the trichomes maturing slower. I also did a staggered harvest due to the height and gave the popcorn buds a bit more than a week to ripen up (10 weeks flowering total) and was impressed with the results although I probably could have left the popcorn to go even another week. All were sprouted from seed and were pineapple express feminized by G13.

Considering what I experienced, I am thinking about leaving all 4 of my plants to grow naturally this next grow to see if my results are consistent.

I see everywhere that people recommend topping to increase yields, especially with scrog grows... could the extra week of flowering been what really did it or is there any truth that untopped plants yield more dense buds?

Topping isn't just about increased yields. Most growers have height restrictions.

Just curious, did you have the topped and un-topped plants in the same grow space? If so, I would imagine the un-topped plants would have grown taller and been closer to the lights? Could that have caused them to have denser buds?

The one untopped plant was about 7 inches closer to the light I would guess.

The reason I don't think it had to do with the light distance is that even the buds lower in the canopy are more dense than even the tops of the topped plants.

Some strains don't really like topping and will produce some slightly below average size colas. Others love topping and will give you donkey dicks on each line... you just have to play with your strain and find what works for it!

To answer your question no. Topping yields more if done. Right..

Due to my small growing space and love for variety I doubt I will get to study a strain consistently for quite some time.

Do you find more strains prefer to be topped than not?

Oh yeh. Strawberry cough, msybe itd the pheno. hates my hst. Hates it. Blu berry seems to like defoliation. OG kush i had loved supercropping, it was a monster

medicalMonster said:

To answer your question no. Topping yields more if done. Right..

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Or you could just tie over the lead top thus creating apical dominance and not even have to remove any of the plant.

You mean remove apical dominance. Yeh. But do you really tell it and hormonally let it know your no longer what you were? I never tried tying down. but it must take space. on day i shall. And i dont like big colas. Dryings a bitch.

I find the whole thing interesting. I grow almost entirely sativa-dominant hybrids, and if I did not top them, I'd have to flip them a lot sooner or run out of vertical space. In my limited experience (on my 5th indoor grow), the longer I veg the thicker the stems the bigger/beafier the buds -- so I top 2 or sometimes 3 times per grow depending on the strain and how long I intend to veg them.

Would you rather have a 1.5 oz plant that finishes early, or would you rather spend an extra three weeks training for a 3 oz plant?

A plant that touches me at night.

^^^^^ depends. Do I have 3 weeks of pot left before I run out. Lol

medicalMonster said:

You mean remove apical dominance. Yeh. But do you really tell it and hormonally let it know your no longer what you were? I never tried tying down. but it must take space. on day i shall. And i dont like big colas. Dryings a bitch.

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Yes removing apical dominance. I love tying the lead cola at 90 degrees during flower. Its super easy and makes for more yield.

Budley Doright said:

^^^^^ depends. Do I have 3 weeks of pot left before I run out. Lol

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No your patients need ASAP.........

Budley Doright said:

^^^^^ depends. Do I have 3 weeks of pot left before I run out. Lol

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I think this is the factor with a lot of us lol. Also why i think a lot of plants get chopped early. I usually have overlap so I'm never really in a rush to harvest, but I think a lot of growers, especially new ones, are.


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a mongo frog said:

No your patients need ASAP.........

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Oh right patients ....... Ya patients, I guess you could classify my chain vaping girlfriend a patient ;(.

kmog33 said:

I think this is the factor with a lot of us lol. Also why i think a lot of plants get chopped early. I usually have overlap so I'm never really in a rush to harvest, but I think a lot of growers, especially new ones, are.


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Been growing for 45 years and still can't fit enough in the shed lol. And I don't pull early, everyone else pulls late lol.

medicalMonster said:

To answer your question no. Topping yields more if done. Right..

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This is an awesome photo, should be in a mag or something