Uncle Ben's Topping Technique to Get 2 or 4 Main Colas

Minor light leaks won't cause much if any damage. Too much light will force the plants back into a vegetative state.(somewhere around 3000 lumens) If you have light leaking into your room you definitely have light leaking out too and should make sure this doesn't give away the location of your grow.(bright lights can be as much as a give-away as odor!) It is in your best interests to get your grow as light tight as possible.

When I switched my lights to come on at night during the hot months I used a green incandescent bulb in my grow space so I could still tend to my plants in the dark cycle. Since green is the only color in the light spectrum that doesn't effect the photo-period of cannabis. Good Luck!

it actually wont effect the photoperiod of any plant. its not specific to cannabis

UB: I have done my best to read this entire thread but I don't see my question here so here it goes. I am growing an OG clone right now and I want to do your method, but the nodes are confusing me because they have alternating branches. Each node has only one branch coming off to one side, not two going in opposite directions, you know what I mean? If each of those IS a node, then I'm have nice new growth at the 5th right now, which would mean its time to top above the 2nd node correct? but the second node only has one branch coming off... Does it make no difference?

likeshispot said:

UB: I have done my best to read this entire thread but I don't see my question here so here it goes. I am growing an OG clone right now and I want to do your method, but the nodes are confusing me because they have alternating branches. Each node has only one branch coming off to one side, not two going in opposite directions, you know what I mean? If each of those IS a node, then I'm have nice new growth at the 5th right now, which would mean its time to top above the 2nd node correct? but the second node only has one branch coming off... Does it make no difference?

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Likeshispot, if you are looking for four main colas off your clones, then you need to count out where you have 4 lateral shoots growing, and cut above the last one. If the lateral shoots aren't noticeable yet, then just count up from the bottom 4 leaves, and cut above the last one. Your lateral shoots will come from where the base of the leafs petiole and the stem connect. If you are having trouble understanding then check out the picture below. The item listed as the Axillary Bud is what I am referring to. Dont automatically expect 4 even colas from your clones. I can't even get that when topping plants from seeds, so you may need to do some training via tying down the taller shoots to allow the lower ones to catch up in height.

Thanks Dave! I just topped her, nice and early so she can develop the cola sites for a good month or two before flowering. I'm only growing this one plant and she's under two 60watt cfl's right now until this thursday when my 150 watt hps gets here. I may buy an mh conversion bulb for it for veging. She's growing in a 6 gallon pot of fox farms ocean forrest, haven't given nutes yet because the soil should be enough for a while. I made one of those co2 things with yeast and sugar and that seems to be helping. I want to do everything I can within a fairly low budget to make her a big gnarly plant. Let me know if you have any other advice for me, I appreciate the speedy reply.

likeshispot said:

Thanks Dave! I just topped her, nice and early so she can develop the cola sites for a good month or two before flowering. I'm only growing this one plant and she's under two 60watt cfl's right now until this thursday when my 150 watt hps gets here. I may buy an mh conversion bulb for it for veging. She's growing in a 6 gallon pot of fox farms ocean forrest, haven't given nutes yet because the soil should be enough for a while. I made one of those co2 things with yeast and sugar and that seems to be helping. I want to do everything I can within a fairly low budget to make her a big gnarly plant. Let me know if you have any other advice for me, I appreciate the speedy reply.

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One bit of advice to give you is to not immediately put a small plant into a large container. Its best to start your clones/seedlings in small pots, and allow them to fill up the soil with roots, then upcan them incrementally. They will make better use of the soil this way, and less likely to be over-watered. A 6 gallon pot will take a long time to dry out, so you could easily over-water small plants in such large containers.

Ok, I can be very careful about not overwatering as I have a moisture meter and its my only plant, is it worth repotting it again at this point or should I just be careful?

likeshispot said:

Ok, I can be very careful about not overwatering as I have a moisture meter and its my only plant, is it worth repotting it again at this point or should I just be careful?

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Id probably just leave it as is and be careful with watering.

The more you look at a plant more you want to water them. Just leave em be. It doesnt rain 10 times a day! =)

Im having the same problem likeshi is having. I dont have any nodes that have adjacent brances, they all alternate. Im putting up some pics and i marked off the 2nd nodes. Should I be cutting them there? Any help would be nice. BTW: I do plan on training these plants to grow close to the ground to make them not so noticeable. Will this affect my attempts to get 4 colas if i top these off?

Peeps,

Here is my first attempt at 4 colas, she is looking GREAT! Snow White just started flowering a few days ago....worked like a champ Thanks UB!

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hi,

just topped 24 hours ago and some leaf discoloration appeared on fan leaves from 2nd node. has anyone else seen this before? Might it be from stress from topping? Can pinpoint what it is. here is a link to the post:

https://www.rollitup.org/marijuana-plant-problems/334440-beginning-something-suspicious-need-help.html

Thanks in advance to anyone with the answer.

never mind. i feel stupid. i think it is nute burn.

I finally got my friends digital camera, so here are some pics of lateral branching from the cotyledons. You can still see the shriveled up cotyledons in some of the pics. This is also a plant I accidentally lopped off one of its future main colas. Ooops.

Here are a couple of imageshack link in case anyone is having problems with thumbnails here.

http://img249.imageshack.us/img249/9528/picture030p.jpg
http://img444.imageshack.us/img444/4669/picture024e.jpg

Here is the big girl in all her glory(I believe its a girl). The wingspan on this bitch is insane. The bottom two branches is a little over 2.5 feet. If I hadn't lopped off the other cola, it'd probably be 3-3.5 feet for the upper ones.

This is also day one of flower. She's going to stretch like crazy on me. Oh yeah, dont anyone yell at me for having the ballast on the floor. Its going up on the wall tomorrow.

i topped my plant once and it is better to top it

I was wondering if i should top my plant now or wait until it sexes... I'm trying to keep a short bushy plant and this is a first time grow.

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Kirashiro said:

I was wondering if i should top my plant now or wait until it sexes... I'm trying to keep a short bushy plant and this is a first time grow.

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I would go ahead and top now, but I wouldn't top for four main colas. That will set you back awhile with a plant that well developed. Just remove the top node, and you should get your short bushy plant you are hoping for..but that looks like a sativa you are growing, so short and bushy usually dont really go hand in hand with sativas .

nightwulf1974 said:

Peeps,

Here is my first attempt at 4 colas, she is looking GREAT! Snow White just started flowering a few days ago....worked like a champ Thanks UB!

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Those are looking real nice!! Best of luck with the grow!

DaveCoulier said:

I would go ahead and top now, but I wouldn't top for four main colas. That will set you back awhile with a plant that well developed. Just remove the top node, and you should get your short bushy plant you are hoping for..but that looks like a sativa you are growing, so short and bushy usually dont really go hand in hand with sativas .

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Do you think i'd be better off to just LST the plant instead of topping it?