Fimming or topping for height control?

[chusss]

Hey guys, i would like to know your opinion about that, i have heard to some growers that topping works better for height control, but IMO if you do a good fimming work and began to grow lets say 4 or 6 new main branches instead of 2, that would be better for keep a plant lower

 

[Switcher56]

Although fimming and topping will work for you (height) inter-nodal spacing plays a role as well and that is a combination of feed and light. Check sig, start at last page and work back

 

[Zeez]

Just pinch them and bend them over. you'll have nicer fuller buds because they will grow perpendicular to the stem.

 

[Sir oz]

I had to Google fimming... I've been under a rock I think lol. Like see a I pinch and bend. With my sats I report a lot which helps control height too.

 

[PizzaMan5000]

I beat my girls up pretty hard. All have been topped or fimmed (whatever looked better in the 20 minutes I was working on them)

Some of my bagseeds have bad internode spacing after stretch, so I have a fan leaf taped down. I'll wire it down when convenient.

I like pinching or bending stems. They end up beefier with some phenos. The ONE plant I BROKE and leaned against a wall, now has the fattest cola. I'm only 25 days into flower, but the top nug is twice as big as the others in the room.

All methods seem to work fine. I'm more worried about everything else but training them too hard. This is just my opinion.

 

[Fixer]

I top them!

 

[chusss]

Personally, i always have done fim + LST + scrog and have worked well, but i had my doubts about fim or top

 

[aliceklar]

Topping will take more height off - but either method will extend the time till final harvest as the plants will need to regrow. I'm experimenting with the following to try to reduce the size of the Johaar (TRSC) and its F1s that I am growing:

1) Use smaller pots (germed in 7cm, flowering in 11cm)
2) Reduce time in veg
3) Reduced feeding, especially N
4) Increased light intensity, but with shorter day cycles (currently flowering on 11/13 instead of 12/12)
5) supercropping
6) bend them horizontal and trellis

There are consequenses to all these too - mostly in smaller plants overall with reduced quantity of bud. But I'm going for variety rather than quantity of production, and this lets me grow more plants. Not interested in a single plant scrog.

 

[Chevy cHaze]

I find fimming somewhat of a hit and miss exercise, maybe I'm just clumsy.
Sometimes I get it right, but nowhere near 100%, probably more like 60%?.
So I try to top twice and then supercrop (pinch/break) the shoots that are outrunning the others for height control.
CC

 

[VerdantGreen]

Never fimmed, seems gimmicky and too hit and miss.


If a plant is vigorous, and i am trying to buy time (like waiting for a previous crop to finish) i might top them... but all things being equal i prefer to LTS/ bend / train the plants as this doesn't waste the time of removing plant material and waiting for it to grow back again.
Also keep in mind that topping and fimming will delay the sexing of the plant because you are removing hormones.. - another reason to bend or train the plant.


VG

 

[VerdantGreen]

You can be quite brutal with plants... they are very forgiving:

VG

 

[Magnificat]

I don't FIM or top as i find anything that stresses the plant and slows down the cycle is bad. What i do is just gently bend the stems downward and then tie them down the plant will then grow upwards, then once its over the first tie, you tie down again, and it spirals. No damage and recovery time.

 

[Chevy cHaze]

You can be quite brutal with plants... they are very forgiving:

View Image




VG

Arrrghhhh grosss what kind of sick, twisted shit is this!?



Radical
CC

 

[Switcher56]

I don't FIM or top as i find anything that stresses the plant and slows down the cycle is bad. What i do is just gently bend the stems downward and then tie them down the plant will then grow upwards, then once its over the first tie, you tie down again, and it spirals. No damage and recovery time.

I got news for you. You are stressing your girls whether you know about it or not. Anything you do beyond natural growth stresses the plant. To what degree a technique over another, remains to be determined but, don't kid yourself, you are stressing the plant.

 

[VerdantGreen]

Arrrghhhh grosss what kind of sick, twisted shit is this!?



Radical
CC

Lol, i use that method to reduce the height in a sog without losing apical dominance - so that you still get the nice 'money shot' of the top cola. Good for test grows of new seeds when you want to post a nice picture ; )


VG

 

[aliceklar]

Lol, i use that method to reduce the height in a sog without losing apical dominance - so that you still get the nice 'money shot' of the top cola. Good for test grows of new seeds when you want to post a nice picture ; )

Thanks for the info VG! This is a level of "supercropping" I've not seen before... I've used the "pinch & bend" technique to reduce the height of stretchy plants before, but never to this extent, and it hadnt occurred to me to follow the initial bend with a tie to hold the "U" shape in place. They always pop back up again, to some degree.. I'm assuming that you make one bend at a time, with the second bend made a week or two later when the plant has recovered from the initial bend, to make the "S" shape?


Also "apical dominance" is a nice bit of lingo! I hadnt realised there was a term for this.

 

[VerdantGreen]

Hi Aliceklar, both of the bends are made at the same time... or one straight after the other .

It's best take a good look to judge where the 'fold' should take place... visualise what will happen to the plant.. you want some nodes below just in case of the plant breaking completely (but that hasn't happened to me yet).. and you want a decent height of plant above the fold so as not to interfere with the top cola... then crush the stem in the two places that you require, crush about an inch of stem in each place, gently bend/fold it, and then tie up as shown with the padded wire, not too tight.
It is quite important to then leave the plant alone and not move the bends any further while it heals up.

Then check every so often that the wire isn't constricting the stem as it widens.


lastly, it is probably best to do this when the soil is a bit more on the dry side so as the cells are not too turgid... and then water well afterwards.

edit: if you are unable to crush the stem a bit then it may be hard to do an 'N' bend - it is the crushing that allows you to fold the stem around without snapping it..
VG