A Complete Guide to Topping, Training and Pruning

[growbie1]

thx guys!
The single leaves that the plants are building out right now, will be thew spots for secondary grows right?
The one on pic 3 was taken 2,5 weeks ago at day 45 of 12/12. It took the clone only 6 days to root and be replanted and its nearly reveged already.
Btw: I took 7 clones, but had to take 2 out of the propag.bub. bevor their roots were done, and i still got 7 out of 7!
So: thx guys for all the info and help here
The IC-forums rule!

I'm gone add 128w of cfl's tomorrow. It's 36 right now....
Think thats gone do the ladys some good.

 

[Kodiak]

Yeah, you will see secondary growth forming at the nodes on the main stem. That will later grow into new branches and shoots.

Sounds good, I'm sure that the plants will appreciate all the light that you can give them.

 

[Habel]

gr8 post the monster cropping technique looks amazin!

 

[Vash]

Superb tutorial, Kodiak. Pictures makes all the difference in the world to the ones of us who are more visual - not to mention clear and concise directions. Kudos, bro.

 

[Kodiak]

Thanks bro, I appreciate it and I agree, pictures sometimes say more than words.

 

[growbie1]

Hey thx to your help the clones are vegging nicely, but now i've got a little question about topping now
So i've topped/fimmed my seedlings after they reached 6-7 internodes yesterday. Right now they are under 182w of CFL's. How long should i wait before i put them under their final veg. bulb (400w) to avoid a double shock? don't wanne stress them too much

 

[Kodiak]

I would give them at least a week. They will cope with less but I find that it works better if you give them more time.

I'm sure that they will like the 400w (HPS I assume) light. Shortening the day gradually seems to decrease the stretch somewhat and gives you an even canopy.

Stress is not a bad thing because it smokes out the hermies but even some stable plants can get stunted if you put them under too much pressure.

Since your plants have coped with revegging, I'm sure that they are quite stable and healthy females or you would have noticed by now.

 

[growbie1]

Jup it's a HPS. Think i'm gone switch them to 400 in a week or so.
plants are at around 8" 7-8 internode and will be vegged for another 3-4 weeks. I was aiming for 20"+ bevor flower, but think that goal might not be fulfilled...

I was a little worried that i might get hermies, but as it seems, all clones are doing fine. They are growing a little slow, but i think the very late taking might make them a little slower.
Sidebranching is really getting started right now. Might put the clones under the HPS a little earlier to really get them going.

 

[Kodiak]

Yeah, I would put them under the hps as soon as they start growing at a steady rate.

More light is more important than the correct spectrum. Plants just produce more of either chlorophyll a (red) or b (blue) in order to compensate.

I don't think that you have to worry about hermies because revegging is quite stressful and they would probably have showed up by now.

 

[filtr0w]

hey there

just to be sure, is there a 'minimum' ammount of internodes required to start topping? ive read that most of you guys do it around the 6th internode, but would be it too early too start doing it around the 4th or 5th? i just want to keep my plants small

thanks a lot!

n

 

[Kodiak]

Hey filtr0w

It all depends on the plant but I would say that it's safe to top the plant around the 4th or 5th node.

That's not what I look at though, I look for secondary growth at the lower nodes. When you see stuff growing that will form into branches and leaves, it's safe to remove the main shoot because you know that the secondary shoots are on their way.

 

[filtr0w]

hello kodiak!

thanks so much for the quick answer

i just needed to confirm this with you, but they definitly look like i could start topping them

thanks again

 

[filtr0w]

aah one doubt that came to me after re-reading your answer

there is some secondary growth but not so big yet, should i wait longer? is it possible for you to show me in any pic what you mean?

thanks a lot

n

 

[Kodiak]

I usually wait until I see something that looks like this:

After that, I top the plant at the appropriate height.


If your plants look ready, go ahead and top them.

Try to visualise what they will look like fully grown, it might make the decision easier.

 

[Oregonsgreen]

Working on monster cropping atm. They have rooted fine and seem to be reverting back to veg but most of the leaves have died. There is new growth coming out of the tip bud so I think everything is going fine.

The next few weeks will be interesting

 

[Kodiak]

Sounds promising but it might take them a while to bounce back. The main thing is healthy roots but if there is little green tissue to assimilate with, the progress can be slow.

Still, it won't matter in the end if the plants make it back into full size.

Good Luck

 

[microbrewer9]

This is the second extremely informative post ive seen in two days from you, he's right you should write a book

 

[Kodiak]

Thanks for the vote of confidence, I'm glad that you found my threads useful.

 

[ColoritGreen]

perfect! thanks for thread, book marked! 5/5

 

[growbie1]

Just stopping by to say:

Thank You
Great thread you got here! I Have monstercropped for the first time and gotta say the results are amazing. Never had such vital clones (used a propagbubbler for the first time 9/9 ) and they are multibranching like hell
so: and keep up the good work!