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A Complete Guide to Topping, Training and Pruning
- Thread starter Kodiak
- Start date
Guybrush T.
Member
Great info... Saved!! Thank you a lot!
ah well at least I am better informed for my next run.
A must read for the newbie/novice
A must read for the newbie/novice
This is a must read for any newbie/inexperienced person. I started growing with an experienced partner. I was paying him A LOT of money to teach me how to grow in its entirety, each month, for one year. We got to month 5 (the beginning of winter) and he bailed on me. So here I sit STRESSED OUT and staring at these plants that I don't know what to do with. I am on a 15/15/15 rotation and am cropping every month. With the temp getting colder and colder, i am now worried about my plants getting stunted in their growth. Overwhelmed does not begin to cover what i am feeling right now. I knew I had to start somewhere, so i found this site and jumped in. I am writing down the main topics i need information on and then researching them one by one. once i came to this thread on pruning, topping and super croping etc. I was so excited. It is so VERY CLEAR, WELL WRITTEN, NOT OVERWHELMING and makes me.....the novice not feel quite so hopeless after all. Thank you thank you thank you. Now, onto my next chapter of research...transplanting. Hopefully i am able to find many more threads on information you have written.
A must read for the newbie/novice
This is a must read for any newbie/inexperienced person. I started growing with an experienced partner. I was paying him A LOT of money to teach me how to grow in its entirety, each month, for one year. We got to month 5 (the beginning of winter) and he bailed on me. So here I sit STRESSED OUT and staring at these plants that I don't know what to do with. I am on a 15/15/15 rotation and am cropping every month. With the temp getting colder and colder, i am now worried about my plants getting stunted in their growth. Overwhelmed does not begin to cover what i am feeling right now. I knew I had to start somewhere, so i found this site and jumped in. I am writing down the main topics i need information on and then researching them one by one. once i came to this thread on pruning, topping and super croping etc. I was so excited. It is so VERY CLEAR, WELL WRITTEN, NOT OVERWHELMING and makes me.....the novice not feel quite so hopeless after all. Thank you thank you thank you. Now, onto my next chapter of research...transplanting. Hopefully i am able to find many more threads on information you have written.
ganja_smokah
Member
i dont transplant i germinate direct into soil ..as i just did again on my thread maybe u should trty germinate direct into soilt pot and just refill with extra soil as it grows up
Hey guys
Just stopped by to say hello.
I'm glad that my guide was of some help to you.
When it comes to plants, don't fret. They will recover from almost anything you throw at them.
If you top them too early or prune too much, or whatever, just give the plants more time and they will enventually bounce back.
Trying to fix things usually means making things worse.
Patience is a virtue and when left alone, the plants will fix themselves over time.
If they cannot, perhaps it wasn't meant to be. Survival of the fittest and all that.
Besides, I would rather grow strong plants than weak plants, which is also why I have always recommended stress testing the plants.
For one thing, that weeds out the hermies among the population. It also helps you to find the plant that has both the strength and the ability to adapt in order to survive. Not all plants can manage this.
So, in some sense, you are doing yourself a favor by subjecting the plants to a less than ideal environment and some rough handling. Some plants can only survive in that optimal environment, others can manage a wide range of stress factors before they perish.
That goes for pretty much everything related to growing.
I usually look for environmental resistance first, then add stuff to the mix through cross-breeding varieties that have been stress tested. Potency, scent, bud density and frequency, aesthetics and final weight, are all things that you can add onto your plant over time.
In that sense, I guess it doesn't really matter where you start, as long as you tick off all the things on your list. I just tend to look for plants that can handle a lot of stress first, because then I don't have to worry about hermies down the line.
Keep in mind that a good plant can adapt to different environments. You can take two clones from the same plant and end up with different expressions of that particular set of genes, depending on the enviroment. The plants will express any trait that is favorable in any given environment. In other words, a plant's DNA can contain information that will never be used, except if the plant happens to find itself somewhere where those genetic traits are needed.
Also keep in mind that not all plants are great, which is a shame, considering how much some of the seeds cost. I have found that you can find really crappy plants among expensive seeds and exceptional plants among cheap seeds. The high price of the seeds is no indication of quality. I would rather have 100 cheap seeds than 10 expensive ones, as I would be almost certain to find something good among to 100 seeds. With the 10 seeds, 5 might not germinate and the other 5 might be the runts of the litter. Still, what we actually paying for is the time it took someone to nail down certain traits. Breeding takes a lot of time and patience, as you usually have to work on the plants for several generations.
Each seed is individually fertilized, and as such, not entirely identical to the seed sitting next to it on the plant. In other words, there will be some degree of variation even between seeds that came from the same plant. The same set of genes are used but the recombination of those genes can be slightly different (hence people look similar to their sibling but not identical.. unless they are identical twins, but even they have small differences in appearance). It's not always that easy to spot in plants, but when you start to explore a bunch of seeds, you will notice the difference. The closer you look, the more you will see.
I usually grow larger populations and look for something that stands out. I've said it before, but 50% of the plants are ok but nothing speical, 30% might have some good qualities but aren't perfect, 15% are exceptional with several good/unique traits and 1%-5% are Holy Grails.
You might land on that 1% by chance on the first seed. You never know, but explore as many plants as you can and you will find that there are vastly superior plants to be found within every strain.
Lately, I have been concentrating on mutant seed lines, because mutations can cause unexpected shifts in the genetic code, giving rise to some interesting traits. Usually, those mutant plants will have some problems, but that can be ironed out through crossbreeding. One thing that I've noticed is that plant DNA seems to have a way of correcting itself over the course of a few generations. So, in the end, you'll end up with a normal plant that also retains the interesting mutant trait.
Inbreeding is not that big of a deal in plants, unlike in animals, where it can have catastrophic results. Still, even in plants, inbreeding leads to genetic depression and eventually less than stellar individuals. Outcrossing gives rise to much better results (hybrid vigor), but also more variation. People use "cubing" ( a form of inbreeding) to nail down recessive traits in certain strains by doing numerous backcrosses. If those plants where cross-bred to something else, you might lose the trait you wanted to preserve.
I'm not too keen on preserving particular traits. I rather cross two super plants and create something new, but that's just me. What comes out of the mix usually ends up being more interesting that the plants you started out with.
In any case, give your plants time to recover and they will be fine. If not.. then grow something else and make better use of your time.
Finally, I noticed that the PDF file for the guide is no longer working, so I re-uploaded both my guides to a new server.
Here they are:
Growing Guide
Topping & Training Guide
Enjoy
Just stopped by to say hello.
I'm glad that my guide was of some help to you.
When it comes to plants, don't fret. They will recover from almost anything you throw at them.
If you top them too early or prune too much, or whatever, just give the plants more time and they will enventually bounce back.
Trying to fix things usually means making things worse.
Patience is a virtue and when left alone, the plants will fix themselves over time.
If they cannot, perhaps it wasn't meant to be. Survival of the fittest and all that.
Besides, I would rather grow strong plants than weak plants, which is also why I have always recommended stress testing the plants.
For one thing, that weeds out the hermies among the population. It also helps you to find the plant that has both the strength and the ability to adapt in order to survive. Not all plants can manage this.
So, in some sense, you are doing yourself a favor by subjecting the plants to a less than ideal environment and some rough handling. Some plants can only survive in that optimal environment, others can manage a wide range of stress factors before they perish.
That goes for pretty much everything related to growing.
I usually look for environmental resistance first, then add stuff to the mix through cross-breeding varieties that have been stress tested. Potency, scent, bud density and frequency, aesthetics and final weight, are all things that you can add onto your plant over time.
In that sense, I guess it doesn't really matter where you start, as long as you tick off all the things on your list. I just tend to look for plants that can handle a lot of stress first, because then I don't have to worry about hermies down the line.
Keep in mind that a good plant can adapt to different environments. You can take two clones from the same plant and end up with different expressions of that particular set of genes, depending on the enviroment. The plants will express any trait that is favorable in any given environment. In other words, a plant's DNA can contain information that will never be used, except if the plant happens to find itself somewhere where those genetic traits are needed.
Also keep in mind that not all plants are great, which is a shame, considering how much some of the seeds cost. I have found that you can find really crappy plants among expensive seeds and exceptional plants among cheap seeds. The high price of the seeds is no indication of quality. I would rather have 100 cheap seeds than 10 expensive ones, as I would be almost certain to find something good among to 100 seeds. With the 10 seeds, 5 might not germinate and the other 5 might be the runts of the litter. Still, what we actually paying for is the time it took someone to nail down certain traits. Breeding takes a lot of time and patience, as you usually have to work on the plants for several generations.
Each seed is individually fertilized, and as such, not entirely identical to the seed sitting next to it on the plant. In other words, there will be some degree of variation even between seeds that came from the same plant. The same set of genes are used but the recombination of those genes can be slightly different (hence people look similar to their sibling but not identical.. unless they are identical twins, but even they have small differences in appearance). It's not always that easy to spot in plants, but when you start to explore a bunch of seeds, you will notice the difference. The closer you look, the more you will see.
I usually grow larger populations and look for something that stands out. I've said it before, but 50% of the plants are ok but nothing speical, 30% might have some good qualities but aren't perfect, 15% are exceptional with several good/unique traits and 1%-5% are Holy Grails.
You might land on that 1% by chance on the first seed. You never know, but explore as many plants as you can and you will find that there are vastly superior plants to be found within every strain.
Lately, I have been concentrating on mutant seed lines, because mutations can cause unexpected shifts in the genetic code, giving rise to some interesting traits. Usually, those mutant plants will have some problems, but that can be ironed out through crossbreeding. One thing that I've noticed is that plant DNA seems to have a way of correcting itself over the course of a few generations. So, in the end, you'll end up with a normal plant that also retains the interesting mutant trait.
Inbreeding is not that big of a deal in plants, unlike in animals, where it can have catastrophic results. Still, even in plants, inbreeding leads to genetic depression and eventually less than stellar individuals. Outcrossing gives rise to much better results (hybrid vigor), but also more variation. People use "cubing" ( a form of inbreeding) to nail down recessive traits in certain strains by doing numerous backcrosses. If those plants where cross-bred to something else, you might lose the trait you wanted to preserve.
I'm not too keen on preserving particular traits. I rather cross two super plants and create something new, but that's just me. What comes out of the mix usually ends up being more interesting that the plants you started out with.
In any case, give your plants time to recover and they will be fine. If not.. then grow something else and make better use of your time.
Finally, I noticed that the PDF file for the guide is no longer working, so I re-uploaded both my guides to a new server.
Here they are:
Growing Guide
Topping & Training Guide
Enjoy
Oh yeah.. transplanting can get tricky..
The one thing that you don't want to do, is to accidentally separate the tap root (main root) from the stem. That will kill the plant. The tap root is not securely fixed to the stem. The connection can be fragile and if too much weight is placed on that particular spot, the tap root will break. Lifting up the plant and the pot by the stem, without supporting the pot underneath with the other hand, can lead to this.
There are two safe methods of transplanting that I have found.
In both cases, it's best to let the soil dry up completely before you take the next step. You might also have to use one hand to support the roots. It's also a good idea to remove some of the outermost roots, or simply scratch at them with your fingernails. This will encourage more root growth in the new medium.
1. Put some newspaper on the floor and they lay down the plant, so that it is resting horizontally on the floor. Then squeeze the pot on all sides and carefully and slowly lift and remove the pot. Leave the plant and the connected soil resting on the floor until you are ready to repot.
2. This only works for smaller and medium sized pots. Grab the stem of the plant with a reversed grip, so that you thumb and your index finger are resting against the soil. Then do a 180 and flip the plant over on its head, while supporting the pot with your other hand. Then remove the pot carefully by lifting it up. Make sure to support the roots and the cake of dry soil with your other hand. This method is quick and effective, so I use it a lot.
Good luck and have fun growing.
K
The one thing that you don't want to do, is to accidentally separate the tap root (main root) from the stem. That will kill the plant. The tap root is not securely fixed to the stem. The connection can be fragile and if too much weight is placed on that particular spot, the tap root will break. Lifting up the plant and the pot by the stem, without supporting the pot underneath with the other hand, can lead to this.
There are two safe methods of transplanting that I have found.
In both cases, it's best to let the soil dry up completely before you take the next step. You might also have to use one hand to support the roots. It's also a good idea to remove some of the outermost roots, or simply scratch at them with your fingernails. This will encourage more root growth in the new medium.
1. Put some newspaper on the floor and they lay down the plant, so that it is resting horizontally on the floor. Then squeeze the pot on all sides and carefully and slowly lift and remove the pot. Leave the plant and the connected soil resting on the floor until you are ready to repot.
2. This only works for smaller and medium sized pots. Grab the stem of the plant with a reversed grip, so that you thumb and your index finger are resting against the soil. Then do a 180 and flip the plant over on its head, while supporting the pot with your other hand. Then remove the pot carefully by lifting it up. Make sure to support the roots and the cake of dry soil with your other hand. This method is quick and effective, so I use it a lot.
Good luck and have fun growing.
K
FoothillsFarmer
Member
good to see you around and still at it Kodiak 
gardener60
Active member
Training and pruning
Training and pruning
Very, very informative post it takes away weeks of reading not that reading is bad I try to read something new every night no matter what it is. My hat is off to you.
Training and pruning
Very, very informative post it takes away weeks of reading not that reading is bad I try to read something new every night no matter what it is. My hat is off to you.
Brain.storm
Member
Very nice and helpful guide! 
