# When To FIM?



## Auburn1985

I have 3 nice AK47 plants in veg, each in a 3-gallon smart pot (I just transplanted them out of half-gallon plastic pots into the 3-gallon smart pots).  They are each about 6 inches tall.  I want to try FIM for the first time.  At what point in their veg growth should I FIM?

Thanks.


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## 4u2sm0ke

anytime ya have enough growth...


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## Auburn1985

4u2sm0ke said:
			
		

> anytime ya have enough growth...



Should FIM be done more than once?

Is it ever too late to FIM?


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## 4u2sm0ke

only 2late if its in flower....Ive fimmed many times Makes more of a bush


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## The Hemp Goddess

I generally only fim once.  But like 4u said, it can be done more than once.


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## Dan K. Liberty

I allow mine to "grow until they show" (somewhere between 6 and 10 nodes up the main stem), then I cut the females at the top . . . and the males at the bottom.  I found that fimming before they express delays solid identification.

I grow with more vertical space than horizontal, so I only cut once and grow the mature plant out to 6-10 main colas.


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## effdecaf

Hrmn after looking at that picture I am curious if you can 'fim as you clone' by taking the cutting at a FIM point rather than a traditional 'shaft' point. Im new to both but we've noticed some clones take on a Y or take on a MULTI-POINT 'top' as well as just 'one' top directly from the clone->root period. I hope this is clear enough of a question as I'm new to cloning and topping/fimming.


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## 4u2sm0ke

effdecaf said:
			
		

> Hrmn after looking at that picture I am curious if you can 'fim as you clone' by taking the cutting at a FIM point rather than a traditional 'shaft' point. Im new to both but we've noticed some clones take on a Y or take on a MULTI-POINT 'top' as well as just 'one' top directly from the clone->root period. I hope this is clear enough of a question as I'm new to cloning and topping/fimming.




I have seen this happen on clones after they root. they get 3-4 branches...never realy planed it ...but I have noticed it:aok:


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## Dan K. Liberty

I have seen this too 4u2.  Seems I had one mother plant that almost every clone from her would morph like it had been fimmed.   They produced well.

But if I'm growing from regular dioecious seeds, then I want to sex the plants first.  No need to waste time and energy fimming/cloning males.

Fimming the plant for the first time, then you're cutting the main stem, and only half of the tip of the growing shoot.  What you clip off when you fim is not enough material to clone, if that's what you mean.

But yes, I do fim and clone at the same time.  Like I said, once they're 6-10 nodes formed and the plant is definitely showing to be female, I transplant to final container size, fim out the tops and take the clones from the lowest couple sets of branches.  Then after a couple weeks recovery time, flip the light cycle and begin flowering.


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## skullcandy

i would say the 3rd set of leafs that come out would be the ones to fim.


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## Hushpuppy

If I am growing a plant from seed then I will top rather than FIM the first time. The reason is that topping will cause a dual cola(or twin stem) to form. The purpose behind FIM is to redistribute the "top main cola" hormones to be distributed among all of the major branches, and to encourage more branching growth to occur. Using the FIM technique on young seeded plants is really only going to slow the upward growth.

I will top a young seeded plant at about 5-7nodes tall to produce the twin stem which can then be FIMmed later when there are about 10-12 nodes. Or when the plant is fully mature and waiting to go into the flowering tent, I will apply FIM to the highest colas to slow the upward growth and encourage more top cola production.


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## effdecaf

Doesnt topping OR fimming redistribute the hormones that is why the surrounding colas all get phatter? Difference between fimming and topping as illustrated in the pic is merely a place, so if you do it in the right place you get more nodes grabbing up hormone in increased concentrations rather than if you just top you only get 2?





			
				Hushpuppy said:
			
		

> If I am growing a plant from seed then I will top rather than FIM the first time. The reason is that topping will cause a dual cola(or twin stem) to form. The purpose behind FIM is to redistribute the "top main cola" hormones to be distributed among all of the major branches, and to encourage more branching growth to occur. Using the FIM technique on young seeded plants is really only going to slow the upward growth.




Do you fimm the topped plants? So the 10-12 nodes you then cut to get like 300 nodes? I'm super new to topping, fimming, pinching, scrog etc but would also like to try to find the greatest balance of all of these for my strains/setup.

My understanding is that you do one or the other but do not do both as this will stress the plant too much, set you back, and result in 'too many' colas? Or is that just crazy talk? One can never have too many colas? 



			
				Hushpuppy said:
			
		

> I will top a young seeded plant at about 5-7nodes tall to produce the twin stem which can then be FIMmed later when there are about 10-12 nodes. Or when the plant is fully mature and waiting to go into the flowering tent, I will apply FIM to the highest colas to slow the upward growth and encourage more top cola production.



Thanks!

edit: nm ya'll answered it in the second/third posts. lol


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## Gary Ganja

Ok, just want to put what ive learned into my own terms. "Fimming" is to cut that top growth in a way where theres still 4 nodes and this trains the colas, Topping is to cut the entire top growth and i will eventually have the twin top colas for that plant? anyone can confirm this


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## sunakard2000

yes topping traditionaly gives you 2 new tops, while a fim when done correctly can produce 4+ tops. what hushpuppy was getting at is yes both fim and topping redistribute the "top" hormones to the new tops created by the 2 techniques, but whats hes saying is he tops first to get 2 tops, then after those 2 tops have like 4-6 sets of nodes he will FIM the 2 tops basically giving him a minimum of 8 tops if fimmed correctly. you can also apply this to branches below the tops thus creating a short and yet super bushy plant. it takes time for the plant to repair and bounce back so dont get carried away. but with proper use of both top and fim you can defenly make what would be a tall lanky tree into a short stocky bush.


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## effdecaf

This is what I've learned...


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