# Topping vs Not Topping



## accid (Dec 21, 2011)

Hello all. I was curious as to how many of you top your plants and how many of you do not top. I have never topped before but i may give it a shot this run. Grow area is 9 sq ft by 5ft in height. Got about 4-7 plants in there (in veg). Not sure what the ratio will be once they begin flowering but I would top then wait two weeks prior to flowering.

So my question is, is it a good idea to top? Would this increase my yield, decrease or be about the same? Please feel free to input your opinions. Thanks!


----------



## kiksroks (Dec 21, 2011)

How are you lighting your grow?


----------



## accid (Dec 21, 2011)

400watt HPS in flower, using 250watt cfl for veg. Just right xtra (coco coir) for my medium.


----------



## Locked (Dec 21, 2011)

I am a topper....with my Larry OG it is mandatory or you wind up with tall bean stalks. Top them 2 or 3 times and I get a lot of bud sites and a better yield for sure. It makes them wider so you will fit less plants in your space...but yield is not about the number of plants. More plants doesn't mean more bud. Shorter wider plants will generally gve you more bud sites IMO if it is done right. LST can be used instead or in addition to topping. I like to use a combination of both to really open the plant up and expose as many sites to good light as possible. Jmo


----------



## Xeblaro (Dec 21, 2011)

I'm with Hamster... I top early in the veg stage to promote more tops, than LST towards to end of veg to open the plants up.  It works well.


----------



## 3patas (Dec 22, 2011)

always top your plants


----------



## The Hemp Goddess (Dec 22, 2011)

I generally top my plants also.  While 1 tall central cola can look cool, I believe that the rest of the plant suffers simply because it is too far away from the light.


----------



## Hushpuppy (Dec 22, 2011)

Yeah, I'm with Hammy and the gang here. If you want to keep them shorter and bushier then top, FIM, LST, SC. I personally love the FIM method. It seems a little tricky to do but it is actually quite easy to get the hang of it. I let my plants get about 5-7 nodes depending on the situation then do a FIM and watch all the secondary branches explode upwards in a race to the top   I give them 1-3 weeks recovery depending on what I am doing with them and if they are from seed or clone, then I flip them.


----------

