Supercropping

Ive seen a few people ask on "how to supercropp?" and thought why not do a small tut on it.

The reason I,and other growers supercrop is to keep height under controll,allow more light to get deeper into the plant resulting in a more bushier,branchier higher yeilding plant.

You could say it's just like LST,except you dont have to fiddle around with tying knots.

Its very simple,all you need is a branch or a 'top',and some good 'pinching' fingers.You may need to use plyers or something simliar to bruise the stem if its to strong.

Wise Man said:

Ive seen a few people ask on "how to supercropp?" and thought why not do a small tut on it.

The reason I,and other growers supercrop is to keep height under controll,allow more light to get deeper into the plant resulting in a more bushier,branchier higher yeilding plant.

You could say it's just like LST,except you dont have to fiddle around with tying knots.

Its very simple,all you need is a branch or a 'top',and some good 'pinching' fingers.You may need to use plyers or something simliar to bruise the stem if its to strong.

Click to expand...

so u just pinch? not bend over like it looks?

When you supercrop, the whole point is to bend the top over and down. It's like "tricking" the plant to think it's been topped - but you don't top it, the growing sites r still there... just like another branch.

Here's a trick I came up with when I supercropped my grow as my stalks were quite stiff (and, therefore, more brittle - more prone to spllitting)... get something like a pencil or pen or something like that and squeeze it into the stem at where you want to put the bend... but not too much, or you could destroy the stalk (found that out too )...push it in till you can just fold the top over the pencil (about half way) - I use my moisture meter's probe.

I found there is less chance of splitting the stalk doing it this way as compared to simply pinching the stalk, which crushes both sides and flattens out the stalk making it more prone to split. It also enables you to bend the stalk in the exact direction that you want. Put it this way... if it wasn't better, I wouldn't do it

I know this is an old thread. Please forgive me. Here is my question-

Why not just top it? Please keep in mind that I am still buying items to grow with, so, I have not grown yet and I honestly dont know.

I think what they were trying to explain is when you do this method you will not be losing out on the potential bud growth from the top you bent over because it will survive and keep growin to the side while allowing more light to penetrate the lower canopy. If you top it then that top is done so you will yield less from that branch

Beavermonk said:

I think what they were trying to explain is when you do this method you will not be losing out on the potential bud growth from the top you bent over because it will survive and keep growin to the side while allowing more light to penetrate the lower canopy. If you top it then that top is done so you will yield less from that branch

Click to expand...

Oh, ok. So, when a person tops a plant, does that area just not grow anymore? I kinda thought that it "popped out more branches. I dunno though.

Thank You.

MJ and many other plants use hormones that are referred to as the "Growth Hormones", or "Growth Regulators". There are many, and one of the types is a hormone that makes the tallest part of a plant grow the fastest and the best in regards to reproduction and survival.

When you bend the top of Marijuana over, so that the old top is now below another branch tip that is now the new top, the "Top Growth Hormone" is redirected to the new top in the largest quantity of all the branch tips.

What this does at the plant level is to provide two benefits that may affect the survival or the breeding of the plant. The tallest part of the plant is usually the safest from ground based animals that eat MJ. It also increases the chance of that part of the plant receiving the most sunlight. These two occurrences increase the successful reproduction of the plant and the likelihood of it's survival.

After the plant has healed the bent part of the stem, (which can be minimized by slow, weighted bending each day that only causes minute tears on the stem as opposed to a crushed area on it's internal parts), the full resources of the plant will then be redirected at it's two most important needs; Survival and Reproduction, the two things that the new amounts of hormones have already started on after your bend of the stem.

There is a slight wait time for the healing and redirection of hormones. With minimal damage done to the stem, and a robust, healthy plant, the delay is in a few days at most.

The old top will continue to grow as a secondary top. The tip will direct itself directly at the average brightest part of it's day, and any crushing that happened will heal into a harder, more sturdy "knot" on the stem. The grain pattern of this "knot" will be exactly that of a large "knot" on a tree, for exactly the same reasons.

I was just sitting here stoned thinking dam I forgot to say it would cause the rest of the plant to equal out while that main limb heals but as usual was a couple hours delayed Well put Stoney excellent explanation

i've always done what the OP said... i pinch the stems until i hear a light snap, and then i leave it for a few days. let me tell you all something, IT WORKS FANTASTICALLY!!!!!! there are some parts of my plant's stem that look like it is pregnant, and in addition to the extra size, the affected areas are rock hard. i dare everyone who doubts this method to try it out on their weakest plant, and see if it doesn't improve the stem.

TexasMonster,

Supercroppiong and topping are done for different purposes. Super cropping is basically just used to limit the height of the mature plant and to make the branch/main stem grow in the direction that you want it to go.

Topping on the other hand can accomplish limiting the hieghtof a mature plant, but the main purpose is to increase the number of branches that the plant will produce. Theoretically a single topped plant could grow as tall as an untopped one if given enough time in veg after topping, but practically it usually shorten the plant as well as making it bush out with more side limbs.

Topping should be done while the plant is young and it will delay the maturity of the plant each time it is done. The way I top is to pinch/cut out the growing little leaves bundle in the middle of the end of the branch/stem when it is the height that I want the branch to appear at. If done correctly, you will get two new branches, each with a new cola site at its tip growing where you topped it rather than just one branch/stem continuing t grow with only one cola. Theoretically this will result in doubling the production of that one plant, but practically the results are seldom that dramatic. Topping should never be done less than 2 to 3 weeks before the time you expect to switch over to flower. This is because the plant needs time ot heal and the new branches need time to grow and mature before they go into flower.

Hopefully that helps.

Good growing and smoking to you all.

Also, I wonder why this thread isn't under one of the Cultivation or Advanced Growing technique sub forums since it really isn't about a DIY thing but is an somewhat advanced growing technique.