Okay to top?

Fast Buds strawberry banana auto (R)
Fast Buds purple punch auto (L)

don’t think the PP is gonna be topped.
Looking for opinions. They are both in week 3.

Bottom half FFOF and perlite, top half Coco Loco and perlite. Layer of kelp meal, great white between layers. Edited because I misread Budzilla’s post.

Is it safe to top dress EWC and Gaia green end of this week?

Topping the strawberry banana should be safe, yeah? It’s strong and vibrant. What do you experienced growers say?

i dont know what budzilla told you but layering those two completely different mediums in that manner makes me think it may cause some trouble down the line for you. hope i’ll be proven wrong.

I don’t generally top autos. They are fickle in my experience and why I don’t run ‘em often, more a photo period person. Would agree with @crimsonecho that mixing mediums isn’t ideal and could present some challenges as you go. I also run organic (GG, Kelp, fish fertz etc) but do so with organic soil. Best of luck. Plants look healthy!

crimsonecho said:

i dont know what budzilla told you but layering those two completely different mediums in that manner makes me think it may cause some trouble down the line for you. hope i’ll be proven wrong.

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Oh no! I thought coco loco was organic also. Or is it the coco coir in it? What issues? Can I still get a successful grow?

DMChiz said:

I don’t generally top autos. They are fickle in my experience and why I don’t run ‘em often, more a photo period person. Would agree with @crimsonecho that mixing mediums isn’t ideal and could present some challenges as you go. I also run organic (GG, Kelp, fish fertz etc) but do so with organic soil. Best of luck. Plants look healthy!

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What kind of challenges, so I can prepare ahead? Now I’m worried

Different mediums, different attributes.

Soil needs wet/dry cycles coco while doesn't.

Feeding is quite different as well between soil & coco.

I see. What can I do at this point?

Yeah - it didn’t say to run coco loco ( water retaining mix ) - so you are in uncharted waters with two different mediums trying to be the main soil.

However as I mentioned in my thread ( where you asked a question ) you may have to look at a feed supplement ( dry ) as coco loco is kinda weak in the nute department ( ewc / batguano / kelp and ph adjusters ) . That’s it. This is one way to make it work.

The plants actually look pretty damn good. I wouldn’t top them right now - let them continue to set up structure and look at LST training. It looks like you topdressed the FFOF ( which is good ) because as you water that in it will drench the coco loco like a tea.

But , I like this way better.
The following is my 2¢ - KEEP Topdressing with a few cups of fresh soil during grow - add no other nutes. FFOF as a tea drench or top dress will feed it. Good thing about you coco loco is the built in PH adjusters. I think you will be fine as long as you don’t introduce a bunch of other shit.

i see budzilla is budzbuddha lol

in general there is nothing wrong with mixing coco and peat based mediums ime but layering them should be another beast bc they have slightly different ph, different fertigation needs (as mentioned above) and there is also this perched water table stuff which you might want to read about. basically different mediums when layered dont exchange water very freely between them. for the bottom mix to start getting water the top coco layer must be soaked to the point that it cant hold water anymore and only then the excess water will start moving into the bottom peat layer. which will create two soaked bottoms in your pot one in the middle and one in the bottom as opposed to just one with a mixed medium. might not be so perfect. this is just my understanding of the concept i may be wrong on this and i’m open to corrections if my conception of perched water table is wrong

now there is not much to do as they are already established so you just gotta hope for the best.

Budzbuddha said:

Yeah - it didn’t say to run coco loco ( water retaining mix ) - so you are in uncharted waters with two different mediums trying to be the main soil.

However as I mentioned in my thread ( where you asked a question ) you may have to look at a feed supplement ( dry ) as coco loco is kinda weak in the nute department ( ewc / batguano / kelp and ph adjusters ) . That’s it. This is one way to make it work.

The plants actually look pretty damn good. I wouldn’t top them right now - let them continue to set up structure and look at LST training. It looks like you topdressed the FFOF ( which is good ) because as you water that in it will drench the coco loco like a tea.

But , I like this way better.
The following is my 2¢ - KEEP Topdressing with a few cups of fresh soil during grow - add no other nutes. FFOF as a tea drench or top dress will feed it. Good thing about you coco loco is the built in PH adjusters. I think you will be fine as long as you don’t introduce a bunch of other shit.

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I haven’t top dressed yet. I will, however. Let’s hope for the best. I’ll update with photos.

Top dressed with FFOF and some EWC. Decided not to top the Strawberry Banana auto, and went with lst. I tied it down.

I defoliated a few fan leaves that were blocking growth sites. Hoping it turns out good.

(before and after phots of lst)

wheelyman said:

Top dressed with FFOF and some EWC. Decided not to top the Strawberry Banana auto, and went with lst. I tied it down.

I defoliated a few fan leaves that were blocking growth sites. Hoping it turns out good.

(before and after phots of lst)

Click to expand...

Looks good just don't leave ur light on full blast with water on em

my babies

PURPLEB3RRYKUSH said:

View attachment 5369367my babies

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They winked at me.

wheelyman said:

Fast Buds strawberry banana auto (R)
Fast Buds purple punch auto (L)

don’t think the PP is gonna be topped.
Looking for opinions. They are both in week 3.

Bottom half FFOF and perlite, top half Coco Loco and perlite. Layer of kelp meal, great white between layers. Edited because I misread Budzilla’s post.

Is it safe to top dress EWC and Gaia green end of this week?

Topping the strawberry banana should be safe, yeah? It’s strong and vibrant. What do you experienced growers say?

Click to expand...

Very nice looking plants.

Top away!

Two comments -
I never understood the bro science concept that topping a plant would hurt it somehow or stunt it. Topping involves removing a tiny amount of plant material that is, one, not load bearing; two, has never contributed to the growth of the plant; and, three, is vegetation that the plant does not need.

Another common comment is that autos are finicky. That's unfortunate to hear that some growers have had problems but my experience has been just the opposite - they're beasts!

Delps8 said:

Very nice looking plants.

Top away!

Two comments -
I never understood the bro science concept that topping a plant would hurt it somehow or stunt it. Topping involves removing a tiny amount of plant material that is, one, not load bearing; two, has never contributed to the growth of the plant; and, three, is vegetation that the plant does not need.

Another common comment is that autos are finicky. That's unfortunate to hear that some growers have had problems but my experience has been just the opposite - they're beasts!

Click to expand...

The seeds I’ve gotten are strong growers. I did lst. Can’t top still can I?

wheelyman said:

The seeds I’ve gotten are strong growers. I did lst. Can’t top still can I?

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I'm running out of ways to say "yes".

Those are great looking plants and, shocked face here, I think they're getting enough light. I say "shocked face" because many growers provide their plants with modest amounts of light and, as expected, they end up with a modest amount of cannabis. The plants in your photos exhibit all of the signs of getting good light so hats off to you.

Ok, back to topping. It's really a non-event. Find the fourth node on the apical stem. When you cut the stem, make a your cut at least a cm above the node. The reason for that is that, as your plant matures, the stem may split. Cutting the stem a little bit above the fourth node helps reduce the chance of causing a problem if/when it splits. I've had the stem split a number of times and it has been of no consequence.

I topped several times and it's doing fine. My goal was to get as many colas as I could for my Royal Dwarf Auto.

Delps8 said:

Very nice looking plants.

Top away!

Two comments -
I never understood the bro science concept that topping a plant would hurt it somehow or stunt it. Topping involves removing a tiny amount of plant material that is, one, not load bearing; two, has never contributed to the growth of the plant; and, three, is vegetation that the plant does not need.

Another common comment is that autos are finicky. That's unfortunate to hear that some growers have had problems but my experience has been just the opposite - they're beasts!

Click to expand...

To each his own with this stuff and have fun, but I don’t consider the advice about topping to be “bro science” at all. Topping works on an auto, but in my experience running actual A/B comparisons, LST is more effective. I’ve heard many experts on podcasts etc agree with this observation.

It makes sense. Autos are on a clock, and you are diverting energy to healing when you top. A photo has as much time as you need, but an auto will finish when it’s time is up regardless of what you do. All things being equal, I’d rather LST an auto than top it. Again, I’ve topped several autos and they’ve all produced buds, but their untopped sisters consistently produced more. Just listened to a podcast with two professional growers who between them had grown 1000s of autos. They offered the same advice I am suggesting above.

The life cycle of a plant is real science, bro.

Blue_Focus said:

I topped several times and it's doing fine. My goal was to get as many colas as I could for my Royal Dwarf Auto.

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Posting as an alternative in case people are reading this and looking for advice. That plant has been topped so much it won’t have time to develop large colas. I’m glad you had fun experimenting, but for actual best product possible, less is more. Those buds will never have a chance to develop into fully formed colas, imo. Topping has stunted productivity. Perhaps I’m wrong - please post some pics of the finished product - but for folks looking for advice, I’d advise strongly against this approach (multiple toppings). Low stress training will get you there more safely with these fickle plants. Don’t mean to be a jerk, but new growers are reading this stuff looking for advice. My advice to a new grower: when you’re starting out, less is more. Once you get some experience and observation under your belt, start to experiment and compare data. LST works great with autos. Topping is a riskier proposition that will work fine for when most timed carefully (but for my money won’t out produce a plant with only lst). Multiple toppings - out of the question imo.