step by step how to FIM

doowmd said:

wat up simpsonsampson?!? just stumbled across this as i was rehashing the supercropping thread. tried to give ya another rep, but of course it wouldn't let me till i 'spread some around' lol. anyway 'nother gr8 thread man. its dudes like u who really make this site invaluable to all us smokers/wannabe growers. thx man.
now, back to the thread.... i unintentionally did super cropping and fim'ing last year and didn't even know the name for it!!! lmao. its funny the theory u gave bout how/wat fim'ing stands for/got named for cause thats exactly wat happened to me as i was topping more than one of mine last year. and the super cropping, i accidentally broke one of my better plants when i put it in the ground and it grew that 'knuckle' just like u described. i may have a pic of it. if i find it i'll come back and post that.
quick question: y wait to fim? don't i want the 'new tops' to have time to grow so they'll have bigger buds? i'm just sumwat confused over y i would wait to fim and not try to do it thru out veg. so there'll be more full grown tops ready for bud. appreciate ur advice man. and those're some bad ass grow pics btw. maybe 1 of these days i'll get to that point (fingers and toes crossed!!!) : )

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you can FIM any time during veg you want.. the more you FIM the more tops/branches you can get to come off of each branch tip... but when they grow out, unless they have a good amount of time to grow, they will grow out more like side shoots.. they may hold a good sized flower...

BUT...

my theory is this... super cropping will give you a ton of tops as it is.. and the branches will already be nice and thick all the way up to the tips... so super cropping sets the stage for branches that can hold up huge ass flowers... FIM'ing at the last minute, like i said somewhere in that 2 week window i mentioned, the bud sites just elongate... by that i mean the bud sites that will grow out of the FIM will stretch and can give you longer flowers.. the branch below is strong enough to hold them up since the super cropping was done... and now the flowers can stretch more giving larger and longer buds...

from doing this my average main cola (the true main cola from the center stem) ends up 12+ inches no problems...

i hope that makes sense.. i may be able to "draw" an illustration if not..

HomeGrown420baby said:

i wanna talk to sampson..hey bro im new with the FIM'in method just FIM'd a few of my plants a few days ago and wondering if u can FIM more than once? im goin into flower in 3-4days and wanted to FIM one more time if i should or if i could

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if you want to now would be fine.. you could really do it successfully up until a week into flowering...

Sparky4u said:

Yes, thanks a lot sampson; your posts are imperative in helping me get started on the right path.

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your welcome.. very glad to help!

10 characters............. bump

Awesome explanation... Im veg'ing 5 plants right now and am going to FIM one for some EXP. Reading your simple explanation gives me 100% confidence in 100% success. Thanks alot man, Gluck to all.

good luck to you too.. and good growin!

Does fimming work on autos and can you provide a picture of what the fimmed growth looks like, with more then two tops.

Ive seen this on another forum and i think an image of the multiple new growth heads would help to differentiate this thread from one about normal pruning.

show the result of leaving 30% behind.

loving the Youtube video!
definitely make more, would be happy to see some of you enjoying the fruits of your labours!

pseudo judo said:

Does fimming work on autos and can you provide a picture of what the fimmed growth looks like, with more then two tops.

Ive seen this on another forum and i think an image of the multiple new growth heads would help to differentiate this thread from one about normal pruning.

show the result of leaving 30% behind.

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pseudo judo said:

loving the Youtube video!
definitely make more, would be happy to see some of you enjoying the fruits of your labours!

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i know you cant see the individual new growths.. but this is this is somewhat the result...

what happens when done before flowering is that is cause many new budsites to form at the FIM spot.. as the plant stretches so do these little bud sites... but they dont stretch huge gapped.. they are tighter spaces.. which causes the flowers to get fatter over all... if that makes sense..

i would take a pic of the spot i FIM'd for this instructional but my canopy is too thick to find it... i will take some when i FIM my plants for flowering and post.. it'll be a few weeks away.. but ill make sure to take daily pics so you can follow day to day and see what i mean...

oh.. and i dont mind making the youtube vids.. i make 1 or 2 a grow.. but you'll never see more than my hand.. maybe a forearm.. but never anything more... but believe me.. i more than enjoy the fruits of my labor.. lol

Thank you so much for sharing bro!!! Really helps us rookie growers....

glad to help

I have this picture of fimming vs topping. It's not my picture, someone else posted it here on RIP, I just copied it for future reference. So does this properly illustrate the fimming procedure where it shows the FIM cut location? Now in the picture does that mean to cut or pinch that part off exactly where the line is all the way across? I think you showed it as being different but I may be wrong. I'm just trying to get my brain wrapped around all of this.



Great thread dude.

ah that pic was just what im looking for +rep, can topping / fim'ing be done at anytime in veg? had my girls vegging 5 weeks now is it to late? ( i veg em a while )

the picture is accurate enough... based on that pic, if you follow it, you would cut through the entire top... i personally dont do that.. i pull the outer layer of leaves away and pinch just the center part.. either way is fine.. try both and see which offers the best results..

Thestinker said:

ah that pic was just what im looking for +rep, can topping / fim'ing be done at anytime in veg? had my girls vegging 5 weeks now is it to late? ( i veg em a while )

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anytime in veg is fine.. even within the first week or two of flowering is ok.... stick with fimming over topping tho.. better results with less stress..

cheers buddy + rep

Well first off this is my first grow and I was very reluctant to mess up my first crop. But you made it sound so easy that i had to try it.


I have 2 plants 3 1/2 weeks from seed and I decided to try this on the smaller of the 2 since they both look pretty healthy.

Heres some pics. Hope I did it right. And thanks for the step by step.

Also, I checked out your other post on super cropping and I still feel pretty uncomfortable with that. I tried it also on this plant and one branch in the foreground of the pic did ok but the other that can be seen in the background wilted some in just a few hours. Guess I need more practice with it and Ill probably be doing it also when I start cloning after this crop

Simpsonsampson Do you think id be able to root the decapitated topping for use as a cutting or would I have to cut to far down the stem?
Thinking about topping at the moment If im able recycle the top as clone.

Cheers
thestinker

Dopee man thanks screwed up on this last year cause I didnt have that good of an idea thanks

Thestinker said:

cheers buddy + rep

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thank you

seed2bud said:

Well first off this is my first grow and I was very reluctant to mess up my first crop. But you made it sound so easy that i had to try it.


I have 2 plants 3 1/2 weeks from seed and I decided to try this on the smaller of the 2 since they both look pretty healthy.

Heres some pics. Hope I did it right. And thanks for the step by step.

Also, I checked out your other post on super cropping and I still feel pretty uncomfortable with that. I tried it also on this plant and one branch in the foreground of the pic did ok but the other that can be seen in the background wilted some in just a few hours. Guess I need more practice with it and Ill probably be doing it also when I start cloning after this crop

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the FIM looks great.. should produce you a few nice new tops.. itll take a week or so to tell how many you get tho...

as far as the SC goes... if i see right in the pic it looks like you tried to SC a fan leaf.... which would explain why it wilted.. it looks like you did it right, just to the wrong part of the plant.. you want to make sure you are doing it to a stem or side branch.. not a fan leaf... lol

good luck with your grow tho.. plants are looking nice and healthy!

i have a thread called "for all new growers.. tons of info and answers" that floats around in newb central.. if you ever have any questions on anything feel free to pop in over there and shoot em at me!

Thestinker said:

Simpsonsampson Do you think id be able to root the decapitated topping for use as a cutting or would I have to cut to far down the stem?
Thinking about topping at the moment If im able recycle the top as clone.

Cheers
thestinker

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if you FIM there is no way... if you actually top the plant.. yes.. but you would have to top a few node sets down to allow the clone to be large enough... plus it would take a long time for the top to root since most growth hormones are located near the bottom of the plant...

personally i wouldnt do it... i am not a fan of topping at all.. but its worth trying out... you'll never know until you try right...

CaptainGreen said:

Dopee man thanks screwed up on this last year cause I didnt have that good of an idea thanks

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thank you and your welcome.. good luck with your future grow!

thanks... +rep

SS420, I want to thank you for the SC and the FIM training! I tried the link to your YouTube stuff, but I see that you have taken it down. That is too bad, I would like to have seen it. But again, thanks for helping to make sense of a couple of things that I have been wondering about. I have a notebook that I keep by the computer so that when I am reading the forums here, I can make notes of what I don't understand or know about. You have helped me cross two of those off in a single evening!

+rep!!