Can I chop off over a foot from the top?

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SAPFO

Well-Known Member
I topped my plants then went on holiday. The light was too far away and they stretched way too much. Im due to flower in a week and was wondering if I could chop a 1/3 off the top?

Im at max height now and there is not much room left to tie so im at a desperate situation.

They are 31" and id like to go to about 18". Will I hurt them?
 
bigweeds

bigweeds

Active Member
yeah you will hurt them, however did you know they will double or treble in size through flowering??? i vegged mine till they were like 16inch nowday 20 and there 56 inches and stll growing
 
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SAPFO

Well-Known Member
Yes, I fucked up by going on holiday. I read of people taking 50% off the top and being ok. Will they recover?

I mean if I take the 2 sticks where I topped down, where will my cola grow?

Desperate situation im in as there is not much room to bend now.
 
bigweeds

bigweeds

Active Member
i beleive if you chop it know you will seriously hinder your chances of gettin a good crop, i beleive you can do it from what i read, i believe the plant will be stressed for few days then bounce back making new sprouts of leaves where you cut however dont take my word on it as ive never done it. a friend of mine did a trick he laid all his plants down on there side can you do this?
 
Little Tommy

Little Tommy

Well-Known Member
Yes, they can recover. You will probably lose 7-10 days to the recovery process. The next tallest branch(es) will become the new cola(s).
 
S

SAPFO

Well-Known Member
It seems like all the growth is at the top, wll the lower end beging to look like the top if I chop it then?

So a 40% chop it is then? Just a clean snip of the main stem & branches? Ill give it till end of next week to recover before I have to flower.


The one where I topped it is about 12" but above that shot up to 25" due to the high light.
 
SmokeDoggy

SmokeDoggy

Well-Known Member
Bend the stalk over in half. Squeeze/pinch it approx. where you would want to cut it, that way it will bend easily. Trust me, this won't kill the plant, but it will obviously stress it. You don't want to lose the top esp. if the bottom is really small to begin with. One of the best growers on here does this (bends/snaps the stalk over) with little to no prep or skill, he just simply snaps it over on its side. It will continue to grow unless you pluck it all the way off. It will heal some, and you will get those buds instead of losing them. :)
 
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SAPFO

Well-Known Member
Ill give it a try. But that still leaves me with the lack of space problem.

Regarding the 2 autos, can I remove some lower branches and lolipop it? They just aint getting the light....or will the additional 125cfl im going to stick between them be enough to make them worth keeping?
 
SmokeDoggy

SmokeDoggy

Well-Known Member
Looks good, they will likely get repaired soon but in the mean time the lower and main stalk will be growing mostly. The reason I always say to bend them vs. top them so much is because if you top them you lose that top. No question about it. If you bend/break them, you MAY lose the top (likely won't but could). So if you really didn't want to, you won't, and if you really wanted to, you have a 2nd chance to make that decision. Once you top, there's no going back, right? And since you're so close to flowering, that top 1/3 could be most of your plant esp. when you consider the lowers aren't getting light.

Next time, LST from the onset and avoid this altogether (or SCROG).
 
Green Cross

Green Cross

Well-Known Member
SAPFO said:
It seems like all the growth is at the top, wll the lower end beging to look like the top if I chop it then?

So a 40% chop it is then? Just a clean snip of the main stem & branches? Ill give it till end of next week to recover before I have to flower.


The one where I topped it is about 12" but above that shot up to 25" due to the high light.
Click to expand...
Since most the growth is at the top, I think you're better off cloning the top of the plant. You don't want to remove more than 30% of the foliage at once
 
S

SAPFO

Well-Known Member
Reason I cant clone is im on a deadline to chop late october. On my last grow (which was my first), I pinched some branches and they repaired.

When the autos come out in about 4 weeks ill have 50% more room. Then I can tie to the other end of the tent for the last 4/5 weeks of the cheese..

As I said before ive just ordered a 125cfl to go in between my autos due to me not wanting to start messing with them at this stage. Will that give me a boost lower down the autos?


Also one question im curious about is:

I bent those branches .....now the leaves are facing down....will they still take in the light?
 
B

blinitybling

Member
Yikes i dont think they look too good at all, id shut er down and start again, maybe just use the plants as mothers. But back to the beginning.. theres a couple new products on the market 1 is called "dr. node" and what it does , is u apply it and it stops the growth on the spot and the plant bushes out. Never cut off anything off the plant other than maybe the very bottom couple branches , how would u feel if someone cut off all your arms and your head , same thing man. Hope that helps at least for the future..
 
S

SAPFO

Well-Known Member
They are fine now. If you look back Blinity you will see they were healthy. Its only due to bending they look like that. Anyway, where I bent has strenghtened up and the main stems seem thicker. Im flipping 2mo.
 
B

blinitybling

Member
SAPFO said:
They are fine now. If you look back Blinity you will see they were healthy. Its only due to bending they look like that. Anyway, where I bent has strenghtened up and the main stems seem thicker. Im flipping 2mo.
Click to expand...

Awesome glad to hear , its just a gutsy move to chop i find , luckily it worked out.
 
grobofotwanky

grobofotwanky

Well-Known Member
Just allow veg growth to resume after topping, before entering 12/12 and they should pull through just fine. Best of luck
 
S

SAPFO

Well-Known Member
I didnt chop in the end, I bent instead, less risky, I think I might have you confused. I did top the 3 cheese on week 3 aaaages ago though. Flipped now.

Setting up a veg tent as I now have more time. The tent will be 60 x 60 x 140cm. That going to be ok to provide for my 1 x 1 x 2mtr main tent?
 
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