Topping vs tying down?

Cannabinoid Froyd said:

I top once and let the branches grow out.

What I did notice about my last grow was that the branches that were not topped grew so fast that by the time the topped branch recovered I already had 4 new bud sites on each branch that was not topped.

Lst produces bud sites faster in my experience.

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yeah I’m thinking I’ll just give the LST a go it’s only my second grow so still got lots to learn

hillbill said:

Up till my present 12/12 from seed thing, I topped almost everything, then tied branches to flat canopy. Most light to most buds.

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Are you saying you do 12/12 from when the seed sprouts or?

Grower5744 said:

I do both on photos. I usally top at the 4th node and tie down from there on out. Autos I just tie down. Don't want those baby's slowing down for shit.

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yeah I haven’t grown any autos before as it’s only my second grow. Definitely something I might look into! Do you top as soon as you see the fourth node or wait for it to grow a little bit before hand?

Star Dog said:

I prefer to tie them but under certain circumstances I'd top.

Heres one tied and one topped they look pretty much the same.
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Incidentally one plant completely collapsed with its own weight I can't say it tying related but it was that plant?
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Respectfully to the chap above you just need a bit of practice to keep them even.
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Op here's a tied plant remains I've just harvested and a topped plant below for comparison.
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Yeah there’s definitely not much difference! They are some of the nicest looking buds I’ve ever seen honestly nice grow

sdd420 said:

Some plants have too big of a top bud that are prone to bud rot ie Sour Bubble. So topping creates more bud sites that are smaller and more manageable

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But would using LST mitigate that issue?

Sdh777 said:

I top, lollipop & SCROG and the growth is still ridiculous & out of control…
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Yeah that’s how it is with hydro. You can watch them grow.

hotrodharley said:

Yeah that’s how it is with hydro. You can watch them grow.

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yeah I’d definitely like to give hydro a go one day but it’s only my second grow so I thought I may aswell start slow

A.k.a said:

In my experience topping is best if you’re trying to have an organized/trained plant without a net. Tying it over doesn’t come out as clean and usually ends up with the plant off center in the pot, but that might just be my lack of experience with it.

for example this is one that I topped and then trained all the branches into a wheel.

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nice looking plant! So would you say that using LST makes it a bit harder to manipulate the plant the way you want it?

xX24nuggetsXx said:

yeah I’d definitely like to give hydro a go one day but it’s only my second grow so I thought I may aswell start slow

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You’ll be glad you did. Learn about the plant in every way. Shit happens fast in hydro and it pays to know whether you’re looking at toxicity or deficiency.

hotrodharley said:

You’ll be glad you did. Learn about the plant in every way. Shit happens fast in hydro and it pays to know whether you’re looking at toxicity or deficiency.

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yeah I ran into nitrogen toxicity and over watering on my first grow so definitely need to be up to scratch with it all!

I top 3 times in a row starting on the first node above the first full leaf set. 5 blades and the node above it gets it as soon as it can be pinched. Those branches are topped and so are the ones from that topping. Leaves 8 “main” branches.

I supercrop starting as soon as the first growing branches can be snapped. I can keep most strains in a wagon wheel shape and canopy chest high or less until flip. You can’t supercrop much after that second week of flower all bets are off on stretch after that. But it basically stays pretty much level given differences in strains.

hotrodharley said:

I top 3 times in a row starting on the first node above the first full leaf set. 5 blades and the node above it gets it as soon as it can be pinched. Those branches are topped and so are the ones from that topping. Leaves 8 “main” branches.

I supercrop starting as soon as the first growing branches can be snapped. I can keep most strains in a wagon wheel shape and canopy chest high or less until flip. You can’t supercrop much after that second week of flower all bets are off on stretch after that. But it basically stays pretty much level given differences in strains.

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Yeah true so you get pretty aggressive with it? Do you usually grow from seed or clones? Yeah I definitely need to work out ways to incense my final main tops! It’s definitely a fun thing to learn about

xX24nuggetsXx said:

Yeah true so you get pretty aggressive with it? Do you usually grow from seed or clones? Yeah I definitely need to work out ways to incense my final main tops! It’s definitely a fun thing to learn about

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I get very aggressive. Freaks people out when they see one I just savaged. Really freaks them out the next day when branches are already rising right back up. Just go above where it was snapped and snap it again. You’ll learn a lot about their resilience. Incredible plant. Incredible.

hotrodharley said:

I get very aggressive. Freaks people out when they see one I just savaged. Really freaks them out the next day when branches are already rising right back up. Just go above where it was snapped and snap it again. You’ll learn a lot about their resilience. Incredible plant. Incredible.

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itll be good once I know a bit and create a better routine not that a routine will always work with certain factors! How long have you been growing for?

I mainline the plants and then top them heavily so I have lots of nice even tops to grow into my scrog net. Chopping off parts of the plant will obviously waste vertical growth progress temporarily but at a great reward.

Outright BDSM training!
Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My!

Qwerty...

xX24nuggetsXx said:

nice looking plant! So would you say that using LST makes it a bit harder to manipulate the plant the way you want it?

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After you tie it it'll spread similar to topping, to manipulate the branches twist them back and forth gently to start with and gradually adding more pressure, this softens the stem so that you can place anywhere you want.

At this point I'd put the net/screen over them for the final setting then leave them to mature.

A few days later (1st pic) and a week later (bottom pic...

xX24nuggetsXx said:

well I’m trying to fill a 5x5 space as fast as possible so would you suggest maybe tying them down so that the growth doesn’t slow down at all even by a couple of days?

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I'd top at least the main stem then tie the rest. I don't think it really slows them down and if you're looking to fill the tent, having a single main cola and a bunch of shorter ones won't do what you want; beyond it being a pain to deal with one cola that will be either way taller or just wonky and bent and extended out.

I've done the 'just tie down' gig and it wasn't really for me.

Here's a plant from a few grows ago, you can see that it has one big stem that's been trained down but still is taller than the others, etc.



Now here's one that's been topped (a few times) and also LST trained down:



Lower, more consistent spread and pretty even height. In this case, since i knew it would stretch (heavily sativa), instead of putting 4 plants in my tent, I've only done two and given them more room for spread and then stretch.

xX24nuggetsXx said:

itll be good once I know a bit and create a better routine not that a routine will always work with certain factors! How long have you been growing for?

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A while. Starting mangling them in the 1960’s to keep rip-off’s from recognizing them. There was nobody growing indoors. It was all guerillla. Getting rid of that Christmas tree shape and keeping those big Mexican sativas from hitting 10’-14’ tall.

I love super cropping too, my plants have all kinds of weird knuckles on them.

using lst early Where you bend the plant into a U shape works great too, but I always end up having a harder time getting the branches arranged cleanly compared to topping.

This one I tied down early and then topped later and it’s come out way better than my other attempts.




this one was only topped, way easier to see the frame cuz Sativa.



basically it all works, I think it’s best to try everything out. Even if you don’t stick with it it’ll help you get a better understanding of things.