Uncle Ben's Topping Technique to Get 2 or 4 Main Colas

Assume moderate/heavy yielding strain, hydro flood and drain, 6" RW cubes, plenty of light, CO2. Start with 3-5" clone, do an Uncle Ben topping when plant hits 5-6 nodes. How much could you expect to yield per plant if you can only veg for 4 weeks total and your setup is dialed in?

medicine21 said:

Assume moderate/heavy yielding strain, hydro flood and drain, 6" RW cubes, plenty of light, CO2. Start with 3-5" clone, do an Uncle Ben topping when plant hits 5-6 nodes. How much could you expect to yield per plant if you can only veg for 4 weeks total and your setup is dialed in?

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4wX"rwXO2/square root of 3 to 5 inch clones = depends on the strain!

I think that ??? has way too many variables, but your ability to garden is huge. All depends of strength of root system & amount of foliage.
Daniels

Danielsgb said:

I think that ??? has way too many variables, but your ability to garden is huge. All depends of strength of root system & amount of foliage.
Daniels

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Yep. That was a rhetorical question fer sure.

medicine21 said:

Assume moderate/heavy yielding strain, hydro flood and drain, 6" RW cubes, plenty of light, CO2. Start with 3-5" clone, do an Uncle Ben topping when plant hits 5-6 nodes. How much could you expect to yield per plant if you can only veg for 4 weeks total and your setup is dialed in?

Click to expand...

Danielsgb said:

I think that ??? has way too many variables, but your ability to garden is huge. All depends of strength of root system & amount of foliage.
Daniels

Click to expand...

Uncle Ben said:

Yep. That was a rhetorical question fer sure.

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Well, I do in fact realize that this is one of those "Dude how much dank can I bust out like dis?" questions, but I did highlight the items that remove most of the variables. I would take a guess at 3oz/plant but I don't have experience with this topping method and wanted to see what is realistic here.

Speaking of garden ability or skill, it may not be as important as you would believe. Check this out

What has been discovered from the YOR database
In the final analysis, 53% of crop yield variations found in the YOR database can be uniquely explained with just four key influences every indoor cannabis garden has in common.

Lumens (31%)
HPS Spectrum (14%)
Experience (5%)
Hydroponic Medium (3%)

For what it's worth I am doing 0.9g/W with 4000W HPS SOG right now.

Hey uncle ben, great guide on topping. I was thinking about LST, but since i'm not growing in dirt i think it would be hard to stake the plants down with my setup. I had a question for ya, it was probably covered some where in the thread but man this thing is 323 pages!

I'm growing under 1000w MH and will bloom under HPS. My question is do I want to switch to HPS right after topping or should i let them veg a while longer? sorry if this was covered in your guide and i over looked it. i appreciate your help man.

will be doing the 4 cola technique for the first time on my next grow! (DNA Lemon Skunk)

BillyBobJoe said:

Hey uncle ben, great guide on topping. I was thinking about LST, but since i'm not growing in dirt i think it would be hard to stake the plants down with my setup. I had a question for ya, it was probably covered some where in the thread but man this thing is 323 pages!

I'm growing under 1000w MH and will bloom under HPS. My question is do I want to switch to HPS right after topping or should i let them veg a while longer? sorry if this was covered in your guide and i over looked it. i appreciate your help man.

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It doesn't matter, though you should let the plant recover for a week before flowering anyway, so might as well keep it under the MH.

You should let them veg based on your plan, your garden's profile. Using either the MH or HPS for any of the cycles is immaterial. I'd combine the 2 and grow large bushes.

Dual Spec HPS vegges just as well as MH; never understood why people feel the need to have 2 diff bulbs for veg and flower. The sun doesnt change...

CMH is where it's at.

Here's 1 of 2 soma sogouda regs ive topped last night hopin for a girl
and if i get a girl or 2 these will be vegged for about 50 days total from
breakin ground

An updated photo of a UB approved, 2nd true node topping method, of an Afghan from seed. This photo shows new growth on day four after topping. notice the main cola has scabbed and healed allowing the auxins to collect in the newly formed cola's. This plant is showing about an inch of growth per day now.

A nice lil pic

Toppings generally how I like to ride also,good thread ub.

Man, you guys are kikkin' butt!

Have fun.....

YO UB remember me pal? I did your technique to the best my of my abilities, but check this out.

It looks like I Have a lot more than 4 tops per plants LOL :{ These are 2 plants, I cut them when one had 6 nodes and the other 5 nodes.

The problem i think, is that I trained the main stems to stay even w/ the rest of the plant. Should I have not done this? Although I'm kind of glad they are short and bushy now since I am a little height constricted. Let me know what you think.

zizou21 said:

YO UB remember me pal? I did your technique to the best my of my abilities, but check this out.

It looks like I Have a lot more than 4 tops per plants LOL :{ These are 2 plants, I cut them when one had 6 nodes and the other 5 nodes.

The problem i think, is that I trained the main stems to stay even w/ the rest of the plant. Should I have not done this? Although I'm kind of glad they are short and bushy now since I am a little height constricted. Let me know what you think.

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If that's one plant, I think you got a shaky hand! Ya missed lol.

if you super crop at the same place, just above the second node, will you achieve the same results? (except 5 colas instead of 4)

Also just a little clarification as my plants are about to the point where i need to do this....the second node....

my plants have in this order:
- little round seeds leaves
- single finger leaf node + tiny tiny tiny stems
- 3 finger leaf node + reasonable stems (little bigger than small)
CUT POINT ???
- 5 finger leaf node + small stems
- 7 finger leaf node + little buds that would be steams in future

i just not sure about the tiny tiny tiny stems at the single finger leaf nodes, do those count and will they take off and grow?

View attachment 1461703

Here's a pic of BC God after going to T5 School for 5wks. I want four main large colas. If you put your glasses on you can see the pruning mark.
Now she's under 1000MH with CO2 hovering around 1300. Soil is a rich mix. Not too rich though.
Oh my question was...about when should I begin feeding according to manufacturer's feeding schelule...Like next week or two mb?
Help me Oh Ohbie Wan Ben...you're my only hope....

Uncle Ben said:

If that's one plant, I think you got a shaky hand! Ya missed lol.

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DONT U KNOW HOW TO READ THE OP IT SAYS THERE ARE 2 PLANTS


but ya i would say there are 6 main colas per plant.. u think its because of the LST i did? Do you LST yours ? If so, could you briefly explain how?