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

Good luck with that!

Hey UB, used your method 2 days ago and the new growth is very rapid, I'm amazed!
I topped 8 plants and kept 2 untopped to see the yield difference.
I'll post some pics in a week or so! Many thanks for sharing your method.

-D,

Great, looking forward to your photos.

After studying this thread, I am going to try it on my next grows. I think it will be excellent for LED/PLL combo since I don't really care for LST or Scrog.

was just wondering UB
have you ever done this technique in conjunction with ScrOG ?

ctwalrus said:

was just wondering UB
have you ever done this technique in conjunction with ScrOG ?

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Nope. I don't do SCROG.

Hi Uncle Ben,


I have read around 150ish pages of this thread.. simply amazing. Every time I read your posts I learn something so I always wanted to thank you for that. Even if it was said hundreds of times I must say it again: YOU'RE THE MAN I didn't know how to get in contact with you but It became clear to me that this is the right place to ask (maybe I'm wrong).

Here's my story: I have eight girls (hopefully) which are: 5 Moby Dick#2, 2 Critical Jacks (all Dinafem) and 1 bag seed which is 1month older than the others.

I kept them inside for one month and then moved them outside.. Now they are extremly happy, it seems the natural environment is what they were waiting for At the end of this week they will have 6 nodes and I will top them your way, to get 4 main colas. I'll leave the bagseed alone because it already has 8-9 nodes. I'll post some pics if you want.

My problem is.. the area is full of little creatures and I guess its time to spray them with some insecticide.. I was really convinced to use Neem Oil.. but I'm not anymore bc a few weeks ago I read a thread where a guy was complaining to you about it and I know its 'not your type'.

I was wondering what do you use/recommend? I must say sorry for the long message and/if this was said in one of your posts but I couldn't handle them all.. Any advice would be greatly appreciated! And please excuse my english, I tried my best! Thanks again!

Luckybear

Luckybear, thanks for the kind words and your grammar was fine. Much better than most!

Regarding insecticides, if you want to do the organic thing (which I don't do) than Neem or pepper/garlic spray is a good choice, so I hear. Pyrethrins are quite "safe". Kicker is, these products are short lived. If maintenance is not an issue, fine. I use imidacloprid which is a systemic. It is labeled for just about every kind of consumable crop. Mine are outside, no problems with insects. They got a soil drench of a product called Merit. Malathion and Sevin are safe, just follow directions.

For the most part, I don't use anything until I see a problem. Identify the enemy and then find the best product. I don't spray anything as a preventative. For example, I have peach trees that are loaded with fine premium quality fruit. Haven't sprayed with a pesticide in years and that was only when I had hoards of huge green beetles feeding on the fruit.

Well,

Thank you for your fast response! I have not seen any problems yet but I thought its good to be preventative. I'll follow directions

This is the second time when I put them in this area and I remember that last year I was terorized by some insects.. I guess its called 'green shield bug'.. from what I googled.

I'm not sure if this was/is harmfull, but every time I came to see the girls the bugs were standing right there on the stems.. and this was annoying. In my country people are used to spray the grapes with copper sulphate.. but this is not one in my choices.. this CuSO4 sounds strange!

This year I'll identify all the enemies

Best,
Luckybear

hey uncle ben, this is by far the best topping thread i have ever read. and you are so helpful with replying to every question. +rep.

im about to do my first bit of training ever. never did any type before but going to give topping a try. Can you tell me where exactly in the attached pics I should cut the stems to get 4 tops?

Seedling1 is about 4.5 inches tall, seedling2 is about 3.25 inches. I will let them grow some more, particularly the shorter one. I've marked the stems in the pics with blue and yellow boxes (only in blue on the smaller one as yellow node not grown yet). Is one of these the correct place to cut? Does the first set of true leaves correspond to the 1st node? Hopefully the pics come out as fullsize images and not just thumbnails.

frankcooper said:

hey uncle ben, this is by far the best topping thread i have ever read. and you are so helpful with replying to every question. +rep.

im about to do my first bit of training ever. never did any type before but going to give topping a try. Can you tell me where exactly in the attached pics I should cut the stems to get 4 tops?

Seedling1 is about 4.5 inches tall, seedling2 is about 3.25 inches. I will let them grow some more, particularly the shorter one. I've marked the stems in the pics with blue and yellow boxes (only in blue on the smaller one as yellow node not grown yet). Is one of these the correct place to cut? Does the first set of true leaves correspond to the 1st node? Hopefully the pics come out as fullsize images and not just thumbnails.

View attachment 2224571View attachment 2224573

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I'm no expert and I'm not uncle Ben but I've read this thread enough times to answer this I think.
First read the first five pages of the thread to make sure you get the concept of what your doing and then seedling #1 cut at the yellow line then seedling #2 should be right to cut at the blue line and you should get 4 main colas per plant. Remember not to cut too close to the node, hope that helps.

Are you sure because the 2 blue lines correspond to the same node in each plant. the blue line is between the 2nd and 3rd set of new leaves in both. the yellow is between the 3rd and 4th. I added some text and arrows to highlight this but im not sure how legible the text is. I would have thought that they need to be topped at the same point to get the 4 colas.

frankcooper said:

Are you sure because the 2 blue lines correspond to the same node in each plant. the blue line is between the 2nd and 3rd set of new leaves in both. the yellow is between the 3rd and 4th. I added some text and arrows to highlight this but im not sure how legible the text is. I would have thought that they need to be topped at the same point to get the 4 colas.

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Oh sorry mate I'm viewing the pics on a mobile and they weren't that clear so my bad. After blowing the picture up I see what you mean should be all good to chop at the blue lines, Once again sorry for the confusion. And sorry uncle Ben for sippin on your kool-aid I'll go back to reading the thread like a good little noob instead of answering questions.

Paulielow said:

Oh sorry mate I'm viewing the pics on a mobile and they weren't that clear so my bad. After blowing the picture up I see what you mean should be all good to chop at the blue lines, Once again sorry for the confusion. And sorry uncle Ben for sippin on your kool-aid I'll go back to reading the thread like a good little noob instead of answering questions.

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I bet UB doesnt really care man. He and others on this forum have answered that question 100+ times, just push people to read the first 5 pages, EVERYTHING is explained.

WaxxyNuggets said:

I bet UB doesnt really care man. He and others on this forum have answered that question 100+ times, just push people to read the first 5 pages, EVERYTHING is explained.

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I have read the first 5 pages. A few times in fact. What UB says is to top above the 2nd true node. In my original post I asked does the first set of true leaves correspond to the first true node? Nowhere in the first 5 pages says that. I took a photo of my seedlings, added text, arrows and coloured lines to help make certain that I understand where exactly to cut so that I dont mess up my crop.

you actually have the markings right on point!

frankcooper said:

I have read the first 5 pages. A few times in fact. What UB says is to top above the 2nd true node. In my original post I asked does the first set of true leaves correspond to the first true node? Nowhere in the first 5 pages says that. I took a photo of my seedlings, added text, arrows and coloured lines to help make certain that I understand where exactly to cut so that I dont mess up my crop.

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This is from page one " To get 4 main colas, let your seedling or cutting (clone) grow to about 5-6 nodes and pinch out (cut) the stem just above the 2nd true node. The node where the cotyledons attach doesn't count." my understanding of this would leave me to believe that the first set of true leaves corresponds with the first set of nodes, atleast that's how it reads to me. Hope that answers your question.

Paulielow said:

This is from page one " To get 4 main colas, let your seedling or cutting (clone) grow to about 5-6 nodes and pinch out (cut) the stem just above the 2nd true node. The node where the cotyledons attach doesn't count." my understanding of this would leave me to believe that the first set of true leaves corresponds with the first set of nodes, atleast that's how it reads to me. Hope that answers your question.

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Paulie I recall reading that and just wanted to be 100% certain. It does seem that the first set of true leaves is the first node. I'll cut at the blue line and earerly awaiting the development of 4 big fat colas. Thanks

Have you done LST vs topping?

Badmf said:

Have you done LST vs topping?

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I've never done any training ever before. I'm going to try topping, fimming and lst. Whichever one works best for me will be the method I will stick with in future grows. Topping seems to be the most straight forward though.