Topping & Fimming

[Henry998]

When fimming rather than allowing the plant to grow naturally, how much time is added to the overal grow time? I have quite a tight schedule for my grows, a week added will mean I'll run over.
Thanks in advance

 

[Croatsan]

re: Topping & Fimming

Hi Henry998

Depends. If you top or FIM them early enough, in the first few weeks of veg, they would hardly miss a beat. I top always twice and I'm done with it by the end of the second week of veg. They need less than 24 hrs to recuperate.

Of course, it could also be strain dependent. Not all strains react favorably to topping, I guess. But the general rule is - the earlier you do it, less time is needed for them to bounce back.

Best.

 

[Henry998]

Thanks Croatsan. I guess in that case fimming would be better (less stressful). Just looking for the next thing to learn haha

 

[Croatsan]

Here you can see the difference - the left one was topped four times, the right one FIMmed, but only on two branches. Two were topped.

It was my first time FIMming and I was curious to see the difference. The right one would've had, at least, 15% more buds.

 

[Henry998]

Here you can see the difference - the left one was topped four times, the right one FIMmed, but only on two branches. Two were topped.

It was my first time FIMming and I was curious to see the difference. The right one would've had, at least, 15% more buds.

Thats very interesting to see, i would of assumed that topping and filmming would produce the same amount of new growth.
did you LST as well? (tie down branches)

 

[Croatsan]

No, not really. When you top, you get two new colas, but when you FIM you get several. And the new growth was erratic, at least in my case. Difficult to predict where and how they're gonna grow. But, at the end, they all developed great.

I didn't do any LST. Just topped and FIMmed them. They were exactly 80cm (31'') high at the time this photo was taken.

 

[Henry998]

well great work fella, looks like your doing a great job and thanks for the info.