Preferred methods of plant training?

[TheStickyEst]

I'm looking for your opinions on plant training such as topping vs FIM or mainlining/quadlining a plant. I'm growing in a 4×4 tent for flowering and want to maximize my yield/quality and would love to hear what you guys and gals think!

 

[Modest Grower]

Plants are looking great! I'm not a great person for training advice as I sort of just top/fimm and bend now. I really like topping or fimming and then letting it grow out a bit before using a net to spread the limbs out and keep everything semi level. I think this is a great method to consider.

If I was looking for a more structured approach, I would consider quadlining. People seem to do really well and there's a whole sub community for info. In the future I recommend trying mainline or fluxing just for the experience but I would do one photoperiod to be grown out and do some autos during veg.

I pretty much always try to fimm but if you go quadline or mainline I think you would just top. (For sure for mainline, I've never quadlined)

 

[Nunyabiz]

My preference is to simply LST, no topping.
For me it gets the greatest amount of colas with the least hassle and time.

 

[Emilya Green]

I like the shape and production of a plant topped first at node 5 and then topped again multiple times as the growth reaches the canopy line and then rechopped again and again until the plant reaches maturity and starts throwing out alternating nodes. This method results in very wide plants and large production.

 

[Southerncough]

There are several effective ways to train for max yield as mentioned but there are also some big factors to consider...
Time. How long are you willing to veg?
Genetics. What are the genetic influences of your plants?
Are they super leggy or short and bushy? Do they want to focus on a main cola or push out lots of lateral branches?
Are they auto or photo plants?
Height. How much height do you have to work with?
How many lights are you using and will there be an even spread?
Plant count? How many are you wanting to grow?
Single harvest or perpetual?
I.e. would you rather have a LOT all at once or a good bit every month?

There are so many ways to go from, pruning, training, and bushing out a MONSTER SCROG to filling the tent with lots of smaller clones. Both are fun ways to max out yields but take different amounts of time, etc.
I suggest trying multiple methods and see which works best for you and your selected plants

 

[MohaveCannasseur]

I like to top them at about the 5th node, then I low stress train them until I’m satisfied. Spread ‘em…

 

[Just A Simple Guy]

Here's what I did and it's my first real grow and first time topping. Grow to 6th node and topped to 3rd node. I let the new tops grow to the 4th node and topped to the 3rd node. I let the new tops push out one node far enough to where I could top without damaging the new growth shoots. I started LST after the 2nd topping. I also defoliated and pruned periodically, only leaving the tallest and most robust shoots of the main branches that wouldn't be shaded or shade any of the main bud sites so it ended up with 8 main colas around the edge and 8 secondary colas in the center. It fills most of a 2'x3' grow space.

Here's what she looked like Sunday which was the first day of the 10th week of flowering.

 

[SmokeyB]

Quadaling gives you a good yield and it's not difficult to do either like modest said there is a thread il find it a good member on here told me about it and I love it I grow for yield and quality as smoke a fair bit

The Quadsquad Thread: A Community For Quadlining

As quadlining has become bigger and bigger on these forums I have seen that anyone interested in it has been able to receive the help they need on their own journals. Recently I have decided that it would be really fun to have a quadlining thread where people can come together and share their...

www.420magazine.com

 

[Just A Simple Guy]

Quadaling gives you a good yield and it's not difficult to do either like modest said there is a thread il find it a good member on here told me about it and I love it I grow for yield and quality as smoke a fair bit

I saw that thread and was so impressed I bookmarked it for future reference. I'll probably get a couple more mainline grows under my belt but at some point I want to try quadaling.

 

[SmokeyB]

I saw that thread and was so impressed I bookmarked it for future reference. I'll probably get a couple more mainline grows under my belt but at some point I want to try quadaling.

You won't be disappointed I promise

 

[Bounce3d]

like @Nunyabiz said, i also like the LST, very little stress and no slowing down after topping or fimming

 

[Emilya Green]

like @Nunyabiz said, i also like the LST, very little stress and no slowing down after topping or fimming

I can't see what Nunyabiz said since he has blocked me, but I see no slowing down after topping. Quite to the contrary actually. As soon as I cut the 5th node the lower nodes immediately start rising. There is an acceleration of growth, not a slowdown.