Topping done wrong? Pics

[davidson2354]

Hello all! Another year for growth adventures! Hope all of your nature friends are growing great!
Going to my 3rd year growing outdoors balcony.
This thread is about a feminized Sativa Gold Flame (mix between Kali afghani and Jack Herer). Shes going to her 3rd month in 2 weeks. Planted around 20 February, quite early, she actually has developed pre-flowering stages some weeks ago due to the daylight where im at is very low. (12-13) I can tell though she is probably back on vegetative state as daylight is getting bigger, to its maximum length on the final week of June with 14:52 hours of sunlight.
She has been growing really healthy apart from some bites my cat chews from time to time.
I studied a bit of topping, mainyl cause last year I had a 1,5 meters Indica in my balcony and had to string her down, otherwise I would be fucked.
So instead of doing the same thing I wanted to top her and test this supercropping business.
I think I did it in the right place at the time, maybe a bit later than recommended. I did it approximately 3 weeks ago.
She had one Tip that was clearly the highest one and the one she was sending her energy for vertical growth.
This tip is visible on the photos and labeled as the old tip. Now 3 more have appeared, higher than the old tip, and im not so sure now that I stopped her vertical growth cause it seems she is now sending that energy to the 3 new tips that have appeared.
Can someone tell me what the pics mean? Did I do a correct topping? Is she still sending growing vertically because of those 3 tips? Should I cut these 3 aswell? And if so, where specifically should I cut it down?

Thank You so Much everyone!
All support is welcome
Happy grows

 

[Papageno]

Your plants look healthy and fine. There are a few topping techniques that really only vary in the recovery time. None of it actually matters. Outdoor it is way less important but on a balcony you could likely train it to literally fill the whole thing and have much higher yield.

The topping you did is fine and you will be glad you did. There is a lot more to a well manicured plant than just topping but it goes a long way in making it manageable. Outdoor though is not as valuable except maybe in your case. Have you considered a SCROG?

You have a bunch of questions regarding more chopping and that really isn't the right way to think of this.

You don't want to stunt the growth. That happens easily by over trimming. You look like you could trim again but you need to consider what the area is you want it to fill and how you want it to grow.

Fundamentally the size and final weight is not determined by the number of branches rather he root ball mass. If you have fewer branches they make bigger flowers on those fewer branches. In a big pot that early it could go far. I have planted in February and spent all summer cutting it back. These 2 clones I put in last year in February. and whacked em back such that 4/5 of what I grew was chopped off before flowering. Like the lawn I was out there every few weeks taking 3' branches off. So done right trimming really keeps it in control.

see to the side...

 

[davidson2354]

Hey man, thank you for your reply and information. I was not aware of SCROG but it doesnt seem like a very practical solution for me. At least at the moment, im still experimenting things as my journey growing these ladies has only begun.

My question and concern is this: The Pot where I have this gold flame sativa lady is a huge, that provided growth last year for an Indica with approximately 1.5 meters. Around 60 litres I think.
All I want to is to know I inhibited her vertical growth, because she has around 60 cm and she is going to surpass my balcony, becoming very visible.
Apart from this I would like to experiment these techniques that inhibit that growth and allow bigger yeilds. But right now, before the bigger yelds I wanna know and execute properly these techniques.

My priority is knowing I cut all the tips necessarily for that to happen. If these 3 new ones that appeared are making the plant grow vertically again or not, and if theres no way to be sure, if I could just cut it down properly and stop that growth definitely.

With time and more experience I will like to experiment more on different techniques, right now observing is my best study.

So, should I cut them down? Should I leave it like that, is the job done already? I dont know..

 

[Papageno]

It is likely fine. Depends on what you want to see. The cut itself has healed normally. The only issue is how you want to grow. You can grow them any shape you want. Training the plant is more important than cutting but both together get the best results.

 

[davidson2354]

It is likely fine. Depends on what you want to see. The cut itself has healed normally. The only issue is how you want to grow. You can grow them any shape you want. Training the plant is more important than cutting but both together get the best results.

I just dont want her to grow vertically. Thats it. You think its good like it is?

 

[Papageno]

She will always grow vertically. You can only avoid that with training. Pinching back is to create more yield.


You train them to keep them low.


They grow much bigger in bloom so they can't be close to your max height before bloom. So if you have a limitation you will be cutting back all summer if it is growing well.

Best of luck. You did good. Nothing wrong. Just now you have more tops.

They will shoot up in a bit and be huge.

 

[davidson2354]

She will always grow vertically. You can only avoid that with training. Pinching back is to create more yield.


You train them to keep them low.


They grow much bigger in bloom so they can't be close to your max height before bloom. So if you have a limitation you will be cutting back all summer if it is growing well.

Best of luck. You did good. Nothing wrong. Just now you have more tops.

They will shoot up in a bit and be huge.

I know she will always have vertical development. But when you top a plant arent you cutting down alot of that process? At least from my studies I understood that when you top her correctly she loses the mechanism to send her energy up the stem for vertical growth and starts sending more to its sides, growing her more like a bush. Which is what I wanted. I will be training her and pinching if necessary, and even string her if no other options. I just didnt want a huge sativa growing off my balcony for everyone to see ahaha

Do you know good techniques to inhibit as much as possible vertical growth?

 

[Skullman420]

Cannabis will continue to grow as long as the lighting conditions are right. You need to keep it low with training. Bend the plant and force it to grow where you want it to be

 

[davidson2354]

Cannabis will continue to grow as long as the lighting conditions are right. You need to keep it low with training. Bend the plant and force it to grow where you want it to be

and how is it that I train the main stem without stringing it down?

 

[Skullman420]

you bend it gradually over time. I just put a net over and bend the plants under as they grow. That way the net is the max height they're allowed to grow. Why don't you want to string the plant down? It's basically that or just break the branches. That works too, but slows down the plant a lot and will possibly reduce your yield.

I suggest you read a little bit about LST (low stress training) you can pretty much make your plant grow the way you want it to

 

[Skullman420]

Here are some photos from my current grow. Here you see I push the branches under the net. That way the plant are growing sideways instead of upwards. Just keep pushing it under until it's time to flower

You can also use treads

 

[Skullman420]

These plants were topped once to make them grow into bushes, then I put the net over to force them to grow sideways instead of upwards. That's basically how you do it.

 

[Skullman420]

Here is another method. This is how I am training my mother-plants. These have been topped and then I force the branches down with ropes and tape them to the side of the pots. This method is extremely efficient if you want to keep your plant both wide, short and get a lot of yield.

 

[Skullman420]

With the force branches down with taping threads to the side of the pot technique, it's smart to do it gradually over several days so the branches doesn't snap. Bend them a little bit every day until they're where you want them to be.

 

[davidson2354]

Hey man thank you alot for all your info and pics. I have tried stringing down before, it just made her grow hugely horizontally. Check my gallery.. Even that can be "visible" regarding my balcony and where im at. I just dont want this one to grow like 2 meters horizontally and take my whole balcony.
The net thing is not very easy and practical for my situation, but i am going to try more stuff and study more. Definitely LST and I will cut those new tips off, maybe even cut the main stem a bit below from the tips.

 

[davidson2354]

Hey man thank you alot for all your info and pics. I have tried stringing down before, it just made her grow hugely horizontally. Check my gallery.. Even that can be "visible" regarding my balcony and where im at. I just dont want this one to grow like 2 meters horizontally and take my whole balcony.
The net thing is not very easy and practical for my situation, but i am going to try more stuff and study more. Definitely LST and I will cut those new tips off, maybe even cut the main stem a bit below from the tips.

I have cut the tips off, hopefully inthe right angle. Lets see how this evolves..

 

[Papageno]

For outdoor I break the branches a lot to keep it low. There are lots of videos showing how to do it. Done right it grows a huge nuckel and the branch goes horizontal​. It would be prefect for you.

You roll it between your first gets until it looses it's fiber strength and lays over. It will heal.