Yes I have been growing for 6 years now, yes it does stress the plant hence we by if it needs to be done it's done as soon as it gets between 3-6 sets of leaves. Also for some strains topping is a must in order to reach bud threshold (maximum bud). Blueberry is a prime example of where topping is a must, your yield can be over double. I have been topping now for a couple years and almost every strain it has yielded more then then untopped of the same strain and even in comparison to 2 clones off the same plant. The topped always yields more! It also depends if you like one large cola or 2-4 medium sized or 6-8 smaller colas. Topping also allows for shorter bushier plants as all the auxin that was going to the one large cola is divided amongst the plant!
