FIM vs. Topping

[NO GROW]

FIM TECHNIQUE

First published by Kyle Kushman in July 00 High times, the FIM Technique came from a grower in south carolina who discovered the topping method by accident. Without naming himself or herself the reader instead cryptically asked that the technique be called FIM. Now colloquially referred to as FIMMING, this ingenious way to get multiple tops from one plant has transformed indoor growing.

Traditional topping [diagram A] involves cutting the growing node off completely to induce the stalk to split in two. FIM growers trim the top 80% of the node, leaving about 20% intact [diagram B]. The node splits into many more tops, creating a bushier tree. Using the FIM technique just once can yield up to eight additional shoots.

What originally apeared to be a sloppy way of topping became instead, perfect for dramatically increasing harvest.

 

[JonnyBlunt88]

funny you should bring this up, I have just fim'd my middle plant. I got two extra shoots, but are growing retarded. For my type of setup, it is not as beneficial as it would be having more time to veg. like an outdoor grow. I wouldnt recommend this for a cab grow like mine but if you have lots of time and space, it might work out better. Nice thread.

 

[closet.cult]

there's several theads on this subject, jonny. and you're the first person to write back with an answer thanks.

i prefer not to stress the plants unnessarally. why FIM when you can top? why top at all if you can avoid it? is it even increasing yeild?

 

[kindprincess]

there's several theads on this subject, jonny. and you're the first person to write back with an answer thanks.

i prefer not to stress the plants unnessarally. why FIM when you can top? why top at all if you can avoid it? is it even increasing yeild?

some strains will have a predetermined yeild, which won't be increased by topping. most strains though, will produce more.

blueberry is a good example of a plant that should be topped. cola's are small, buds are small, yeild is measly unless you top, which i do at ten nodes.

kp

 

[nongreenthumb]

Big bud strains love to be topped

 

[nongreenthumb]

I havent tried the fim method yet, i thought it stood for fuck i missed.

I tried topping various plants and they all reacted well to it and produced more bud.

My train of thought has led me to "cola grow" I'm growing from clone and just grown the cola, i dont want all the hundreds of levaes below to consider, i only want to grow the cola. Less but better quality bud is what i aim for and a quicker turnaround.

 

[green_nobody]

Big bud strains love to be topped

right, that is the only way to push BB to its full potential in bud mass.
i tried fimming a few times and stopped doing it, all you end up with is some crippled leaves and no additional grow, so it sucks from my point of view.

 

[laserbrn]

On my last grow I "FIM"ed one, and LST'ed the other. The LST yielded MUCH more. The stress from the topping slows growth. That ultimately meant that it wasn't just a smaller bushier plant, it was a stunted retarded plant.

I have basically found that no matter what, any additional stress to your plant is a BAD thing!

But I can't claim to be an authority on this, I've only tried it once. I'm sure I'll try it again, I just didn't like the outcome.

 

[NO GROW]

Well a while back I looked in grow FAQ and I got the impression that topping and FIMing were the same thing so I did some research and found this. I just put it up here because it helped me...

 

[mikegreenthumb]

i use the fim method for my plant at about 8 inches if they are clones take a razor blade push back top two fan leafs and cut the grow leaf bud off leaving about 10-20 percent the more you cut back the more colas ive got up to 7 also sometimes i will snip lower branch near top depends on looks but the theory is the plants tries hard to make it the more it has to push through without taking to much damage the stronger the plant so sniping branches pinching stem cutting off top all these methods are used to "push" the plant if its not the size of the dog in the fight its the fight in the dog same applies to your plant

 

[wonderblunder]

thanks for the info. History of FIM was good

 

[kolaqueen]

Hey let me ask somebody a question! Ok, so I'm on my 4th indoor grow, well actually I have only grown indoors! Anyways in the past I have only grown 1 or 2 plants at a time. For personal only, well my lease is up in a few months so I'm tryin 2 get some $ saved up and plan on moving back to new england, well I've got 6 beautiful lil girls now, my Q is iam growin in a small closet and have about 3 to 4" between the plants. I know once they get biggr it'll be hard fot the light to reach the lower buds w all those fan leaves so close together! So what do u guys think, topping or fimming, or should I just let them grow normally? I have. 4 Special kush, from Royal Queen seeds which is a cheap incredible strain from attitude! 2nd time growin it, also I have 2 BIG BANG, greenhouse seed co. 3 time cannabis cup winner!! I'm excited bout the big bang, I've watched so many of Arjans lil utube grow videos! Would love some advice guys! Keep it Grreen! =)

 

[SatansGift]

I had fimed an Apollo 13 BX and a Chernobyl, both from TGA genetics, and fiming each plant one time allowed for a total of 8 colas per plant with each side cola being as large as the main cola. With any TGA strain fiming works wonders allowing for you to have a bush of 8 large colas from a 30 day veg.

 

[SatansGift]

Hey let me ask somebody a question! Ok, so I'm on my 4th indoor grow, well actually I have only grown indoors! Anyways in the past I have only grown 1 or 2 plants at a time. For personal only, well my lease is up in a few months so I'm tryin 2 get some $ saved up and plan on moving back to new england, well I've got 6 beautiful lil girls now, my Q is iam growin in a small closet and have about 3 to 4" between the plants. I know once they get biggr it'll be hard fot the light to reach the lower buds w all those fan leaves so close together! So what do u guys think, topping or fimming, or should I just let them grow normally? I have. 4 Special kush, from Royal Queen seeds which is a cheap incredible strain from attitude! 2nd time growin it, also I have 2 BIG BANG, greenhouse seed co. 3 time cannabis cup winner!! I'm excited bout the big bang, I've watched so many of Arjans lil utube grow videos! Would love some advice guys! Keep it Grreen! =)

I would advise against any fiming or topping since you have that many strains so close together. Best bet is to lollipop em so you only have one large cola. And take some clones so when you have the extra room you can grow them to their full potential.

 

[jackazz]

On my last grow I "FIM"ed one, and LST'ed the other. The LST yielded MUCH more. The stress from the topping slows growth. That ultimately meant that it wasn't just a smaller bushier plant, it was a stunted retarded plant.

I have basically found that no matter what, any additional stress to your plant is a BAD thing!

But I can't claim to be an authority on this, I've only tried it once. I'm sure I'll try it again, I just didn't like the outcome.

What is LST?

 

[laserbrn]

What is LST?

LST is low stress training, it just means to bend the plant around to allow the lower shoots to get light.

I have to add that I posted this almost 3 years ago now, I have topped and fimmed plenty of plants and while the strain that I was working with when I made this comment didn't take well to topping/fimming, many have. I use, LST, supercropping (pinching the plant and bending it over) and topping extensively in my gardens now. Some strains don't like being cut up, some do, you gotta figure out what works with each one.

 

[sambo020482]

some strains will have a predetermined yeild, which won't be increased by topping. most strains though, will produce more.

blueberry is a good example of a plant that should be topped. cola's are small, buds are small, yeild is measly unless you top, which i do at ten nodes.

kp

thats your own personal experience of blueberry you shouldnt say it like its fact.

i have seen and grown myself blueberry maybe 10-12 times now and have never topped,fimmed or lst and each time the plant have yielded a minimum of 4oz, my last untouched bb yielded 6.5oz each and ive seen 5oz many times, this is from pretty unexperienced growers all in soil.

 

[laserbrn]

thats your own personal experience of blueberry you shouldnt say it like its fact.

i have seen and grown myself blueberry maybe 10-12 times now and have never topped,fimmed or lst and each time the plant have yielded a minimum of 4oz, my last untouched bb yielded 6.5oz each and ive seen 5oz many times, this is from pretty unexperienced growers all in soil.

Not to point out the obvious, but if you've never tried topping or lst how do you know if this statement is indeed incorrect? Perhaps you're 4oz plants would've yielded 5 or 6 and your 6.5oz could've been a real monster. Maybe "unttouched" IS better on that strain, but without some kind of comparison it's hard to say that KP was wrong.

 

[PrezDickie]

thats your own personal experience of blueberry you shouldnt say it like its fact.

i have seen and grown myself blueberry maybe 10-12 times now and have never topped,fimmed or lst and each time the plant have yielded a minimum of 4oz, my last untouched bb yielded 6.5oz each and ive seen 5oz many times, this is from pretty unexperienced growers all in soil.

Word for Word Quote from The Cannabis Grow Bible pg 307
"Some plants, when fully grown without topping, do not reach their threshold. The strain blueberry is a good example of this. If you grow blueberry without topping you won't achieve maximum bud production from that plant, but if you top the blueberry you will. Other strains aren't so flexible and the two top colas will simply share the same volume of bud that a single cola would have produced on the same strain."

i found this thread shortly after doing some reading just thought i share what the "good book" had to say

 

[psychcannabis]

After about 4 bowls and 4 hours of research i have decided to fim my first grow ever its a bagseed so all i know is that it looks like a Sativa and the bag i got it from was Delicious.