Letting your plants grow normally vs. Topping

What outcome will have more bud and better results, letting your plants grow normally from seed, or letting them grow a little and topping them?

It all depends on how long you veg your plants before you flower. Topping adds cola's but also adds additional veg time. LST is kinda fun also, you get more colas without having to cut.

Topping them will create a canopy of uniform buds, and because of this extra foliar light penetration you could end up with more buds.

K

Topping them will give them more bud sites thus more buds,now if you want thicker and denser buds there are threads here that show how to do that along with certain nutes.

Topping at the fifth set of nodes then wait for two or three more to grow and top them again and a couple weeks later remove the bottom branches that are not doing much.
I think that will grow the most amount of thick buds if you are outdoors.

im going to be indoors tho lol. But I think what your saying should still work for my set-up too

I've experimented with topping versus LST and found I like LST much better. Doesn't stress or slow the plant, and you can keep doing it. Just by tying down the main stalk I ended up with 4 or so tops. Then you can keep tying down the taller ones to maintain an even canopy....or to keep the height down for either security or headroom issues.

The plants I topped stopped growing for a week, the LST ones didn't, kept growing. And the end result for me was a bushier plant, shorter and with more tops using LST

Oh, I think I got a little experience in the matter. Just look at my greenhouse grow this year.
LST or bending them works fine yea but to get the most out of a plant you need to top/prune it first.

right on Cruzer. You seem like you have done some good grows and have had good outcomes, what size pots do you recommend I use if im using a 4'x4'x6.5' mylar tent? and how many plants would be good to grow without over filling it? i was planning on using 3 1/2 gallon pots and growing 5 plants at a time in it, but other people are saying that I might need 5 gallon and could put more plants in there? I just dont want over crowding, I want a good outcome come harvest time haha

You don't have any headroom man. I would recommend you grow with a screen. aka scrog. start with your five plants, get #3 or #4 smart pots for containers and get those clear round plastic trays for underneath them. Keep your lights close to them to prevent stretching. Go ahead and top at the fifth node and install a screen. Let the new growth come through the hole then tie it back to the screen. (get a roll of thing gauge wire from crafts shop) Do the second topping and fill about 3/4 of the screen. flip to 12/12 continue training for 2 to 3 weeks. Then once they have flowers remove all the nodes that didn't reach the light. You can leave the leaf if you have enough ventilation the plant will use the stored nutrients. But if you cant circulate air under the canopy remove the leaf. Its more important to get air flowing as you can always add nutes.

What I was talking about would grow you a bush about 6 foot tall and 6 foot around outdoors.
This will give you an even canopy and get the most out of your light.

You can check out my cabinet grow journals to get an idea.
links in my sig.

i have done a side by side grows topping and untouched as well as super cropping and found its strain dependent sure i got 6 bud sites from the top plants and lots of bud sites from my cropped plants bud overall they were popcorn buds once dryed but they still didnt compare to a untouched plant that were 63 " tall
imo it comes down to veg time and lighting for instance longer veg time obviously = more yield i run big power so my lower bud sites were big and per 1500 watt area i got 2260 dry grams from my untouched plants and got alot less from the topped and supercropped plants sure there was more bud sites bud end result it was upsetting looked like it would of kicked a untouched plant

Dr.Fever, do you think it is better to just let it grow naturally? I will be growing in limited space, 4'x4'x6.5' mylar grow tent, should I top or just let it grow? I'm all about getting a good yield like you said.

you got to remember when you flip your plants to flower you can easily double your height what i found is when flipping to flower i lower my lights thus stopping any stretch phase this might work for you depending on how many plants you have and lights try half and half
Half topped and others untouched just remember there goin to double in size good norm is to prob grow them to 18 to 20 " then flip them to flower when it comes time to trim seperate them an see what your outcome is and go with it next time

good luck

Yea ill be growing 5 plants at a time in 5 gallon pots, so ill do 3 topped and 2 normal. Excited to see what comes to. Thanks for the help

very nice lookin set up dr fever, check out my thread in general growing 9 days in tell me what u think

i use both, LST is slow and is done over a period of time so, yes in fact, very little stress is induced...i also top to add more cola's, try this and i promise you, you wont be disapointed

They ve all got there place in growin boys and neither is more than the other successfully its all depending on alot of things eg
light penertration
Enviroment
ability
and most of all practise
once you ve got your shit down try diffrent things yourself dont b scared its only a weed and if u fuck up its not thr end of the world and maybe not the plants life so nothin gained and nothin lost but askin certain things on sites like this will give u many a diffrent answer and neither are right or wrong bro trust me and once you ve done all you ll b able to see for yourself !!
Peace chedds