lollipopping?

Ive heard this term thrown around frequently. What exactly is it and what is its purpose? From my understanding you lit the plant grow about 24in tall then trim off the bottom 12in of branches and leaves. Is this correct? Do you do it in flower or veg? anyone?

lollipopping is great, do it in veg, you can use the branches you cut off for clones

sorry im stoned... its purpose is to get rid of the lowest few branches that would only produce small popcorn buds to make the plant focus on the main cola

Watch This urbangrower episode he goes over it quite well

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jxp9TL-JqVI

Huge buds at the end too, I lollipop the last week of veg right before flowering listen to urbangrower he is wise

wouldn't do it all at once, do a fraction of the cutting 4 or 5 times throughout veg up until flowering.

There is not one exact way/timeline to lollipop. You have to gauge your plants. I only have a 250 and 150 hps in my flower so i try to take advantage of topping and lollipopping as much as i can.

This is what works for me. the first cutting i do is topping the plant when it is between 6 and 12 inches (If it is at 2 inches i usually top back to 6 or so inches and use the top as a clone). at the same time if there is a node at the bottom that looks like is is tiny and not going to catch up to the others, i trim it off at that point too. Now you are going to let the plant recover for a week. You will see are the low growth start to take off and bush out a bit, hopefully they will grow at the same rate where most colas end at the same height (Minor additional training , tieing down might be used at that point.)
Then i flower, I let the plant grow for a liuttle over a week. I dont do any trimming until i know the sex. Usually at 10 days give or take you can tell. This is when i start the lollipopping. At this point the plant has almost doubled in size. Now i trim off the growth on the bottom 8 or 9 inches (Depending on the size of plants, again, my grow is small, so i try have have my plants be a litttle over 2 feet when done no including the pot). As dar as trimming i have started leaving most of the fan leaves but removing as of the bud growth below that 9 inch line. I think this helps keep the stock strong as well as acts as a fuel reserve and problem indicator.

hope this helps

Question: Wouldn't lollipopping make the plants taller? (All horizontal-side growth removed, making all growth go vertical).

it really isnt neccisary unless its a larger plant that has problems with light penetrating to the bottom of the plant... does it make you harvest more? alot can be said about it... personally i would trade in the light fluffy undeveloped buds to fatten up a main cola thats right under the light... lollipopping is usually used with a sea of green, you trim the bottom 1/3 of the plant off... lollipopping will make the plants less crowded as well... i usually notice the bottom brances end up being the widest in search of light, so chop those bitches and take some clones and then enjoy your lollypops

mismos00 said:

Question: Wouldn't lollipopping make the plants taller? (All horizontal-side growth removed, making all growth go vertical).

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No, not all horizontal side growth is removed if that happened it would just be the stem

past times said:

Then i flower ... This is when i start the lollipopping. At this point the plant has almost doubled in size. Now i trim off the growth on the bottom 8 or 9 inches (Depending on the size of plants, again, my grow is small, so i try have have my plants be a litttle over 2 feet when done no including the pot). As dar as trimming i have started leaving most of the fan leaves but removing as of the bud growth below that 9 inch line. I think this helps keep the stock strong as well as acts as a fuel reserve and problem indicator.

hope this helps

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will lollipopping a week into flowering delay harvest a week? I did so and im on the 9th week of an 8 week strain, curious as to why its taking so long.

i don't think so. i try not to trim and keep trimming at different occasions for that reason though. there really is no way around trimming in flower for the lollipoping because you get such a growth spurt in the 2 weeks following the start of flower. i do think keeping a lot of the lower fan leaves help rather than just taking every bit of plant matter below your lollipop line.

those suggested times can varry. if you are growing in soil, growth can be a little slower than reported.

past times said:

i don't think so. i try not to trim and keep trimming at different occasions for that reason though. there really is no way around trimming in flower for the lollipoping because you get such a growth spurt in the 2 weeks following the start of flower. i do think keeping a lot of the lower fan leaves help rather than just taking every bit of plant matter below your lollipop line.

those suggested times can varry. if you are growing in soil, growth can be a little slower than reported.

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thanks for the help. ive been using a 10x rock lens to check the trichs and after sacking up and buying the radio shack 60x-100x mag i could see (after a pain in the ass time spent zooming / focusing / realizing 60x is too high) some amber trichs and we are ready to go!

wow..thanks guys... Would you be able to top a plant so there are 2 or 4 main colas, then lolli pop the plant, or can you only use it to grow one main cola?

JustaFarmer said:

wow..thanks guys... Would you be able to top a plant so there are 2 or 4 main colas, then lolli pop the plant, or can you only use it to grow one main cola?

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youcan lollipop a several cola plant as well... bottom 1/3 can be done even in flowering but not recommended for over stress... personally i do it the first week of flowering then remove any additional bud site growth below that point... i

If you want 4 dominant colas (which will be equal to the single main cola on the same plant) top it above the 2nd real node once you have 5 or 6 nodes --- then leave the plant alone (Use the cut top as a clone if you want --- I do!). Your lowest 2 branch sets will each produce a "main" cola. You can top higher, but you will get more/smaller colas instead of 2 or 4 dominant ones. Lollipopping is fine if you want one main cola and other peripheral buds (like in a high density grow/SOG), but why have 1 dominant cola when you can have 4 on the same plant?????

Check out Uncle Ben's thread on how to top for 4 main colas --- he does a MUCH better job of explaining it than I ever could.