Topping before plant matures

Topping too early will give you small fan leaves. Bigger leaves more photosynthesis. You should wait till plant establishes before topping. I did side by side on multiple strains and all the plants topped early have smaller leaves. Lots of variables involved, but in perfect environment your gonna wanna wait till plant has leaves at least as big as your hand before poppin off nodes. 2cents rant for all the newbies. Lots of hype with topping lol had to finally give some facts

Ever heard of main-lining?

While I understand your argument I have to disagree, I always top early and my plants turn out just fine. Topping early can help with keeping the plant short and bushy as well as providing a support structure for multiple branches better then having the colas split off higher up the stem. The plants that have been toped have smaller leaves because they need a bout a week of veg to recover fully from the topping so obviously an untoped plant will have grown larger leaves with that time.
Topping isn't for everyone or every setup, but what your presenting here is hardly facts. I personaly recommend topping for indoor grows where vertical grow room is limited, and the earlier its done the easier it is to create an even canopy in my experience and the less time you lose in veg growing parts of the plant you are going to cut off. If you have lots of vertical growth room I wouldn't recommend topping as just letting the plant grow upwards would likely be better in that situation.

I like to top when i see the first 5 leaf. During that time its about 6 nodes that will get trained and top every second node till it reaches worthy potental to grow freely. I just think its all in the amount of space and time you like to veg a plant. I like to veg for 2 months to get a nice and even canopy that is wide. If the strains a stretcher its ideal to keep them at bay. So my answer is the better you train your plants pre flower the better your results.

I just topped one of my plants a few days ago and it is slow to recover. I prefer the lst method. 15 plants right now with 71 tops. 4 of the plants have not been tied over so they only have one top so pretty much 67 tops on 11 plants

Topping early creates 2 or 4 established dominant tops that will form nice colas, topping late makes a bush with a bunch of small colas

When to top has allot to do with type of plant and also type of grow.
IMO you need to top the hos and smack em around., Pinch the branch's in veg it will make them strong and make the cola canopy even top early .you can always stalk the lowers out to where you want them producing the size of colas you want to suit your grow or light.Train the plant early in veg.Topping pinching trimming. Every week while in veg.You will find you get a strong healthy even canopy.

I've done side-by-side comparisons between topping and non-topping. Topping a plant gave me about 25%-30% more yield. I typically top 1/2 way through veg. There are some strains that don't respond well to topping though...especially autos.

Topping... I have topped a young clone at 17 days old [it was rooted] and the [I cloned the top] daughter grew out great.... The Mom, finished 3 weeks before daughter two plants for the price of one...growing semi sog/perpetual allows me to do some fun things with the clones...... also, the Mom, grew out the three main colas that I left after the top... Try cloning the top... don't just throw it away... Good Luck!

Jbone77 said:

Topping early creates 2 or 4 established dominant tops that will form nice colas, topping late makes a bush with a bunch of small colas

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Topping too early changes hormonal structure of the plant and can do a number of things, mostly bad for the plant and its yield. We have found that topping 7-10 days before flower is the best for the plant. Its fully mature when you top, an even canopy is easier to gauge, less recovery time. UB's technique works definitely, there are better options if you want to top JAS

Im also doing a perpetual semi-SOG with my Blueberrys. Ive played with every type of lst , topping , supercropping, etc. Straight colas are cool, bushes take longer to fully ripen and take WAY longer to manicure. Im getting the best results (higher yield/quicker ripening) by rooting the clone and topping her as soon as she takes root, I give her a week to recover and then through her into flowering; after the stretch I transplant and bury her up to the split. This produces 2 main colas that mature fast with almost twice the yield of a single stalk, yet take up half the space of a shrub. It looks like two plants sharing a pot. My OGs are TOTALLY different. I top them every third internode and keep them super-shrubby with a long veg and tie them down real good before switching them over to bloom. It all depends on the strain and growing method. Topping them early DOES cause them to produce smaller leaves , and I think that's a GOOD thing, because I have severely limited spaces with TONS of light in them.

JonnyAppleSeed420 said:

Topping too early changes hormonal structure of the plant and can do a number of things, mostly bad for the plant and its yield. We have found that topping 7-10 days before flower is the best for the plant. Its fully mature when you top, an even canopy is easier to gauge, less recovery time. UB's technique works definitely, there are better options if you want to top JAS

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You dont need to try to discredit every single thing UB has ever said. I dont top anymore for one thing, another thing is I didnt say one was better than the other, I said late term topping results in a big shrub and early topping results in 2-4 dominant tops, what did I say that was inaccurate? If you want a shrub , why top at all when you can lst? If your primary concern is having an even canopy then why would you top late instead of doing a scrog? Why do a horizontal scrog when you can do a vert scrog with a early topped plant where canopy doesnt matter? Their is a million whys and buts

Jbone77 said:

You dont need to try to discredit every single thing UB has ever said. I dont top anymore for one thing, another thing is I didnt say one was better than the other, I said late term topping results in a big shrub and early topping results in 2-4 dominant tops, what did I say that was inaccurate? If you want a shrub , why top at all when you can lst? If your primary concern is having an even canopy then why would you top late instead of doing a scrog? Why do a horizontal scrog when you can do a vert scrog with a early topped plant where canopy doesnt matter? Their is a million whys and buts

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This should be good, the 2 sock puppets going at it.

JonnyAppleSeed420 said:

Topping too early changes hormonal structure of the plant and can do a number of things, mostly bad for the plant and its yield. We have found that topping 7-10 days before flower is the best for the plant. Its fully mature when you top, an even canopy is easier to gauge, less recovery time. UB's technique works definitely, there are better options if you want to top JAS

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Hey JAS..i top soon as i can but the plants receive a long vegetative period of two to three months.During this veg period they are well cared for and formed into nice multi head plants.
Reasons for topping soon as i can;to let plant gain several longer colas to support more weight,spread the coloas apart easier for better light penetration and closer internodal spacing.
After the plant is topped and trained. Usually only topped once or twice to for 2 to 4 mains.after that is allowed to veg ,( with pinching and stalking through out the process)The plant will be two to three months old when put into flower.
Have you did a side by side? If so what was the difference? smell ,taste<production?
I have noticed no difference . but i wasnt looking for any difference either.