When to top

Newbie here never topped plant before... Are these little plants ready to top yet or not. Thanks

I would. Right in the center.. keeping the bottom 2 new sprouts of growth. Maybe even clone the top.

I wait until they have 5 or 6 node sets, I usually get rid of lower branches later on by chopping them off at the stalk due to their tendency to be petite/small. Those smaller lower heads will start to stretch evenly to the top once the center head is taken off.

"When should I top" is really a question to ask yourself, the sooner you top the less overall branches you're going to have in the end unless you top again, the more times you top the smaller the new heads are going to be until they have had time to veg out and grow..

I typically top only once on plants to avoid this and I will just strip auxiliary branches leaving the tips of the main branches to grow tall, this will result in larger buds and better yields, the auxiliary nodes just steal energy from the tops in my opinion..


As you can see for example here is a plant I topped 1 time and now I have been stripping away those auxiliary nodes leaving the fan leaves, you can simply pluck them sideways right off to allow the main tips of each branch to continue growing, you do gotta go through every week and clean them up again.

Circle areas are where auxiliary nodes were plucked away, the nodes are offset due to it being a clone and not seedling plant..

Op if it were me I'd top the very top knuckle of growth only and leave the rest of the nodes. Bend down the entire plant almost touching the soil, and allow all those branches to come.up evenly together. That's my opinion

Hi! First time grower also so i’m no expert, just tell you what worked for me. So i waited until like 4 nodes and topped. So this made 2 big branches. Then I waited again until each had 3-4 nodes and topped again, this resulted in 4 main branches and so on…it all depends on how much space you have and how you’re planing to train them so the light will reach everywhere you want it to reach. Be sure when you re topping so you don’t fim instead(only if that’s what you want). I fimmed by mistake like 3 times and i’m not really happy with the results…they are growing much slower and smaller. I included some photos i hope will help! Best of luck

the circles are where i cut

The nodes alternate and have one branch per node, no? I think that it could use more light. So I would top it below the 1st top node or two. To make it bush out more.

But I usually top the center stem above the 5th or 6th nodes.

Top, create a manifold, then top again.