Topping marijuana plants and increasing yields
Topping marijuana is Usually misunderstood by most growers. A single growing shoot could produce a bigger individual col. The top two questions I get asked are: “How do I top my Marijuana plant??” and “How do I increase the yield of my grow??“. The first question is the answer to the second and I can kill two birds with one stone, so I decided to write about it.
First of all, there are a lot of different ways to increase yield by manipulating or cutting a Marijuana plant. Filming, Super Cropping, SOG, SCROG etc… I have tried a few and I consistently get better results by using the tried and true method of simply topping my plants and spreading them out in order to get more light to lower and inner branches. I will explain how I do this step by step…
Step 1: Making The First Cut…
Start from the very top of the plant and work your way down until you get to the very first node. Make a cut right above the first node. Only cut the very top but make it a clean cut just a little above the set of leaves as indicated by the black line in the picture above…
Step 1: The First Cut
Now you will need to wait for a couple of days to cut it again. The objective is to get 4 tops… 2 on either side. After the first cut, you will end up with 2 tops 1 on either side instead of one single top. So now you wait and allow those two tops to get big enough to “top”…
Step 2: Wait For Recovery
Step 2: Making The Second Cut…
The second cut is exactly like the first cut only you will “cut” the 2 tops that were left after step 1. If you have waited a few days you will clearly see the 2 tops that were left behind and where to cut each one as you did in Step 1 “Making the first cut…”. Take each top and cut them exactly as you did in step one as seen in the picture below…
Step 2: Making The Second Cut…
Step 3: Maintaining The “Y”…
After a few more days you’ll start to see the results of what you have done… you will see 2 tops on either side. The “Y” should be watched and reinforced as it grows and those 2 tops on each side get heavier and heavier. If you notice the “Y” is split nice and evenly so that you can spread them apart to expose the lower branches to more light. What results is the lower branches get more light and grow too big colas themselves and the yield is dramatically increased.
The End Result…
I will add a few more pictures as the growth continues to show how to reinforce the “Y” and to show the results of splitting the plant apart to expose the lower branches… I hope this helps some of you.
PS: Just to answer another question regarding “Topping Marijuana Plants To Increase Yield“.. as far as I know, and everything that I have read about topping Marijuana plants… 4 is the maximum amount of tops you should have. I guess if you top any more than that it freaks the plants out and stunts the growth. I would think that 4 tops on either side would be too heavy for the plant stalk to handle… I haven’t tried topping any more than twice so I wouldn’t be able to tell you for sure. I just wanted to say that everything that I have read about Topping Marijuana plants says 4 tops is the maximum.
