Can you fim and top at the same time?

[Greenpassion]

I have several photo. Seedlings, which I had started to LST, and I also fimmed. Now I've been looking at doing some topping so I can get two main colas, but is that too much? I've been struggling so far to get plants with thick branches. In the 12/12 room they have all been developing nice colas but there's been so many thin smaller branches, and I know that makes a smaller yield. So these seedlings that I've got I've got them bent over and I fimmed them, so can I top one of them that's bent over and fimmed?

[Ell]

yes.iv'e also read top once fim twice.my fim success rate isn't a good pecentile but try sometimes anyway.

[Greenpassion]

Thank you for your response. My fimming has been ridiculously productive, to the point where I have way too many New Growth sites. Which is why I wanted to try topping which would give me major top colas.. when I fimmed, it's given me many many New Growth sites but they're not major branches. My problem is that I have these mature plants that I move into the twelve 12, but there's so many small skinny branches, and I'm looking for big thick leader branches here. I don't know how to achieve that. is my problem that I'm not pruning enough? Should I prune any branches except for like four or five for plant to make them thick and fat? I've looked at the tutorials over and over again, and it really doesn't say much about taking out branches. Talks a lot about removing fan leaves and such. But not much about taking out smaller branches. When I do a harvest I end up with all these larfy Buds and small branches. What is the answer here?

[Spidermite]

You can remove any smaller lower branches that will not reach the light. But you can have plants with 18 or more huge colas if you do everything just right. You need a bigger pot if in soil and use the right amount of nutrients and have LOTS of light. A 400watt plus hps/mh a 315lec etc etc. Larfy buds most times come from the buds not getting enough light.

You can also defol to get light deeper into the plant so it reaches those branches.

[Greenpassion]

these plants are in 5-gallon cloth pots. I have six of them, now starting their 7th week of flower. I've had two major defoliation sessions with them, and I have each one under its own 450 watt viparspectra LED. I use Botanicare nutrients, with recharge and Mammoth p. The plants look really good but I never took any of the lower thin branches. They have all reached the top but there's not as much but on many of them that are on the smaller branches. I'm wondering is it possible to get a plant to have five or six really thick branches and no thin ones. Again I've read a lot about defoliation and maybe I've missed it, but not a lot of talk or discussion about taking branches out.

[Ell]

what i picture u wanting is like a mainline or manifold setup. you get 8 strong arms, and for me less larf also. however it does add time to veg. but u get more pot too.

[Greenpassion]

Well I can't really do something like a manifold or scrog setup, because these are all in just a room and I don't have any way to build a screen or anything like that in this 1212 room.

[RedFlannelHippie]

Greenpassion, I have had great luck training my girls using the small coated wire ties found in a gardening store, they are sharp enough to pierce the outer edge of your cloth pot, make a loop and tie off. Then use another tie to loop around a branch and thread back to the one that is attached to the lip of your pot. Pull your branches downward to the pot edge... You can shape your branches, so they spread outward instead of up, using this method all around the pot. After a few weeks, after the plant is stunted, you can remove the ties. To get thicker stalks, branches, don't forget to add some silica along with your feeding schedule. I use "Armor Si" from General Hydroponics. I add 1/4 teaspoon per gallon every watering up until last half of flower when I back down. Armor Si can impact your pH, so I add it first and pH last after all nutes have been mixed.

[RedFlannelHippie]

looked to see if I had any photos showing example of what I mean, see photos and captions.

[ZigZag]

Hello Greenpassion_ I can't do scrog due to the confines of my grow space so I usually start by topping once and then using LST to pull the two main stalks out to the sides to open them up. Then toping those again once they have a second node...and then using LST. I get really bushy plants that way with about 8-12 main colas. I'm not sure if this qualifies as a manifold but the results are very similar.

I've FIMed a few times before and had good success with lots of colas but haven't tried it at the same time with toping because it always resulted in about 6 main colas that could be opened up nicely with LST.

You might try trimming some of the smaller branches from the main colas but do it a little at a time so you don't stress your plants while they are in flower.

I'm not sure I'd FIM each main branch of a topped plant while its in veg because then you'll get a bunch of smaller branches and smaller colas and it will get tricky trying to LST that many branches . I'd just LST or top a second time and then LST. Maybe use some super cropping to keep the tallest colas down a bit. From my experience i've found I get larger colas deeper down into the plants if I can open them up really well to get good light penetration, rather than going for as many colas as I can get. I also trim all the lower branches from the main stalk and from the lower portions of all the main colas as well. This forces most of the growth into those biggest buds.

Good growing!

[Greenpassion]

Well thank you for your replies. I just now saw these messages. I do do quite a bit of LST and I've had success with that. Very good tips in these replies thank you guys!