Topping clones

[smoorman]

I was given some clones the other day and now that I've transplanted them into 5G bags and they seem to be stable. I'd like to start topping them to get them to bush out as they seem quite lanky. What's your suggestions on the best approach to this? Can I cut them down a node or 2 to even them all out? They are 12-14" tall at this point. They're in coco in a 4x8 tent. Thanks

 

[Smerft85]

I'm not an indoor grower, so take my advise with a grain of salt. As far as evening them up, chances are they wont grow at an identical rate anyway so it may be wasted effort. I would think for a tent grow they are about the right size to top them traditionally and just pinch the very top growth off, a couple inches in difference of height shouldn't cause problems. I topped most of my outdoor girls at about 3.5', somewhere between belly button and chest height so I can try to keep them lower than my fence. It's legal to grow here, but there are still little punk thieves around that will yank your entire outdoor grow while you are asleep. Luckily I've got 4 large dogs that will alert when a cat gets in the yard, bigger alert for people sized trespassers.

 

[FunkyButtLovin]

Bend them over and tie them down. LST is the way to go with clones imo. You can just keep bending and tying, even supercropping when necessary to keep the canopy even and fill out the tent.

 

[Rwise]

Topping will only slow them down, they are already in single node, like FBL said bend em over tie em down

 

[smoorman]

Wait.... it just dawned on me. Maybe I should just bend them over and tie them down? That's what I'll be doing today. I'll post pics later. Thanks much.
In other news here are my first auto's I've tried. In various stages of growth. I topped 1 and have been defoliating quite heavily to expose bud sites. 1 of them has started to show pistils. 2 gallon bags with coco loco.

 

[SoOrbudgal]

Great growing smoorman those are lovely. I'm struggling with posting my updates of my various auto stages they are very similar to yours. my photos are stuck in the " cloud " lol. Yep i'd just bend those gals over and tie down the arms as they grow easy peasy good harvest

 

[Smerft85]

I love bending my gals over!

 

[SoOrbudgal]

LOL Smerft85

 

[dphipps1020]

I usually top my clones as well. Most of the time it comes out perfect with very little additional training. You just have to find a good spot and cut it but leave everything else. From my experience with clones, they usually widen out pretty much on their own after topping. Matter of fact, I took some pictures last night of a clone I topped that's about 2 weeks into flower now. Kept in veg for about 6 weeks (I think), maybe a little less. It's about 2' tall but has a pretty good manifold type thing going on. Here's a few pictures and a close-up so you can see what I did, maybe. Either way you decide to go will be beneficial. Happy growing!
Photo reference, the plants in the front left quarter are all clones and I topped them all so they look very similar. They've also recently been defoliated so they might look a bit thin right now.

 

[dphipps1020]

Hell, you could even top them and clone the clones 😂

 

[smoorman]

I knew it was just a matter of time... Lol

 

[smoorman]

How big were they when you topped them? Did they look similar to mine?

 

[dphipps1020]

Yeah they looked pretty similar. Just leave the big fan leaves on it for a minute to give the nodes a chance to grow out a little. I'll see if I can find a picture of them around when I did it.

 

[dphipps1020]

I think this is right after I topped them and cleaned them up a little. They look like they were bigger than yours actually, not sure. I think I let them grow out a little bit to see where to top it. The ones on the right side in the front half are the same ones. It's only been about 4.5-5 weeks since topping and about 3 of it has been on a 12/12 schedule. This picture was June 30th.

 

[Smerft85]

What? Something I said? 😉

 

[smoorman]

Update: I bent them over and tied them down. They actually evened up pretty good considering there's 4 different strains in there. Kept the lights pretty tight to limit growth and it's a good thing, all my lights are as high as they'll go. Plants are about 5' high including the 5G bags.
Divorce cake, couple of scoops, mint chocolate chip and a tropical cookies gluebert. A motley crew. About 3-1/2 weeks into flower I think. Ended up scrogging them because I could see they were going to be lanky and falling over eventually.
COCO perlite, Flora nova grow and bloom, Calimagic. Just started CO2 today. Just using up almost empty sodastream cannisters. Lots of LED light.

 

[smoorman]

Might have to consider a different CO2 system . Or a monitoring/measuring system. This last mostly cannister only lasted a few hours. Or full cannisters as I fill my own for about $0.50 each. I'll see if they make a difference.