I’ve never topped but I do bend the main stalk big time, after awhile it will try to right itself and it has the same effect…bushier plants.
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I top at five nodes after sexing and then supercrop the bush into a basket with a couple gentle bends and twists at a time
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10/12 nodes then tie down the tops and again tie the branches, i do occasionally top but it’s to limit branches.
I’ve heard about back building but idk what it is, possibly the same as fimming in early flower?
Eta… Plant after tying, then flowering.
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I second this!
@BU2B provides some really great info on training to maximize plant yield.
Just my .02
Happy Growing! 
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AMAZING! This is what my plants look like when I do my “kinky harsh” method in RDWC runs! 
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This is my favorite way to train for a tent.I get them to the point the plant will almost poke out an eye on the led lights and I take that top and bend her down to a 40 degree angle a couple weeks before I flip,makes nice rounded out tops that bush out and fill up the canopy but not too crazy so you can space manage 2 plants.I’m trying to grow at least 2 different cultivars I never get strain burnout anymore with this,with the exception of the Turkish twist that stuff has been the same high since I first tried it out never changes always smokes
good.I sacrifice a main log bud but I get 23 other tops that will put out a nice medium size cola to max out that yield that are pretty much the same quality if not better because I have so many more tops to get all that light they were missing the Texada loves it the Chem91\GG#4 was left alone and was just a regular 6 node top.Definitely see the difference in mass
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i was reading about “schwazzing” the other day, i had never heard of it before. its an extreme pruning method where you remove ALL fan leaves at day 1 and day 21 of flowering. seems like it would be harmful but people report great results. anyone tried it?
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I like to beat them with a stick while saying “bad plant bad plant.”
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Depends on the plants individual growth habits. Sometimes top them, sometimes tie down, sometimes snap stems and branches. I’ve done scrogging before and it works well, but I don’t like that you can’t move the plants easily once they’re trained into the net.
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Agreed PITA.
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@DougDawson never pulls hardly a leaf off his batches of BOG gear and he grows some of the most beautiful plants I ever saw on here and has amazing yields.Sometimes I think it’s just about removing stress from the plant and letting them do thier own thing.When I think about it it seems counterintuitive to remove so much then the plant tries to put it all back instead of pumping out flower.I could be wrong just my thoughts.
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i uaed to never defoliate at all, because why would the plant make leaves that wont help it. but after i started i cant deny the improvement, even mild defoliation just to open the plant up to more light/air definitely makes a noticeable difference
this shwazzing seems crazy extreme but like i said people do report good results. ill try it on a plant next time i get growing again
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Thanks for the kind words @CapnCannabis. I have tried stripping plants before and it worked out fine although I did leave the very top. Looked like this.
Ended up with this.
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Those huge bushy males you had were spectacular just saying.Popping some Sour Bluetooth right now ,I have that pollen you gave me in Cryo storage and one of those ladies is going to get hit from tippy top to bottom with that and the purple Kush mom I have and of course the Texada.Your Male is becoming quite the Platoon Daddy for the north east lol.Thanks for the opportunity to put some good old school genetics back into the gene pool.
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That’s awesome bud. I love seeing my seeds and pollen put to good use. Up next is Blue Kush, it’s Blue Moon Rocks x Sour Bubble. Will be collecting pollen again if all goes well. 
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Cannot wait
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I’ve removed the odd handful of leafs to get on top of humidity, I’ve removed leafs from mother plants to slow growth down and feed frequency, I’ve removed the odd huge fan leaf to try and slow stretch, i don’t have direct comparisons so it’s only anecdotal but it helps i think.
I remove them for my benefits but doing it in the name of better yeilds/buds idk I’d need to try it.
Besides catching light leafs also absorb Co2, they transpire water which bringings up more nutrients, they store and make starches for growing roots and shoots.
Idk enough about all the science to know for sure but i can’t see how it could help the plant even though it might help us the grower.
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If anyone wants to read about the science behind defoliation, this is the best paper I’ve found on it as a practice. What I get from it is that selective defoliation of lower leaves and some uppers effects the plant metabolism and source-sink relationship between the leaf and buds.
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