When topping a plant, and then wanting to top a second timeā¦. Is there a minimum growth before you top the new tops? Like ā at least two nodesā or something?
An alternative to topping twice is to tie down the two main shoots and let the lower growth shoot up.
I donāt always do it this way but itās a good strategy.
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The rule of thumb I have heard people use is that if youāve topped it N times, let it grow N+1 nodes before topping again. So for the 2nd top, cut between the 2nd and 3rd nodes past the 1st top, and for the 3rd top, cut between the 3rd and 4th nodes after the 2nd top. I personally havent needed to top more than twice but thatās dependent on your environment and what youāre trying to do.
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Thanks @GlassJoeGrows and @Foreigner, I may do both. But just wanted to know so I can experiment a little. Technically only my 3rd grow so trying to experience a few different things to build my knowledge base 
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Oh one more questionā¦ is topping males a thing? If your wanting pollen but wanting to keep the plant shorter?
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Sure you can top males. I too everything before they show and some end up male 
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Excellent 
thank you much
Yeah it should be fine, people just arenāt as worried about structure with males. With females youāre trying to manage the structure of the plant to have a smaller number of buds that are more exposed to light so that you donāt end up with larf, but when youāre shaking all the pollen out of the pollen sacs and sifting it anyways, it doesnāt matter as much if you have a bunch of loosely clustered sacs or fewer tightly clustered ones.
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Always top my males if Iām looking for pollen.
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Also works great for multiple dusting as you can just skip of a top/cluster and bring it in and tap, pollen galore, and the rest can be taken as needed within a window
My main motivation to top is keeping it a little more inconspicuous lol
But just talking about it Iām starting to wonder on my planā¦. It may not be a smart one.
I have a greenhouse and growing my fems in itā¦. I was gonna put the male out in my garden ā¦ but starting to wonder if my intake fans will suck in some pollen and mess up my fems ā¦ā¦
Ya I wouldnāt if you have intake direct to inside, you can make a small isolation box out of a Rubbermaid (clear) and use a small piece of furnace filter for airflow, keep the male inside and it will collect all the pollen then open it elsewhere, carefully scrape up and spray down everything afterwards with a light bleach and water solution to ensure itās no longer viable )what is left lingering)
@TopShelfTrees1 im not sure how to do that? Iād have to have a light in the isolation box? And I couldnāt plant it in the garden thenā¦.
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If youāre going to have an outdoor male be prepared to chop it at the first signs of sacs opening or somehow isolate/bag it. Itās wind-pollinated and the pollen can carry a long distance, in addition to getting stuck to your clothing or skin.
With this last batch of seed I did not let the male release pollen and collect the loose pollen, I chopped the whole deal right as sacs started to open, hung the plant to dry, and then shucked all the sacs off the plant in a more controlled environment and sifted the results.
It yields some plant material mixed in with the pollen, but the pollen seems to have been viable, it was less headache than worrying about it releasing viable pollen outdoors, and in many situations people end up cutting their pollen with flour anyways because using it directly consumes a lot of pollen (more than necessary to pollinate the plant).
I have a very lazy male segregation protocol but under no circumstances would I have a flowering male openly spewing near plants I want to keep sensi.
How much pollen do you need. Inside beside a window might be sufficient.
@Foreigner yeah ā¦. Starting to doubt my plan lol at first I figured itās outside and fems are insideā¦ā¦ but greenhouse sucks in outside air lol 
see just posting about it cleared up my silly notions
@GlassJoeGrows maybe Iāll have to get a tentā¦. Dang itā¦.
@Ghgrower when you see the first balls on males you can chop as much as you want off. leave it one branch and a node of growth. doesnāt matter. chop the whole thing and take clones, deal with it later. if the male starts throwin balls all over the place and shits out itās not a male you want anyways.
I personally havenāt bothered with a separate tent for males but thatās just me. The male Afghani pollen I harvested in the spring didnāt seem to pollinate any of the females I ran at the same time (no seeds in anything Iāve smoked from that batch) so I think it worked out.
If you want to really maximize the amount of pollen you collect and the quality of the pollen, youāll get more of the fine yellow pollen by letting the sacs open and collecting the pollen they deposit, but you donāt have to let it do that.
Iāve whacked the males at the first sign of opening sacs before they had the chance to let rip and the pollen was still viable. Moisture is the main enemy of pollen, so if you let it dry, you can separate the dried pollen sacs from the plant, then sift the pollen from the sacs. Itās also much easier to find a hospitable environment for a male once heās dead.
Hmmm I donāt know now lol last thing I want Is to ruin my femsā¦. Iām sure Iām being more paranoid then I need to be but I just havenāt dealt with it yetā¦ā¦
If you donāt have an immediate use for the pollen you could just cut clones of everything while itās still in veg, and then just trash the father plant and flower out the male clone for pollen after youāve harvested the females.
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