I’ve seen some research that suggests that while topping and training may result in a plant that fills the space better or which produces a larger number of viable buds, it may not actually produce a more productive plant since buds are smaller and since topping and training can slow growth.
What do you do, and why? Anyone here done side by side comparisons?
I train pretty aggressively. I think one big cola is a big risk because if something ugly happens you’re screwed. 8 medium sized tops is a bit of diversified insurance.
I also have a limited footprint and training lets me maximize my canopy.
And sometimes with super stretchy things you have no choice.
Some of it is my choice and some of it is dictated by my space.
Space is the main reason
Room space
Overhead space
And increased yield of course
Size of bud well when you grow only for yourself and not for resale
Then size is not an issue
By bending , topping , scrog style my whole objective is to grow enough to keep us in meds so I don’t need to buy any
I agree with @Foreigner
ecause if something ugly happens you’re screwed. 8
Bud rot ugly
Now mainline style will give you a good yield and a beautiful array of Good size buds as well as weight to them
When we grow in closets or tents the RH can kill you
So mainline style dose control. Excess vegetation
Which is helpful in maintaining Rh
Over the years I’ve tried a few methods
But lst and pruning is the best method to increase yield and maintain healthy stress free plants
Imho
Paps
I start training fairly early on (week 1) and will continue to do so until early-to-mid flower. I don’t notice slowed growth however, maybe the plants don’t stretch as much (which is kind of the point) therefore they look smaller in comparison to an upright plant. I do notice energy spent in thickening the stalk and branches, which could be energy used to continue vertical growth, but it doesn’t concern me much.
What does concern me is a 4 month veg’d plant reaching the top of my grow tent two weeks into flower, which is why I train.
ive done no training at all, some training, heavy training.
it all depends on the strain as well, there are strains that brach out naturally. others not at all.
what i have found is more similar to what foreigner says:
first of all you dont want 10 inch buds, they look great in pictures but they are a botrytis nightmare.
yield is affected, training helps keep the canopy leveled.the more leveled it is, the more uniform light hits the plants and you dont have competition going on. when things arent leveled some plants are bound to get less light than they would.
also helping your plants branch out improves the quality of the side branch buds. otherwise they would keep under darker environments.
i grow stacking bunch of plants together (which is ill advised, you want space for all of them to grow well, but im pheno hunting) in those cases proper branching/leveling helps with things.
anyway…
I top and LST so they look prettier… Seriously though, the more light that gets to the bud the bigger they get, also some stoner experiments suggest that spreading out the canopy can increase the THC .
I couldn’t have said it better myself! 
I top to make more bud sites and then train so those sites have good access to light and fill my net/ space
Just for one example I grew some sativas that exploded with 5x stretch. With a single cola I would have been in serious trouble but since it had been trained many tops I just cut a few off that I couldn’t keep out of the lights and considered it acceptable losses.
I train aggressively. plants do what I tell them. there’s no discussion or alternative other than cutting off what doesn’t do what I tell it.
start em young.
I’ve done both. If I was running perpetual or SOG I wouldn’t top. If I’m running a dense indica or a super tall sativa, I’m going to top. I have yet to regret doing one and not the other.
Sometimes it depends how high I get before I get into my grow room lol
Normally I top about 40cm and keep around 6 branches, strip off from anything below top 10 heads (flower). Depends on genetic but with low yielding one i’ll hit about 100g per plant and high yielding one about 200g per plant. However, require about 4-5weeks of veg excluding propagation.
Current cycle, i did not train at all besides once of heavy foliation.
My idea is based on minimizing any kind of disturbance on plants during the growth (it is fact that plant use energy instead of growing to recover from stress if any given). Also, very short veg about 4weeks including propagation and require about 4-5times more of plants to cover up the yield. Only once of heavy defoliation for provoking generative action (you don’t remove shoot. You only remove leaves and also very lowest useless branches). In terms of training plants, the idea is derived from “burn and turn” by Floraflex. Surprisingly working well. Did not expect much tbh.
Still have to see the yield and run more trials but besides the new method require way more plants, I strongly believe it is faster and higher yield with safer bet.
Tbf, it’s all personal taste and depends on what one defines “good growing, healthy plants, and quality of product” are as you may aware of it.
In terms of good grow, my idea focuses on low input with same or better result.
In terms of plant health, i focus on plant balance
In terms of quality, i fully believe it only has to do with genetics unless growers made a huge mistake (it can happen). The idea comes from we can only reach the maximum genetic potential, we never can exceed the genetic potential
Successful cultivation requires own philosophy and defining the direction, am sure.
About the bud site, it is more related to crop steering such vegetative or generative action you are triggering.
So training isn’t necessary action to take to increase bud-site. You can play around with water uptake or so to minimize unnecessary stress.
Wow great responses from everyone so far! Anyone here that doesn’t top & trim?
I prefer just using lst you still get multiple budsites without the stress of topping I will use it sometimes to stall growth and allow plants to catch up but I find using lst is enough to stretch a plant out or to take a few good clones before flipping
these all used lst no topping other then the front left that run
Only my very first grows were non topping and trimming. Had lower uniformity in quality and lower yield.
Non trimming was little tricky though…
I can only think of negative effect due to source and sink ratio
Boy oh boy @OldUncleBen is going to tan some hides for sure when he comes knocking.The Trimming……The Topping……The twisting and popping of limbs into contorted shapes …….The Horror Apocalypse Now Marlon Brando GIF - Apocalypse Now Marlon Brando Colonel Kurtz - Discover & Share GIFs
So the reasons I’ve seen elsewhere for not topping went something like this: if you top, you set the plant back by about a week of growth, which means you harvest a week later, which means you can turn fewer crops. Also there is a certain logic to the argument “the growing tip is the healthiest, most vibrantly growing part of the entire plant, and you’re gonna cut it off?”
I’ve only grown 5 plants total so I don’t know shit, but two of them I didn’t top, but instead tried to train the top sideways and then around in a circle until bloom. My biggest problem with this was the asymmetry of the resulting plant, it was hard to work with (earliest growth ended up on one side of the pot with all the growing tips reaching for the other side). A topped plant produces bilateral symmetry which makes for an easy plant to work with.
Ahhh, that is clearly true
When you top the new growth auxin moves from the very main top to other branches and those are consider as vegetative action than flowering (generative) action.
So if you top, you make plants closer to veg than flowering. If you are plan to give a short veg time (18/6) better avoid topping but if you are giving long veg time than topping won’t delay as you are giving extra week of veg after topping.
