Topping / Clipping Plants

By: Simon

We do not give info for every variety if topping is possible or not. 

The short reply is: 'clipping/ topping is always possible' as long as you give the plant enough time to recuperate.

Clipping (or pinching or topping) you can do with most plants. But as a rule we at Serious do not clip unless there is a reason for it. When we test seeds for indoor or outdoor then we'd like to see the natural shape of the plants. This means: no clipping/topping.

We also want to show the natural shape of the plants and therefore we never clip plants to show in a catalog. 

The shape of plants under the sun has evolved to use sun light most efficiently. 
Hence: do not clip outside plants unless you have a good reason for it. A reason could be: keeping the plants low for the neighbours. 
This does work, but tying the plants down could be another solution whereby the plant stays intact.

Clipping generally works as follows; 
With clipping you decapitate the main stalk. Normally the main stem would grow out to be the biggest bud, clearly sticking out above the rest of the plant. 
The response of the plant to clipping is that the lower 4 to 6 side branches start to grow taller. They will grow taller, stretch, and be the tallest parts of the plant. 
The buds of those side branches now take over the position of the main stalk. This means that multiple side buds will be the highest part of the plant. These buds won't be as big as the main bud would be.

ADVANTAGE INDOORS
The advantages are that those smaller buds are all at the same distance from the light, meaning they will get the strongest light and be the biggest buds. Indoor lights are not as strong as the sun, so the distance to the light source matters.

More buds will use the light to grow bigger, and together those smaller buds can yield more than one top cola would. So clipping can improve the overall yield (if you give the plants enough time to recover from the clipping!).

Smaller buds are also less likely to get bud fungus. So indoor clipping is quite a good idea. 

A disadvantage is that plants need to recover, like 4-7 days, from each time you clip/pinch. This means that you need to add this recovery time to the normal veg.time you give your plants.

The knot is the point of the main stem where the leaves and side branches are attached to the main stem. 

A young seedling first grows 2 round leaves which are not leaves at all but rather the fuel containers (or battery packs) of the young plant. The name is: cotyledons, they are no true leaves and they do not count as first knot. 
The first knot is where the first true leaves grow from the main stem. Those leaves have serrated edges.

Clipping/topping above the second knot will give four main buds.

When you grow a few seed plants, let's say three plants in a one square meter tent, then clipping/cutting the plants just above the third knot will result in plants with six tops each. 

Those three plants will fill the tent nicely with buds of the same height. Ideal for a tent!

Clipping can also be the way to keep the plants shorter if height is a problem. The idea of clipping to keep the height of the plants in check usually happens when the plants are already in flower for some time, and they stretch more than anticipated. 

The later you clip the bigger is the negative impact on the yield. This means if you doubt if you should clip or not, the longer you wait to decide 'yes' or 'no' will have a stronger negative effect on your yield. Clip as early as you can if you're gonna clip.

Some plants stretch far more than others. The more they stretch, the more reason you have to clip your plants.