Difference between topping and fimming

On November 7th I topped one of these white widows and I fimmed the other white widow. If you look at the pictures they are 2 great examples of the difference between the topping and the fimming. These plants are 16 days old in the pictures.

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You did a good job fiming that one. Looks like i see 4 tops starting. That’s damn near a perfect fim for your first time. :metal:

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@MDBuds I had a good teacher here on the forum, mostly you!

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@dmtscravey thanks man happy to help. Did you decide to try scrog this time or are you going alfresco?

Why would you want to top it? This is my first time that I’m getting ready to grow inside and was just wondering why you would want to top it off? I have always loved growing Christmas trees outside so this will be interesting. I guess the fimming is to make it bushier. My tent is 4x4 6ft high with expandable, so plenty of height. How many plants would you suggest I actually grow in that space without overcrowding? Thanks for any advice.

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Hello @Munchy and welcome to the forum. Glad to have you!! As far as topping goes the more you top the more colas you get. And as far as the your tent size, i have 5 plants in my 3x3 tent. So with a 4x4 you can easily do 6+ depending on your pot sizes. Im sure @MDBuds can go into more detail about the topping if you have more questions. Happy Growing!!

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Hi @Munchy Collette. Welcome to the forum :v:

When you top a plant at a node, the 2 adjacent growth tips become the main colas.

You get bud from 2 main colas instead of from just the natural occurring single main meristem. You can then top those 2 and have 4 mains, etc. Yes, you’ll lose the Christmas tree look, but you’ll end up with more bud in less space :+1:

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I topped the plant because every time I do that 1 top turns into 2. So if you top 6 branches you end up with 12 Bud sites on the end of the branches. And it will still grow a decent Christmas tree shape. And as far as fimming this is the 1st time I have done it, so we’ll see what happens with that.! Here are todays pics.


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Thank you all so very much for your helpful advice. This is so cool to be able to communicate with each other in our passions for success. I been reading now I need to put into fruition. Just want to make sure I start off right and now I have a wonderful forum with good peeps to help out. Thank again!

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Here are some updated pictures for comparison with both plants next to each other 11-13-2020.

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These plants are growing like weeds! No nutrients yet just water. 19 days old.

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@MDBuds I would like to try scrog but I’m not quite sure how to do it yet. I suppose the one I topped would be good for that correct?

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@dmtscravey Both of them can be scrogged. The fimed one will be taller than the topped one but you can put them both through the net. You just set up a horizontal trellis in your grow space and train the plants to bush out and put the tops in through the nets as it grows. As soon as you have enough tops in the net for your liking flip to flower and trim everything under the net.

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Got it I think I am going to try it. should I put the net in now and how far do I want it above the plant?

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@dmtscravey You can put it in whenever you want and just train and weave the plants through. I’d put at about 1 to 1.5 feet above the pots in your grow space and see how it feels. Maybe move it up or down some more if you need to before flipping to flower. White widow usually about doubles in size during flower so it really depends on when you flip it to flower. I try to keep the trellis right at the top of the canopy before the flower flip and then leave it there as the plant flowers.

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Got it, thank you @MDBuds

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DMT I use cheap pvc pipe from Lowes / Home Depot to make trellis. Leave tops of verticals open so you can slide trellis on / up and down. When I make big trellis, I place horizontals to steady it, about 1/4 to1/3 of the way up. Can be used over and over and added to / subtracted from with simple pvc cutter. I buy 10 packs as it reduces cost much much more. I use in tent and garden. Basically make a cage. When I have very heavy tops, I put top on trellis, use yoyo if cola’s go too high above canopy / scrog. I had that happen with GG4 Pheno - 50% of the plants decided they were going to double in height after the net was in place

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Awesome I will look into it :grinning: @Mrb53004

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They are really starting to grow now! I have topped another set of branches. They are now 26 days old and this is November 21st 2020.

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I definitely like the look of the fimmed vs topped. We shall see as they progress what they will look like. Thanks for sharing @dmtscravey.

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