With this guide we will explain how to pruning cannabis plants, the various pruning techniques you can apply to your hemp plants. Like many plant varieties, marijuana can also be pruned in order to maximize production or optimize growing space. Some of the most common Cultivation Techniques to increase the yield of Cannabis is the Topping method (topping) or the Fimming (FIM), basically they are very similar methods for pruning marijuana which consist in cutting the apical meristem, i.e. the terminal part of the plant , in order to stimulate the multiplication of the central top and a bushy plant development, limiting its vertical growth.

These two cannabis pruning methods belong to the HST (High Stress Training) class, techniques widely used by growers both indoors and outdoors but imply greater stress on the plant which can prolong vegetative growth up to a week longer than normal, even two weeks. A stress that however benefits the plant with an implementation of plant growth maximizing the flowering of Cannabis.

How to do the topping weed plants method

The Topping weed plants technique consists in removing the apical part of the central stem, thus stimulating the plant to create more robust ramifications by changing the shape of the pyramidal plant (classic shape with a pronounced central branch on more or less developed ramifications ) to a more bushy shape called a candelabrum. pruning the Cannabis plant with the Topping method stimulates the movement of auxins, plant growth hormones, towards the lateral branches, furthermore the central top forks.

This marijuana pruning method not only creates two huge buds, instead of just one, but increases the plant mass and horizontal development of the plant by changing its shape. By doing so, the production of inflorescences is increased and in indoor environments such as Grow Rooms, fewer plants can be grown, always having high productions. The Topping can also be used outdoors, to camouflage the classic pyramid shape of cannabis. In indoor growing this cannabis pruning method is also used in symbiosis with another cultivation technique, as a preparatory phase of the SCRoG Technique .

How to Topping Cannabis?

  • Most of the pruning techniques of marijuana are carried out in the vegetative phase, even Topping is a type of topping that must be performed only in the vegetative phase.
  • We wait for our Cannabis plant to reach the 3rd or maximum 5th internode with growth . At this point, which should correspond to about the third week of vegetative growth, the plant has developed a good plant structure and an excellent root system which are essential elements for overcoming the trauma of topping without problems.
  • At this point we perform the pruning of the apical meristem, in practice we will remove the last internode without cutting the buds of the branches that may already be present at the base of the internode.
  • Many schools of thought oppose each other on how to prune marijuana : whether by hand with only the pressure of the nails or with special scissors for pruning cannabis . An argument that does not affect the correct execution of the Topping, it is only a subjective matter, the important thing is that if we use cannabis pruning shears, remember to sterilize them.
  • The Topping has been completed, now the pruned plant will go through a "standby" phase of a few days. After about a week we can see the first results where the lateral branches have developed more and the top has forked.

If we have a large Grow Room, or we want to further maximize our production on a few specimens, without having problems delaying flowering, the Topping pruning technique can also be performed on the terminal parts of the other branches; perhaps outdoors where we have more space and the light source, the sun, goes around the plant giving better illumination to each branch.

Fimming pruning to increase yield

Very similar to Topping, this method for pruning marijuana also consists substantially in the removal of the apical part of the stem, what differentiates the Fimming method of Cannabis from the classic topping is the amount of portion of the removed apical.
The term Fimming derives from FIM acronym of "Fuck I Missed" , or "F*ck I was wrong to prune". It is said that this marijuana pruning technique derives from the error of a grower, I mean in a classic topping which, by mistake, only removed part of the apical meristem by cutting off a portion of the internode buds.

A new marijuana pruning technique was born out of one grower's mistake . By removing only 75% of the apical meristem instead of having a simple bifurcation, the apex splits into four cymes. Always favoring, as in the Topping, the development of the remaining lateral branches and an arrest of vertical growth.

Pruning weed: what cannabis strains can i clip? topping and fimming limitations.

With Topping and Fimming you can clip the main varieties of Cannabis Indica and Sativa , even if you slightly prefer more branching varieties such as Indicas , where we can see greater results. Indicas genetically develop more branches and love longer vegetatives, these characteristics make them perfect for pruning cannabis.

Autoflowering plants are absolutely excluded from pruning methods , for them we can adopt other techniques to increase yield such as LST ( Low Stress Training ) or ligatures. In fact, pruning autoflowering cannabis will slow down the growth and development of the plant, affecting the final harvest.