| You can continue the topping process until the desired effect is achieved.
To the right we have our catnip plant as we left it. You can see where the grow tip has been removed. Below is the same plant, one week later. Notice that, in the absence of the central grow tip, the two side tips have experienced enhanced growth. If the plant has been pruned enough for your needs, you can stop topping at any time after the first cut. |
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In outdoor gardens, the light source is a gigantic fusion reactor of such magnitude that there is very little difference between the light gathered from a rooftop and light gathered from ground level.The “sweet spot” is so large we ignore it.
In indoor gardens, however, along with the shrinking of the light source down to something tiny enough to fit in a single room, the “sweet spot” is also shrunk down to the point where it becomes an issue. |
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The “sweet spot” is the range of lighting where the plant is far enough from the light source to avoid being heat damaged, but close enough to maximize use of the available lighting.
Topping does have a price: notice the difference between the un-pruned control plant to the far left, and the topped plant beside it. The un-pruned plant is already flowering, so if speed to flower is your primary goal, this may not be right for you. Canopy management is used to control the plant’s growth in relation to the “sweet spot” of the available lighting. Since the effective penetration of light is related to its power, the smaller the light, the more important canopy control becomes. It is more difficult to properly light an entire tall plant with a single light than a short one. With the tall catnip plant, in order to properly light the large flower cluster on the top, the lower branches will not receive enough light to flourish, and should be removed as a lost cause. It is much simpler to light the shorter pruned plant, as the grow tips are in a much narrower vertical range. With a plant this small, the entire plant can be positioned in the “sweet spot.” |
| If space is at a premium, footprint size is another consideration.
Any light beams that make it all the way to the growing medium could potentially have been used to grow plants. A tall spindly plant will allow more light to reach the medium than a short fat one. |
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The pruned plant’s footprint much more closely matches its pot than the un-pruned plant does.
With many grow tips in close proximity, this style lends itself more to several smaller flower clusters instead of the natural tendency for a single main flower cluster. |
| The grow tip below is developed enough to be removed. | Here the grow tip has been removed. |
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This method can come in very handy when establishing a mother plant for cloning, as the large number of grow tips that can be created make excellent clones.
Peace, love, and puka shells, Post script: The kitties really enjoy this style of pruning as well, as they quite like the leftovers from pruning the grow tips. |
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