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What is the FIM pruning technique? |
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To increase yeilds and maximize space, many farmers "top" their plants-snip off the top bud. Tradionally, topping your plant causes two shoots to grow back in place on the one pruned off, thus increasing the number of top/main buds. Well thanks to a loyal reader, we've topped that. This tip came to me by snail mail from South Carolina, With a diagram and a name for this technique. The letter says, "I discovered by accident a pruning technique that all growers should know about". As I read his letter, I remembered that the same thing had happened to me many times and I never took notice. I too occasionally got up to five or six new shoots growing from what I thought was a sloppy topping attempt. Diagram A shows the tradional method of topping: cutting the whole node off cleanly, to induce the stalk to split into two. But diagram B indicates to make the cut below the center of the node, leaving about 10% intact. This is the key, because the vegetation left behind has cells that are rapidly dividing in many different directions. This can lead to as many as EIGHT tops from a single pruning.
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