ScrOG blOG™ — FIM

Topping or FIMing your cannabis plant is an essential ingredient to promote doubling or tripling yield when using the P SCROG. Instead of one large central cola, topping and FIMing techniques promote multiple branches and bud sites that through low stress training fill the screen of the P SCROG with a bouquet of succulent dense flowers. 

Pre-harvest P SCROG

Topping - Cutting the plant above the top node. Topping can and should begin early in vegetative cycle. Each topping produces 2 branches. Two to three toppings during the vegetative cycle will produce 4 - 6 branches with multiple bud sites. As the branches stretch under the screen with use of low stress training (LST), the plant's foliage increasingly fills the P SCROG screen's planar surface. The stretch during training positions the bud sites such that they will grow through the openings of the polycarbonate screen.

Proper topping technique produces even numbers of branches making it possible to fill the screen symmetrically during the training process. Depending upon the strain, a P SCROG screen can reach the target of 75% to 80% full in 30 to 45 days of veg, at which time the plant should begin flowering cycle and should stretch enough to completely fill the screen.

"fuzzygrow" on YouTube

From "GrowWeedEasy.com"

FIMing - "FIM" is a growing culture acronym that stands for "F--K I missed". While not a scientific description of the method, it accurately describes the reaction one might have if you realize you didn't actually top the plant, you instead pinched off the top new growth and missed the rest.

While the FIM method may have been discovered by accident, many people claim it is superior to topping for the following reasons:

1. Produces a shorter bushier plant

2. Less stress and recovery time for the plant

3. Produces 4 branches for each FIMing

LST is performed the same as with topping with the objective of filling 75% to 80% of the P SCROG training screen before switching to flowering cycle.