I have spoke to this topic many times on countless posts, so I think it’s time to concentrate that information into one linkable post.
FIM’ing is a medium high stress pruning method to increase yeilds and allow of a more even canopy. While topping a plant will result in two main colas a fully successful FIM will result in four colas! This works equally as well on autoflowers as it does on photoperiods.
I personally suggest FIM’ing at the 4th/5th node.
After your FIM is complete no other training is required, but by all means continue to use other methods once your plant has had a handful of days to recover.
Pictures are worth a thousand words they say so
A little bit more detail
Here is a little video I made.
Minor note, in the video I state “Cut 80% of the stems” but what I meant to say is “cut 80% of the leaf material” as the diagrams above and my actions in the video show. This will eventually be updated so my apologies in advance.
Here is another video for clarification
There are countless write-ups so I will leave this here
Please feel free to link this to anyone who you think will benefit from it in your journey of supporting the community.
I had never heard of fimming until a few days ago. This being my first grow ever I had no intentions on topping, especially because it’s an auto and I already made the mistake of having to transplant her after only three days. Somebody on here mentioned it to me and it sounded cool, so I googled and youtubed and before I could talk myself out of it, I dipped my razor shears in 91% isopropyl alcohol and gave a quick warm rinse and, SNIP I hope I did it right. She seems to have taken it well and I saw very little, but healthy looking growth where I cut her.
So today we had a member attempt a FIM, the node was grown out a bit more then when we would ideally FIM. This left to the side leafs being cut but not the top, Infact it was a complete miss.
Left to grow this would look like a normal cannabis plant in a Christmas tree like shape with just some leafs that looked as if they got cut off.
The grower will now go in and re cut the top to complete the FIM without touching the side leafs as they have already been cut appropriately.
Hey I’ll own it lol that one was my first . Loving this thread! Thanks to @Nicky help though I got it corrected and learn some which I think we’re all here for . I appreciate everyone’s help very much as its my 1st grow. Ok I just fimmed my last one this morning at the 4th node. How’d I do? lol
