Whorled leaf arrangements, leaf buds, hermaphroditism, fasciation and variegation are a few of the strange anomalies you might see in your cannabis garden. The larger your garden, the more likely are you are to observe abnormal plant characteristics. There are various anomalies that you might encounter, the causes of some of these phenomena and how to determine if the symptoms are caused by genetic mutations or by pathogens.
In a seedling’s early vegetative stage, cannabis leaves usually arise in pairs, on opposite sides of the stem at each node. At maturity, and when flowering, it’s common for seedlings to develop an alternating leaf arrangement, with just one leaf at each node, although leaves may continue to arise in pairs. A whorled leaf arrangement (or whorled phyllotaxis) is much less common, but is far from being the rarest of cannabis’s odd displays. Whorls can have three, four or more leaves at each node. This isn’t symptomatic of any infectious disease, and it might actually increase yields. At least one breeder has attempted to stabilize the trait, but we’ve yet to see a commercially available strain bred to consistently produce a whorled leaf arrangement.
Two main types of male flowers occur on otherwise female cannabis plants: monoecious male flowers and hermaphroditic male/female flowers. Although considered abnormal, both types are still quite common in cannabis. This could be explained by the evolutionary advantage of producing both male and female flowers on a single plant: Because it’s helpful for the survival of the species, it’s not surprising that these traits are difficult to breed against.
Cannabis is normally dioecious, meaning there are separate male and female plants. When lone male flowers appear completely independent of the female flowers on the same plant, that plant is monoecious. As a visual analogy, corn (Zea mays) is monoecious. The tassels at the top of a corn plant are composed of pollen-shedding male flowers. A corn ear contains many female flowers, each connected to a strand of silk. Just like a cannabis “white hair,” a corn silk is a pistil modified to have its whole length act as an elongated stigma—the sticky, pollen-receptive part of the pistil.
When a pollen grain lands anywhere on a corn silk or a cannabis hair, the pollen grain germinates like a seed and grows a pollen tube down through the tissue of the pistil and into the ovule. Nuclei from the pollen grain travel down the pollen tube and fertilize the ovule to create a seed. Monoecious male cannabis flowers are well-developed, so a single flower can cause extensive pollination, especially in gardens with proper air circulation. These insidious flowers seem to be most commonly located hidden at the bases of axillary buds, which can allow them to easily escape detection and do their damage to a sinsemilla (which literally means “without seed”) crop.
Hermaphroditic flowers are different from monoecious flowers, in that they contain both male and female parts within the same flower. In hermaphroditic cannabis flowers, a female flower develops male stamens that arise from inside the calyx, alongside the pistils. The male stamens can be neon green or yellow. Yellow stamens are often called “bananas.” They tend to appear late in flowering, sometimes even in plants that are usually stable against hermaphroditism. You can actually spot bananas in some bud pictures of strains in seed catalogs. Bananas and green stamens can also arise earlier in flowering, at the stage when many hairs are still white and receptive to pollen. Late in flowering, most of the hairs are shriveled and red (or orange or brown) and unreceptive to pollen; hermaphroditic flowers that pop up at this stage are somewhat less threatening to sinsemilla.
Rarely, “reverse hermaphroditism” occurs, with female flowers forming on an otherwise male cannabis plants. The flowers could be of a hermaphroditic or monoecious nature.
Both monoecious male flowers and hermaphroditic flowers can be problematic. When growing seedlings, or clones you’re inexperienced with, inspect your plants thoroughly and frequently. Gently excise any suspect flowers you find with a clean razor or scissors and place them in a ziplock bag for disposal. Reconsider propagating plants with these traits.
Leaf buds are buds that form at the junction of a petiole and the leaflets of a cannabis leaf. Some might see this oddity and think, “Yay! Extra yield.” While these buds could make a small contribution to yield, it will likely be fairly negligible. The problem with these buds is that they commonly contain hermaphroditic flowers that might pollinate your sinsemilla. Regularly inspect leaf buds for male flowers, and carefully prune the cluster of flowers from the leaf if you see anything suspicious.
In architecture, a fascia is a wide, flat, horizontal surface. “Fascia” is derived from the Latin for “band.” In plant pathology, fasciation is a term used to describe a phenomenon characterized by a flattening of stems and inflorescences. Fasciation affects more than 100 plant species, and it may be caused by genetic mutations, but also by pathogens such as phytoplasmas and viruses.
In cannabis, fasciation causes wide, flat stems to form. They are hollow and flexible, and they’re susceptible to lodging (buckling into a crease from bending) in strong winds. When fasciation occurs in flowering, it causes horizontally elongated buds to form. These misshapen buds have crowded growth, and they’re susceptible to secondary infections like botrytis gray mold.
Not only is fasciation unhealthy due to the secondary problems it can encourage, it’s also possibly caused by an unidentified phytoplasma, bacterium or virus, all of which cause fasciation in other plant species. Phytoplasmas are bacterial parasites that lack cell walls, and are obligate parasites, meaning they can only survive inside their hosts and vectors. Like viruses, they cannot be cultured in a petri dish for identification. Phytoplasmas are vectored by plant-sap-sucking flying insects, the most common being plant hoppers and psyllids. Lethal yellowing of palms, including coconut palms, and citrus greening disease are examples of other diseases caused by phytoplasmas that cause devastating crop losses worldwide. Research is needed to determine the causes of fasciation in cannabis, but until proven to be an abiotic cause, the safest protocol is to destroy fasciated plants.
Variegation is an alteration of leaf or flower color, creating multicolored leaves or flowers. Variegation is caused by differential gene expression, virus infection or genetic mosaicism.
In differential gene expression, a cell’s location on a plant determines which of the cell’s genes are active, creating differences in coloration. A familiar example is the striping on watermelon rinds. Other examples include the stripes on the leaves of snake plants (Sansevieria trifasciata) and the purple rings on the leaves of some geranium varieties. The cells within the striped areas or purple rings have the same total set of genes as the rest of the plant, but have active genes causing their different color, which are dormant genes in the rest of the cells. In cannabis, differential gene expression is responsible for the purple leaves and buds seen in some varieties. These purple organs are expressing genes for anthocyanin production. Cool temperatures and bright light increase the expression of these genes.
Plant viruses commonly cause variegation in the form of mosaic patterns on the leaves of infected plants. Virus-induced mosaics typically lack a distinctive pattern, and will continue to cause symptoms on new growth. Other viral symptoms include stunting, leaf distortion and necrotic speckling.
Plant viruses are transmitted by workers moving from plant to plant, by root grafts that naturally form when plants are grown side by side, and by insect vectors such as aphids, whiteflies and thrips. In their 2000 book Hemp Diseases and Pests, J.M. McPartland, R.C. Clarke and D.P. Watson reviewed the virus research done on cannabis, and found conflicting results among experiments concerning which viruses infect cannabis. They concluded that at least five viruses commonly infect cannabis and cause debilitating symptoms. These are the hemp streak virus (HSV), the alfalfa mosaic virus (AMV), the cucumber mosaic virus (CMV), the arabis mosaic virus (ArMV) and the hemp mosaic virus (HMV). Viruses that may also infect cannabis include the tobacco mosaic virus (TMV), the tobacco ringspot virus (TRSV), the tomato ringspot virus (ToRSV) and the potato viruses X and Y (PVX and PVY).
Agdia, a plant-pathogen-testing company, offers several field test kits for diagnosing plant viruses. These test strips are dipped into a liquid buffer containing pulverized plant tissue, and work the same way as common pregnancy tests, with a control line that should always appear when the test strip is functioning properly, and another test line that appears when the virus of interest is present. The virus-assaying ImmunoStrip tests come in CMV, ArMV, TMV, TRSV, ToRSV, PVX, and PVY versions (and others for non-cannabis viruses).
Genetic mosaicism occurs when a plant has groups of cells with different sets of genes, resulting from mutations in one or more of the three layers of apical meristem tissue. Sansevieria trifasciata laurentii is exemplary of this condition. While the stripes across the leaves are caused by differential gene expression (as previously noted), the yellow margins are caused by a pigment mutation of the layer of meristematic cells that form the leaf margins. Such plants, with cells of two or more genotypes, are considered chimeras, named after the Chimera of Greek mythology, described by Homer to be a fire-breathing creature with a lion’s head, a goat’s body and a serpent’s tail. Chimeras may be vegetatively propagated (cloned), but can have varying levels of genetic stability. As seen in the photo of S. trifasciata laurentii, some shoots may revert to their original, non-variegated condition; cloning such reverted shoots will not produce chimeric plants.
Ducksfoot leaves are formed by fused leaflets. This trait has been bred into varieties marketed for stealthy outdoor growing. Plants with ducksfoot leaves are less conspicuous than normal cannabis plants, although they look quite similar in the advanced stages of flowering. This is a heritable genetic trait not caused by pathogens.
The anomalies discussed above are far from being the only strange conditions that can affect cannabis. Other random anomalies include extra leaflets, extra shoots, misshapen leaves and petiole webbing; all of these appear to be caused by mutations. Petiole webbing occurs in clones and seedlings that, when vegetatively propagated, will not normally produce the trait, although it pops up here and there in isolated individuals. A membrane forms between a petiole of an axillary shoot and the main stem, causing the shoot to grow downward in an abnormal orientation. Cutting the webbing will allow the shoot to reorient itself into the proper position.
One useful way to determine whether random conditions are caused by pathogens or chance mutations is by looking at how frequently they occur on a plant or within the garden. For example, if one leaf is misshapen, but the rest of the leaves on the same plant are normal, it’s unlikely that a pathogen is the cause, and more probable that it’s a random mutation.
Grafting can be a valuable tool for diagnosing if anomalies are caused by pathogens. Many types of pathogens, including viruses, phytoplasmas, bacterial wilts and fungal wilts, can be transferred from plant to plant via grafting. To test for such pathogens, graft a healthy scion onto a rootstock suspected of harboring a pathogen.
Several types of grafting can be used, including cleft grafting, saddle grafting and approach grafting. Here I’ll discuss cleft grafting, which is easy and effective in cannabis. Whichever method you choose, use new razors or thoroughly flame your tools between plants and keep your hands clean.
To perform cleft grafting, use a semi-woody, rooted or unrooted clone of the suspect plant as the rootstock (you can root the rootstock and create the graft union at the same time).
After establishing a graft union, the scion will begin to grow. If the condition of the suspect rootstock is genetic, it will not be transferred to the scion and the scion will grow normally. If the condition of the root-stock is pathogen-induced, the scion will be infected and will exhibit the symptoms of the rootstock.
Next time you see an unusual leaf, out-of-place flower or another oddity in your cannabis garden, you’ll be more confident in determining the cause, and what actions to take. When evaluating cannabis anomalies, it is important to establish whether or not they’re caused by pathogens. Many cannabis anomalies are genetic and aren’t threatening to your garden; however, pathogen-infected plants should be removed and discarded to prevent spreading diseases.
This feature was published in the August, 2019 issue of High Times magazine.
Cannabis plants, like all living things, go through a series of stages as they grow and mature. If you’re interested in cultivating cannabis, it’s especially important to understand the changes a plant undergoes during its life cycle, as each stage of growth requires different care.
Different stages call for different amounts of light, nutrients, and water. They also help us decide when to prune and train the plants. Determining a plant’s sex and overall health rely on stages of growth as well.
Generally speaking, it takes anywhere from 14-32 weeks, or about 4-8 months, to grow a weed plant.
The biggest variability in how long a marijuana plant takes to grow will happen in the vegetative cycle—if you’re growing indoors, you can force it to flower after only a few weeks when it is small, or after several weeks when it is big. If you’re growing outdoors, you’re at the whim of the seasons and will have to wait until fall to harvest. The plant will develop buds in the last 8-11 weeks.
The life cycle of cannabis can be broken down into four primary stages from seed to harvest:
Light cycle: 18 hours of light
(Elysse Feigenblatt/Leafly)
The first stage of life for a cannabis plant begins with the seed. At this point, your cannabis plant is dormant, patiently waiting for water to bring it to life.
You can observe the quality of the seed by its color and texture. The seed should feel hard and dry, and be light- to dark-brown in color. An undeveloped seed is generally squishy and green or white in color and likely won’t germinate.
Once your seed has popped, it’s ready to be placed in its growing medium. The tap root will drive down while the stem of the seedling will grow upward. Two rounded cotyledon leaves will grow out from the stem as the plant unfolds from the protective casing of the seed. These initial leaves are responsible for taking in sunlight needed for the plant to become healthy and stable.
As the roots develop, you will begin to see the first iconic fan leaves grow, at which point your cannabis plant can be considered a seedling.
Light cycle: 18 hours of light
(Elysse Feigenblatt/Leafly)
When your plant becomes a seedling, you’ll notice it developing more of the traditional cannabis leaves. As a sprout, the seed will initially produce leaves with only one ridged blade. Once new growth develops, the leaves will develop more blades (1, 3, 5, 7, etc.). A mature cannabis plant will have between 5-7 blades per leaf, but some plants may have more.
Cannabis plants are considered seedlings until they begin to develop leaves with the full number of blades on new fan leaves. A healthy seedling should be a vibrant green color. Be very careful to not overwater the plant in its seedling stage—its roots are so small, it doesn’t need much water to thrive.
At this stage, the plant is vulnerable to disease and mold. Keep its environment clean and monitor excess moisture.
Light cycle: 18 hours of light
(Elysse Feigenblatt/Leafly)
The vegetative stage of cannabis is where the plant’s growth truly takes off. At this point, you’ve transplanted your plant into a larger pot, and the roots and foliage are developing rapidly. This is also the time to begin topping or training your plants.
Spacing between the nodes should represent the type of cannabis you are growing. Indica plants tend to be short and dense, while sativas grow lanky and more open in foliage.
Be mindful to increase your watering as the plant develops. When it’s young, your plant will need water close to the stalk, but as it grows the roots will also grow outward, so start watering further away from the stalk so the roots can stretch out and absorb water more efficiently.
Vegetative plants appreciate healthy soil with nutrients. Feed them with a higher level of nitrogen at this stage.
Light cycle: 12 hours of light
(Elysse Feigenblatt/Leafly)
The flowering stage is the final stage of growth for a cannabis plant. Flowering occurs naturally when the plant receives less than 12 hours of light a day as the summer days shorten, or as the indoor light cycle is shortened. It is in this stage that resinous buds develop and your hard work will be realized.
If you need to determine the sex of your plants (to discard the males), they will start showing their sex organs a couple weeks into the flowering stage. It’s imperative to separate the males so they don’t pollenate the flowering females.
There are a number of changes to consider once your plant goes from its vegetative stage to flowering:
Buds typically grow the most toward the end of the flowering cycle, around week 6-7. You probably won’t notice much budding out at the beginning of flower, and it will slow down toward the end of the cycle, when buds become fully formed.
This post was originally published on July 18, 2017. It was most recently updated on January 17, 2020.
Once the buds have reached full maturation, it’s time to harvest.
Source: https://www.leafly.com/news/growing/marijuana-plant-growth-stages
En los últimos años tomamos consciencia de lo importante que son las abejas para la supervivencia de la humanidad. Ellas, y otros polinizadores, son un mecanismo fundamental de la agricultura y, por eso, de nuestra producción de alimentos. Sin abejas no existirían miles de frutos, como por ejemplo las calabazas, las manzanas o los brócolis. Otras especies, como la cereza o los arándanos, dependen en un 90% del trabajo de estas especies.
Los monocultivos, la deforestación y el uso de agrotóxicos no solo son una amenaza: está demostrado que las poblaciones de abejas y otros polinizadores alados están sufriendo bajas catastróficas: en pocos años podríamos quedarnos sin estos aliados y ahí tendríamos un problema más que grave. Por suerte, existe un héroe que puede ayudarnos.
DOS ESTUDIOS CIENTÍFICOS DEMOSTRARON QUE LA PLANTA DE CANNABIS ATRAE MASIVAMENTE A LAS ABEJAS Y OTROS POLINIZADORES DEBIDO A SU ABUNDANTE PRODUCCIÓN DE POLEN.
Dos estudios científicos recientes demostraron que la planta de cannabis atrae masivamente a las abejas y otros polinizadores debido a la abundante producción de polen de estos vegetales.
El último estudio, titulado “La comunidad de abejas de la Cannabis sativa y los efectos en la composición del paisaje”, descubrió que cuanto mayor es la superficie cultivada con cáñamo, mayor es el número de abejas que visitan el área. Además, cuanto mayor sea la altura de las plantas, mayor es la proporción de visitas: plantas altas atraen 17 veces más abejas que las plantas de menor tamaño.
A pesar de que el cannabis no produce néctar, el líquido azucarado que generan muchas plantas en sus flores para atraer polinizadores, las abejas son atraídas por el enorme producción de polen de las plantas macho.
Hay algo mas que convierte al cannabis en una excelente alternativa para ayudar a las abejas a sobrevivir: el cannabis es una cosecha tardía, que genera sus flores en una época donde otras plantas no, llenando los huecos entre temporada y temporada. De esta manera, las abejas consiguen una fuente de alimento cuando otros vegetales ya se encuentran en la decadencia otoñal.
Fuente: https://revistathc.com
The federal legalization of industrial hemp—we’ll get into the definitions in a second—has led to a seemingly instant, widespread availability of products derived from the plant.
The United States has, at least in a few limited ways, gone hemp-crazy. The most promising use of industrial hemp, at least from a financial point of view, is cannabidiol, or CBD. CBD has been infused into everything over the past few years from massage oil to gummies to dog treats, and some predict the CBD market could hit $20 billion within a few years. There’s seemingly a new use for industrial hemp and CBD popping up every week, but in Maine, one farm has come up with a selling strategy: pick-your-own, just like apple farms do every fall.
Industrial hemp, legally speaking, is the term for cannabis plants with less than 0.3 percent THC, the psychoactive component of marijuana. Hemp is the same species of cannabis as the kind meant to get you high; it’s just a different varietal, in the same way that broccoli and Brussels sprouts are different varietals of the same Brassica species.
Industrial hemp is a very old crop with lots of uses. It can be spun into a very tough fiber for textiles; the seeds can be eaten or pressed for oil; it can even be turned into biofuel, though it’s sort of expensive to do that, at the moment. CBD, though, is the trendiest use of industrial hemp. Sheepscot General Farm, in Maine, is set to open one of the first pick-your-own hemp crops in the country, and is leaning heavily on CBD as the main reason to pick hemp. “We think most will make into their own tincture or salve plus there is a growing trend of just freezing a using fresh in food or tea to get CBD-A,” says Taryn Marcus, one of the husband-and-wife pair that runs Sheepscot.
The hemp harvest, says Marcus, will be only a few weeks, from mid-September through October. Sheepscot has three acres of hemp, which, says Marcus, produced about 7,000 plants.
The farm hasn’t ironed out pricing yet; Marcus says she expects the price will come in at around $50 per pound of fresh, untrimmed flower. The process of converting fresh hemp flower into CBD is fairly elaborate; it must be cured, dried, and processed using any of several extraction methods (ethanol is a popular and comparatively home-friendly one). The varieties the farm sells range in CBD content from about 15 to about 20 percent, though the effectiveness of the CBD produced will vary based on extraction method and technique.
The regulations on industrial hemp, let alone pick-your-own hemp, are brand-new and not fully fleshed out. But Marcus says only those 18 years or older will be allowed to pick their hemp. Of course, do your research before you go: CBD isn’t well-understood, but there are health risks and drug-drug interactions to be aware of before you partake.
Source: https://modernfarmer.com
First of all, finding and setting up a grow space becomes much easier. Literally anywhere could be a good spot, provided you follow some rules. Also, the fewer the plants, the better the care they receive.
But perhaps the biggest advantage of growing just a single marijuana plant is the reduced costs: Growing cannabis can be costly. However, with a single plant, there is little you need besides seeds, nutrients, soil and a solid grow light. The overall investment is minimal and will pay itself with marijuana of the highest quality.
There is something about homegrown marijuana that makes it so much better! The feeling you get when you taste the fruit of your labor is unbeatable. But how much weed can you get out of a single plant?
The answer won’t surprise you: It depends on your seed genetics!
Every cannabis seed has certain genetic predispositions that cannot be altered, no matter how much you care for it. For example, if a strain is supposed to yield up to 200 grams of cannabis, that’s the best you can hope for. When purchasing your seeds from a vendor, pay close attention to the “Indoor Yield” section of the specs.
Some seeds are much more productive than others. But then again, quantity isn’t everything! Thorough research will help you find the best seeds for your needs.
Since we are just talking about literally one pot of pot, anything will do the trick. It doesn’t even need to be a room. A spare cabinet or closet will do the trick. If you don’t worry about discretion, even your living room would be a suitable place. You’ll find that marijuana is surprisingly sturdy. Wherever you decide to put your plant, make sure it gets enough ventilation and lives in comfortable temperatures.
Inadequate ventilation in your grow room can lead to a host of problems for your plant. Especially if you live in a generally humid area, fungi and mold are a constant threat. Luckily, your mini garden doesn’t need much effort to stay healthy!
The quick and easy solution is a small fan inside the grow space. Turn it in such a way so the breeze indirectly hits the plant and make sure that there that it circulates! A fancy solution is to get an extractor. But that’s too much trouble for just a plant! In reality, you can get away with just the fan. Make sure the air that goes in, gets out!
If the humidity in your grow space is unbearable, invest in a dehumidifier. They are cheap but need regular cleaning.
As a rule of thumb, marijuana feels comfortable in temperatures that are pleasant for humans. It is highly unlikely that ambient temperature will be so high or so low as to cause you problems. However, grow lights are a source of heat and should be monitored.
As long as you use a LED grow light and a fan, the temperature shouldn’t pose a problem. These issues are much more important in larger gardens.
As we’ve already said, the sweetest part of growing just one marijuana plant is the savings. Forget fancy lighting units and expensive setups: A simple full spectrum LED lamp will do the trick.
Even if your plant is exposed to sunlight, you should use artificial lighting. I know from bitter experience that marijuana grown on the windowsill will grow, but will never bloom! So, ensure that your plant will get at least 48W of full-spectrum light. These units are dirt cheap on Amazon and will last for years.
We’ve discussed the importance of getting good seeds time and time again. Ultimately, it comes down to personal preference. Some people want taste, others believe that humongous amounts of THC are the most important factor.
The only thing we can say is that you should definitely buy a 3-pack instead of a single seed. Germination doesn’t always work and you want to have a backup option.
Clones are a great option, provided you know other growers or have access to a trusty dispensary. Clones take a little less time to flower and if you know the mother plant, you don’t have to worry about the quality. You can even clone your own plant and preserve its genetics for future use!
There are many ways to grow cannabis. However, if you’re growing just one plant, soil is pretty much the only option. Most hydroponic systems are too expensive and are designed for larger gardens. Therefore, in this case, the simplest solution is right on the money.
At the first stages of your plant’s life (after germination), you can construct a temporary home out of plastic bottles. Just make sure to cut holes in the bottom for water drainage. After sprouting, it is time to transplant the seedling to its forever home. Your local hardware or garden store should have a wide selection of pots. We recommend containers made out of organic materials that allow oxygen flow within the soil.
Whatever you choose, make sure the pot has drainage holes to discard excess water. Too much humidity will attract pests and cause mold problems.
Even the best quality soil costs very little. Therefore it makes no sense to cut corners here! Ask your local garden store for amended soil and mix it up with some hydroponic medium (perlite, vermiculite). That way you will minimize the need for extra nutrients and ensure proper airflow around the root system.
One of the many advantages of growing a single marijuana plant is that you don’t really need to spend much on nutrients and fertilizer. A good soil will see your plant through the vegetative and onto the flowering stage without any additions.
If you need to boost your plant while it grows, try to use organic products. They minimize salts buildup within the plant, leading to a better quality product. Better yet, prepare the fertilizer yourself! Here is a link for 15 homemade fertilizer recipes! Remember that there is such a thing as “too many nutrients”, so don’t overdo it.
Have you ever grown a single cannabis plant at home? Share your experience in the comment section below!
Source: https://internationalhighlife.com
