You are here10 Odd Realities (With Pictures) About Growing Cannabis Plants

10 Odd Realities (With Pictures) About Growing Cannabis Plants


by Nebula Haze


Table of Contents

Mutations

  1. Tri-Leaf Seedlings
  2. Two-Toned Leaves
  3. Buds Growing from Center of Leaf
  4. Plant naturally topped itself
  5. Some Buds Make "Fox Tails"
  6. This is What Cannabis Roots Look Like
  7. Some Cannabis Seeds Carry Twins
  8. Leaves with Odd Number of "Fingers"
  9. Bright Light Can Bleach Plants White
  10. Cannabis Can Make "Sap"

Did You Know? - 7 More Fun Facts For Cannabis Growers


 

Weird or What?

1.) Tri-Leaf Seedlings

Nearly all cannabis seedlings, no matter how the seeds are sprouted, will start with just two leaves per set, like the following:

Normal cannabis seedling (2 leaves per set)

Tiny marijuana seedling just sprouted from rockwool in a hydroponic setup

Every once in a while, growers will run into a “trileaf” seedling. This is a relatively common mutation, and you're likely to run into it if you germinate a lot of cannabis seeds. 3-leaf cannabis seedlings should generally be treated like any other seedling.

They will grow about 1/3 more side branches than regular seedlings, so a 3-leaf seedling might be a good candidate for cannabis plant training or a ScrOG setup.

Tri-leaf cannabis seedlings (3 leaves per set)

3-leaf marijuana seedling emerges from the soil

Tri-leaf cannabis seedling - this is a relatively common mutation and you should treat the seedling like any other cannabis seedling

Tri-leaf cannabis plant

 

2.) Two-Toned Leaves

Two-toned leaves usually have split coloring in a relatively straight line. This mutation often affects just one or two leaves on the whole plant, though sometimes you'll get a whole stem or part of the plant that displays this characteristic.

The two-toned leaves don't seem to have much effect on anything, but it's kinda cool looking!

I believe this happens due to a type of “variegation” (wikipedia link) and may be due to “sectorial chimera”. Other plants besides cannabis plants can have this happen, too!

Two-tone cannabis leaf - natural mutation

Not to be confused with a nutrient deficiency, this mutation usually affects just one or two leaves on the plant. Nothing to worry about! Sometimes half of the leaf will turn purple....

Two tone cannabis leaf - purple/green split down the middle

A second view of that purple-green cannabis split - 2-toned leaf randomly appeared on outdoor cannabis plant, no other leaves were affected

More commonly, half of the leaf will turn light yellow or even white.

Yellow/green split down the middle of this two-color cannabis leaf

A second view of the cannabis plant with the yellow-green leaf split

Both sides of the nodes created leaves that had a yellow/green split straight down the middle - this is a relatively common mutation and there's no need to worry if it affects just one or two cannabis plant leaves

 

3.) Buds Growing From Center of Leaf

Here's a normal cannabis leaf. Unfortunately, as beautiful as these leaves are, they normally contain no THC.

Normal Cannabis Leaf
(no buds growing from the base)

Normal healthy cannabis leaf - no buds to be found

Cannabis leaves that are growing buds
(these cannabis plants have THC-encrusted buds growing from center of leaves)

Bud growing on center of cannabis leaf - mutationThis cannabis plant was covered in buds, but then the buds started growing right ouf the leaves, too

This is a mutation I’d love to see on my plants one day :) Though strangely placed, these buds are like any other buds found on the plant. You just get a couple extra buds encrusted with THC & trichomes!

The following leaf-bud has grown a single calyx with a few pistils

Marijuana leaf with trichome-encrusted bud growing directly in the center where the leaf meets the stem

Here's another amazing plant - imagine what you could do with all the trim!

Cannabis flower growing from a leaf in an unusual place - this one is absolutely covered in glittery trichomes

The following nug is almost 1/2 gram - Talk about a bonus!

Trichome-covered bud growing from a cannabis leave - bonus!

 

4.) Uncommon mutation - Plant naturally topped itself

What's interesting about this case is that the plant naturally did something that the grower would normally have to do themselves. Cannabis plants normally grow in a triangle tree shape, and growers often must cut or train the plant in order to grow more low and bushy.

Growers sometimes accomplish a low and bushy growth pattern with a plant training technique known as "topping." Learn more about topping

Here’s two normal young cannabis plants, each with a regular growth tip (set of leaves) at the top:

Normal cannabis plants

A regular healthy young cannabis plant with a growth tip on top

A green, healthy cannabis plant with normal growth patterns

So to get rid of this top growth node, a grower would normally cut it off, like this

A regular healthy young cannabis plant with a growth tip on top

Now the following plant had a strange mutation...

This plant randomly grew a leaf instead of a growth node, so it naturally topped itself, take a look!

Mutated plant topped itself when it grew a leaf instead of a new growth node on top

Another view of the naturally "self-topped" cannabis plant

View more pictures of this unique plant: http://imgur.com/a/PqpTu

 

5.) Some Buds Make “Fox Tails”

Bud with little foxtailing - common with Indica-based strains
(buds are rounded out, sometimes one foxtail visable near top)

This Critical Hog bud grew in a classic cannabis shape, often associated with Indica strains

Massive foxtailing can be a genetic trait, and certain strains will tend to produce foxtails all over their buds no matter what. This seems to happen most commonly with Haze and Sativa-based strains.

This way that buds can grow is named after "fox tails" because the buds tend to grow in a rounded shape with the fluffy hair-like pistils coming from the end.

Example of healthy foxtailing based on genetics
(notice how there are fox tails all over the bud, instead of just at the top)

Marijuana buds making healthy foxtails based on genetics

Huge thick cannabis flowers - natural foxtails due to the genetics

However, massive foxtailing is often the result of heat or stress. You know that's likely the case when the foxtailing seems to be happening most in the parts of the plant that are close to a heat or light source.

When a single foxtail keeps growing longer and longer, it is almost always a sign of some sort of major stress to the buds, most often heat.

This massively long foxtail was caused by heat
(it's basically a very long and thin bud, and will likely never fill out)

This massively long foxtail was caused by too much heat

Here's another foxtail that was triggered by too much heat

Cannabis foxtail caused by too much heat in the grow tent

The following bud erupted with foxtails after a heatwave
(the plant also suffered from nutrient stress, which can trigger foxtailing on its own)

This cola shows several new unhealthy foxtails which were triggered to start growing because of too high temps

 

6.) This Is What Cannabis Roots Look Like

This incredible roots picture was taken by grower Ramon. The plant was first grown in hydro (with the roots grown directly in water), then transferred to soil.

Cannabis roots exposed - healthy white roots on a marijuana plant see the light of day for the first (and hopefully only) time

 

7.) Cannabis Seeds Can Carry “Twins”

Twin tap roots can sometimes emerge from one cannabis seed. This is sort of like your seed having twins, because each new root has the potential to form into a separate plant.

“I had one of those on my first grow. Plant it, and once it sprouts up, you can GENTLY and CAREFULLY seperate the 2 plants and transplant one to a new pot. If you leave them both together, the stronger one will "starve" the weaker one, so to speak. When I split mine apart, they both grew nice and big :D”

~ J_Justice

Twin plants emerge from one cannabis seed, like twin - each root has the potential to become its own plant

Two taproots emerge from one cannabis seed

From the grower, “When I got the seed it looked really deformed.”

Twin seed sprouted and has 2 roots

 

"[Twin seeds are] fairly common. I've had some seedbatches that had 'round 30% 'twins'. However, what I haven't seen yet* is a set of twins that come out one male and one female. It's odd, because the twins usually differ in various traits, they're not really clones of each other. If one were to get a M/F pair of twins, an apomictic (wiki apomixis) cross could be made between the two, which would (in theory) produce a strain with stable traits in just one generation. "

~ duggreen

*yet has been 46 years so far....

 

8.) Leaves with Strange Number of "Fingers"

It's normal for cannabis leaves to have a different number of fingers.

First let's go over what's normal

For an adult cannabis plant, the most common number of fingers is 7. Here's a few examples of 7-fingered leaves.

7 Finger Leaves
(7 points is common for adult plants)

An example of a 7-finger cannabis leaf (most common type of leaf for adult cannabis plants)

Cannabis leaf with 7 fingers or points - most common type of leaf on adult plants

Cannabis leaves start smaller though, with fewer fingers. Here's what leaves generally look like from seedling to adult.

Seedling
Two round cotyledon leaves, then two "real" (serrated) single-finger cannabis leaves

A cannabis seedling growing its first few sets of leaves

Next, the single-finger leaves expand, and the next set is usually 3-finger leaves

Seedling on one side showing single-finger leaves, and left side shows the next set with 3 fingers per leaf

Next, the cannabis plant will start making 5-finger leaves

Young cannabis plant with 5-finger leaves

Finally, most cannabis plants stop at 7-finger leaves

Cannabis plant showing 7-finger leaves, and even a few 9-finger leaves

If you look closely at the above plant, you can see that some of the newer leaves on this plant actually have 9 fingers. Here's an example of a leaf that has grown 9 fingers:

9 Fingers

Cannabis leaf with 9 "fingers" or points

It's completely normal for cannabis plants to have 9, 11, or even 13 points on their fingers. This is just a natural way that some leaves grow. It's also common to get single-blade leaves growing directly off your colas.

Sugar Leaves Are Normal on Colas
(these single-finger leaves are often called "sugar leaves" and they are much smaller than regular leaves, with a base tucked mostly inside the bud)

Single blade sugar leaves coming out of the cola

 

Now That You Know What's Normal...

 

These Sugar Leaves Have a Long Base Like Regular Adult Leaves
(uncommon mutation - not like regular sugar leaves)

Single-finger sugar leaves that are built like regular leaves

 

In This Case, The Entire Plant Grew with Single-Finger Leaves
(I've never seen anything else quite like this before)
 

Plant grows with single-finger leaves

Cannabis Plant grows with one-finger leaves

Want even more strange leaves?

 

Look What Happens When You Re-Veg a Plant...

This is a Re-Vegged Plant

This plant has been "revegged" or "monstercropped", which basically means it was flowering then put back into the vegetative stage again.

A re-vegged plant will grow round single, triple, or quintuple pointed leaves at first, before it starts growing regular serrated leaves.

Re-vegetating a plant means you take a flowering/budding plant and put it back in the vegetative stage. It is also sometimes referred to as "Monstercropping" or "Monster Cropping." This refers to the fact that a revegged plant will tend to grow much bushy than a plant grown from seed.

Some growers like to reveg a plant on purpose after harvest, instead of throwing it away.

Benefits to re-vegging (monster cropping)

  • you don't have to plant a new seed or clone
  • possibly saved vegetative time
  • no need to dispose of harvested plant
  • re-vegged plants grow back more bushy (sometimes to an extreme)

Downsides to re-vegging (monster cropping)

  • must leaves some leaves during the harvest process before re-veg
  • it takes a plant a long time to re-veg
  • initial growth is strange and stretchy, with round leaves
  • plant training may be more difficult
  • yields may be lower than first time around

Sometimes re-vegging happens by accident - a grower puts their flowering plants outdoors too early in the year, and the plant reverts back to vegetative growth. Sometimes a grower will start flowering a plant, and have to return it to the vegetative stage for some other reason. In all these cases, the plant will display these strange rounded leaves for a while until it gets back in the swing of things.

These cannabis plants were re-vegged by accident

Close to Harvest

Re-vegged close to harvest - single blade leaves

Right After Being Brought Outside Too Early in the Year, Causing Re-Veg

This cannabis was put outside too early in the year, causing it to re-vegetate with strainge twisted growth

 

Plants Can Also Re-Veg If You Clone a Plant That's Already Budding

Here's two clones from a flowering plant

This clone was taken from a flowering (budding) cannabis plant, causing it to re-veg

This young clone was cloned from a cannabis plant that was already flowering - the re-vegging process is what causes the strange round leaves

 

9.) It’s Possible to Bleach Plants With Too-Bright Light

Light Bleaching - most common with high-power LEDs, but can also happen poorly ventilated HPS lights that are kept too close to the tops of the plants. Basically, this is what happens when plants get too much light, kinda like how hair on top of your head can turn lighter if you spend a lot of time in the sun.

White tip of this "albino" cannabis plant is actually caused by light bleaching

A closeup of the bleached part of a cannabis bud that was given too high levels of light

Buds which have been bleached tend to be low potency or even have no potency (no available THC or other cannabinoids). Therefore you should avoid light-bleaching your plants at all costs!

Text-book example of light bleaching cannabis making the buds white - this bleaching was caused by high-intensity LED grow lights

Sometimes light-bleached cannabis will get mis-labeled as “albino cannabis” or “white cannabis” but the truth is that the white color is not healthy, so this is not a desirable trait (even if it looks pretty cool).
 

10.) Flowering Cannabis Plants Can Make “Sap”

Sap - there’s lots of speculation about what it is. No one knows for sure. Many growers who have run into this agree that the type of sap produced is sweet and doesn’t contain much (if any) THC. It is mostly made of sugar and water and so is not smokable. Seems to be related to the plant over-producing sugars, and sap productions is more common when

  • Plants being in the flowering stage

  • Using sugar supplements like molasses, Botanicare Sweet, Sugar Daddy, etc.

  • Big temperature difference between night and day, especially if it gets cold at night

  • Certain strains or individual plants seem more likely to produce sap

  • Yet sometimes oozing sap seems to happen for no known reason

“Strain: Kosher Kush. Flowered her for 70 days and she was covered in trichs. When we harvested her we noticed about a dozen of these sap like globes. They range in color from clear to amber.”

~ DC514

Cannabis "sap" appearing on buds - unfortunately this sap is mostly sugar water with little to no potency

“The plants had already been flushed properly - I let the soil dry completely and fed the plants 2TBSP/gallon of molasses, let them eat and then flushed them out again and waited 2-3 days before harvest. Both plants started producing excretions all over. I've seen this before, sap leaking from the stem of plants, however personally I've never seen it on the buds themselves. What I believe happened is the pores of the plants either get clogged and therefore "pop" for lack of a better word. Or, the plant liked the molasses better than it's natural sugars and forced some of those out. Either way I'm going to try this on another plant and see what happens. Is there a benefit to it? Probably not, but I'm going to get the substance tested. I've ingested all of the little sap pockets I've found and while it tastes like canna, it doesn't seem physchoactive. Who knows, it could be loaded with CBD or something else.”

~ SeriousSports

Sap globule appearing all over the buds of this cannabis plant

Stem Sap (more common) - often appears to seep out of injured parts of the stem, but not always! Sometimes sap seems to ooze out of uninjured parts of the stem.

Sap seeping from the stem of a cannabis plant is somewhat more common than seeing sap on the buds

In this last case, there's nothing that seems to be causing the sap except possibly genetics. Here's what HNIC_204, the grower, had to say...

This is my first grow, literally. I have a couple females, that are currently in flowering. I am growing in soil with guano and flowering ferts (Flora Nova and Cal Mag). I have not added any sugars such as molasses or sugar daddy. The temperature stays pretty consistent, such as 78 during the day and 80's when the lights are on. The seeds are mids from VA. The plant is looking as though it is a sativa hybrid. I've had two plants leak the sap, which tasted like honey, but didn't have an aftertaste. I attempted to express more of the substance to come out and it would not. Maybe the sap is something to attract males, caused by pheromones. I don't know, but if this happened on my first grow, I think it's an awesome phenomenon. I have asked my local grow shop, but they didn't have a clue.

Sap oozing out of cannabis stemAnother look at that marijuana sap

 

 


 

Check It Out!

Fact: Certain Strains Are Easier to Grow Than Others

3 Recommended strains for beginners

  • Motavation - hardy and short strain that produces - even if you run into problems, she’ll bounce back quickly.

Motavation is a hardy strain that produces big yields!Motavation strain produces top-quality buds - easy to grow, quick to harvest

Aurora Indica

  • BlackJack - get the effects of a Sativa or Haze with a plant that is actually suited to indoor growth, short and easy to train. BlackJack produces a potent soaring effect that hits hard, fast and is long-lasting - unbelievable number of trichomes on the buds and leaves. Suitable for medicinal purposes.

Black Jack

Beginners - Avoid these strains!

The following strains are considered “advanced” and while they produce amazing buds, they tend to be difficult to grow and/or finicky

  • Durban Poison -  Tends to grow tall and shows a variety of unusual phenotypes, can be tough to clone. You don’t know what to expect when growing a Durban Poison seed. This strain originates from Africa and buds produce a unique “up” effect. Buds tend to be incredibly potent though not often “pretty” in the conventional sense with longer sugar leaves. Unusually quick to harvest, especially for a Sativa-leaning strain.

  • Jack Herer - Famous medicinal strain that is great for anti-anxiety, you cannot get the original Jack Herer strain as a feminized seed so you will need to buy regular (unfeminized) seeds and manually pick out all the male plants. Yields are on the smaller side but the quality of the buds produced are exceptional.

  • Liberty Haze - Genetics are not completely stable and many growers report different growth types with this strain. Can stretch tall in the initial stages of flowering, though does seem to respond well to supercropping. Unique flowery scent with citrus lime undertones. Unlike what breeder specs state, this strain needs about 10-12 weeks in flowering before she’ll be ready for harvest. When grown right, this strain produces thick dense colas with THC levels above 25%.

 

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Did You Know? - 5 More Fun Facts For Cannabis Growers

Cannabis plants are always moving

This constant movement is something that all plants do, and is known as "Circumnutational Movement" (wikipedia link).

Nothing can really show you as well as watching a time-lapse video:

This video shows several incredible time-lapse videos of growing cannabis plants, set to music

View 10 more time-lapse videos of growing cannabis plants

 

Cannabis plants can “see”

Think about this: plants see you.

In fact , plants monitor their visible environment all the time. Plants see if you come near them; they know when you stand over them. They even know if you’re wearing a blue or a red shirt. They know if you’ve painted your house or if you’ve moved their pots from one side of the living room to the other.

Of course plants don’t “see” in pictures as you or I do. Plants can’t discern between a slightly balding middle-aged man with glasses and a smiling little girl with brown curls.

But they do see light in many ways and colors that we can only imagine. Plants see the same ultraviolet light that gives us sunburns and infrared light that heats us up. Plants can tell when there’s very little light, like from a candle, or when it’s the middle of the day, or when the sun is about to set into the horizon.

Plants know if the light is coming from the left, the right, or from above. They know if another plant has grown over them, blocking their light. And they know how long the lights have been on.

This is an except from What a Plant Knows: A Field Guide to the Senses by Daniel Chamovitz. I highly recommend this book if you want to learn more about plants and exactly how they perceive the world!

Read reviews about some of the better cannabis growing books available today

 

No one knows exactly how cannabis plants determine gender

Environmental sex determination is known to occur with cannabis plants. Many researchers have suggested that sex in Cannabis is determined or at least strongly influenced by environmental factors. Ainsworth reviews that treatment with auxin and ethylene have feminizing effects, and that treatment with cytokinins and gibberellins have masculinizing effects. It has been reported that sex can be reversed in Cannabis using chemical treatment.

Learn more about cannabis sex determination on wikipedia.

Learn how to use these unique properties to make your own feminized cannabis seeds at home

 

A cannabis plant can grow taller than a tree in just one summer

Here’s an cannabis plant that produced 11 pounds 3 ounces worth of bud - grown in a 400 pound smart pot and filled with Vermisoil.

11 pound cannabis plant grown outdoors in a 400 pound smart pot in Vermisoil

Look at the base of a cannabis plant this size, it looks just like a tree trunk with bark!

Base of a huge cannabis plant resembles the trunk of a tree (complete with "bark")!

 

Cannabis seeds can germinate almost anywhere warm and wet

Life Finds A Way

“My friend accidentally grew this in her sink. How is this even possible?”

Cannabis seedling growing from a sink drain

Seedlings have enough energy (“food”) stored in the seed to make their first set of leaves. After that, they need light and nutrients to grow further. Unfortunately, this seedling won’t make it unless transplanted to a more suitable growing environment.

Learn how to germinate cannabis seeds right here

 

THC-Filled Trichomes Can Grow Just About Anywhere on a Budding Cannabis Plant

Growers are breeding strains that produce more and more trichomes all over the plant.

Trichomes are small, glandular stalked resin glands that carry the majority of cannabinoids and THC produced by the cannabis plant.

A bud covered in trichomes will have an almost “sparkly” or “glittery” appearance. Cannabis breeders are selecting cannabis plants which produce more of these sparkly trichomes not just on buds, but on leaves and stems close to buds This is done with the purpose of getting more potency with the same amount of time, effort and space.

Trichomes are covering literally this entire cola and all the leaves - Grown by amazing grower Koma Trichome

Trichomes are everywhere on this Afghan plant, even under the leaves

Crazy trichome closeup, thanks to Koma Trichome (find Koma on Facebook)

Incredible trichome closeup picture - thanks to amazing grower Koma Trichome

 

Vegetating Cannabis Plants Have an Amazing Ability to Heal

"This is a white widow a couple of weeks into flower, quite nice, but look to the bottom of the stem and you see a big 'knuckle'."

Knuckle has formed at the base of this cannabis plant

"This lady was snapped mid veg by accident. She was completely on her side and connected to the main stem by a few fibers and a sliver of 'skin'. The 'connected' tissue was around 1mm, (around the thickness of a credit card).

"She was roughly taped upright with some very haphazard wrapping with electrical tape and forgotten about. Not only is she looking pretty good, (for a small pot and relatively modest light), she's not at all delayed or less healthy than her sisters. I guess the message is never give up…"

~ DrWeedington

A close-up of the knuckle that formed after this plant suffered a major wound (stem was almost completely separated, then taped back up)

 


 

 

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Then submit your pics!

 


 

Bonus pic: Closeup look at cannabis trichomes - some of these ones are touched with purple

Purple trichomes close-up

 


 

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