Question - big main cola with minimal size branch growth.

[dallas_boy]

Hope this is the right place to ask this,

I've been vigorously searching the forums for strains that grow out one main central cola with minimal side branching. Over time I've seen several similar strains from various seed banks. The closest I could find were Skunk#1XLebanese landrace, Donkey Dick, and certain phenos of Early Girl and Early Pearl. Another strain I was looking at was certain pheno of Critical Mass, similar structure, at least in this photograph. http://www.mrnice.nl/dhtml/strains/criticalmass_4.jpg

Previously I bred a local clone named "Cherry" with a Durban Poison male and one of the yielding seeds grew into a plant as I described, It was one main cola about 2'-3' long and a few short branches on the bottom, the whole plant was roughly 5'. It finished the wet NW in September and yielded 4oz, It was one of the easiest plants I've ever grown. The plants structure was NOTHING like the female cherry mother, so I suppose it took on the traits of the male durban genetics.

Is one large central cola mainly a sativa trait? I'm assuming the reason for the one main large cola is due to a short internode distancing? and lack of lower branches stretching too much? I've noticed many of these strains have Skunk genetics in them..?

If anyone can point me in the right direction or has knowledge of this, help would be greatly appretiated. Any knowledge of any seed banks/strains that fit the bill would be great also!

 

[GroMore]

White Rhino was the only strain I ever recall that was described by the breeder as being likened to a bud on a stick but that being said, the form of plant you describe can aslo be somewhat attributed to grow methods. For example, many strains that will form lower branching won't get the chance to do so if you flower them early into veg before lower branching begins, so producing a main central cola at the top of the plant but there are numerous other grow tricks that can be used to achieve this end such as trimming out the lower branches to direct the sap flow of the plant to focus on pumping up the central cola...crowding plants as in a SOG style grow will also have a similar effect on the plant's growth pattern...

However, there is no shortage of strains with the genetic trait you are talking about but you cannot confine the trait to sativas alone, many of which grow with dense branch networks due to their close internodal spacing...

Some of the strains with the trait to produce a central cola are reputed for low yields, however, there are also some excellent big yielders amongst them but this being somewhat dependant on the grow method still...

Before anyone attempts to prescribe a strain for you, you might like to dial in what else you desire in your strain so that others can make recommendations as close as possible to all of the criteria that you're looking for.

GroMore

 

[ibjamming]

I had some White Rhino that all grew like that...little side branching and the branches stayed really close, pointing up instead of out. I'll second the WR suggestion.

Satori did that too...one big bud. But...it was full of leaves..really hard to trim.

 

[jm420]

paridises white berry fits the description

 

[igrowone]

you may want to check out growdoc's angel dust, if memory serves it has a large central cola, there are pics in the growdoc subforum

 

[dallas_boy]

Hey guys thanks for the replies.
Thats great, I had White Rhino written down as a strain of interest, but was mainly attracted to it because of its apparent yields also. Or maybe I'm thinking of White Russian..

I've seen what you've decribed before GroMore, for example a bushing indica dom plant, 50 to a 4x8 table, 2k hps per bed. little or no vegging straight to 12/12 and they often end up one big but and a few branches filled out. But when the same plant was grown outside it ended up being 8' diameter monster with tons of lower branching.

To give you all some more details, I am looking for strains to use in a greenhouse. mainly I'd like to find something will minimal lower branching is to allow airflow within the plants, I use timed soakerhoses to water and then flood feed, so the moisture from the ground it can get fairly humid, I've previously seen rott issues where lower branches and bud rot and makes its way into the stem and then the base stem would just rot and snap killing the whole plant.

The greenhhouse can get fairly humid and hot, I need to rig up a better air intake system. For this reason I've tended to lean toward the sativas? I'm under the impression and from what I've grown, many indica typically great smoke, fast dense flowering, but low mould resist.

 

[texacali713]

ill second whiteberry and add chronic to the list

 

[Absolut]

Also check out Mandala seeds.

I grew out a Satori that had a baseball bat top nug. I also have a Hashberry that I'm flowering right now and it seems it will turn out like the Satori albeit a bit shorter.

I've also heard people trimming out the bottom branches before flowering so all the energy is focused on the main bud. Never tried this myself tough.

 

[Iron_Lion]

my mandala speed queen only grew one main cola, no side branching what so ever. SQ also had a really cool smell I havent seen since, almost smelled like WD-40.

 

[smurfin'herb]

If your current strain isnt giving you a single cola, make sure to flower it from clone and give it bushmaster, or heavy kelp doses, or even superthrive. Be careful and experiment with dosage rates and when to apply them. Dont use too much or ur weed will come out shitty trust me! I think its the plant growth regulators and hormones in those products that decrease internodal distance. Ive gotten 50+ grams from a singe cola plant flowered from clone before with this method, without decreasing quality. I average about 25-32 grams per plant overall usually.

 

[VanVulpen]

One of my Vietnam Black X Meao Thai females had one main fat cola, i guess that she could have used a longer veg period for a bigger yield, nice smoke too...

 

[bosshoggin]

sweettooth #3 is a great plant wit a big cola and 2-3 side branches tht either are full wit bud from main branch to tip r have popcrn nugs -great smell and potency

 

[bigAl25]

My Nirvana AK48, femmed, untopped grew out one big cola with some side branches. They were untopped and grew to about 3+ feet each. Photos in a few of my grow reports. Real good smoke and great buds.

 

[John Deere]

Also check out Mandala seeds.

I grew out a Satori that had a baseball bat top nug. I also have a Hashberry that I'm flowering right now and it seems it will turn out like the Satori albeit a bit shorter.

I've also heard people trimming out the bottom branches before flowering so all the energy is focused on the main bud. Never tried this myself tough.

I've got a Satori in flower right now that's a freaking bush but I've LST'd it to encourage that.

My understanding on getting a single huge cola was to trim all the lower branches, like you mentioned. I've never done it, either, as I'd rather have lots of good size colas instead of one huge one. I'd be afraid of losing it to mold if it got too big.

 

[kaneboy]

sensi skunk#1

 

[D.S. Toker. MD]

Early girl from sensi is the ultimate single cola. One stem, 5' tall. Not sure how it would perform indoors
Gigabud from g13 labs
chronic serious seeds.
Flo, djshort

 

[GroMore]

To give you all some more details, I am looking for strains to use in a greenhouse. mainly I'd like to find something will minimal lower branching is to allow airflow within the plants, I use timed soakerhoses to water and then flood feed, so the moisture from the ground it can get fairly humid, I've previously seen rott issues where lower branches and bud rot and makes its way into the stem and then the base stem would just rot and snap killing the whole plant.

The greenhhouse can get fairly humid and hot, I need to rig up a better air intake system. For this reason I've tended to lean toward the sativas? I'm under the impression and from what I've grown, many indica typically great smoke, fast dense flowering, but low mould resist.

You're absolutely right, your most likely problem will be mould issues so sativas have a definite advantage of offering you choices from loose airy budded strains that have a much lower liklihood of mould outbreaks but some of these sativas are fairly slow in flower. It's also worth remembering that landrace strains are often the toughest against mould as they're naturally adapted to the severity of the elements.

Because of your situation, the faster you get through the flowering stage the less time you'll give them to steam up and rot, so my suggestion would be to go with as fast a flowering sativa as is possible but with not too dense or too soft a bud structure. Considering all things, I don't think it's going to matter whether you have a branchy strain so much as how the bud structure is going to perform in high humidity conditions...

Personally, I think greenhouses are commonly poorly designed and don't allow for adequate steam escape. Perhaps an overlapping pitched roof system with adequate compensatory air intake from ground level would be a way of improving air flow...

Anyhow, good luck with your strain search!

GroMore