Biology of Marijuana

[ItsAllOver]

NICE! This thread has exploded my possibilties. I am going to read these books!
Peace

 

[Bedlamite]

I was recently reading an article about cannabis. The author mentioned that smoking pipes can be made from the large hollow stems.
I wonder how that works. It might make a cool pipe. Does anyone know? If no one knows the details of how to do it, I guess it is just another thing to experiment on.

 

[Xero000]

I'm just guessing but I think hollow stems would take away from the plant. Plants transport nutrients and water through pathways, plant veins if you will. These pathways exist in the solid part of the stem. The hollow portion is just a false hope. You have a huge stem and think that means more water/nutrients moving at once, a super highway to you buds! But if half the stem diameter is hollow there is no pathway just empty space. A solid stem would contain twice the path ways and twice the metabolic potential.

However a hollow stem would be lighter which aides in structural integrity of the plant in the wild. In an indoor environment you can just tie a string and hang it up.

While I have yet to see a vascular plant with a truly hollow stem, I would not worry that it would affect nutrient uptake if they do exist. The plant's vascular bundles (xylem & phloem) are located between the soft spongey center (the pith) and the outer layer of the stem. If you think about the cross-section of a stem think of this "plumbing" as a series of tubes arranged in a ring midway between the center and the outside of the stem.

For what it's worth, I can think of at least one specific disadvantage to a hollow stem, if they naturally exist (sorry, I am skeptical) and no real advantages. If a stem is hollow the plant would be far less able to self regulate it's own temperature since air has such a low specific gravity.

 

[Hydrosun]

Xero000,

My guess is you haven't trimmed or smoked much weed. The stems may not be truly hollow but after they are cut, dried, and cured that middle pulp dries out and yeah, you could make drinking straws out of some of my branches. I've noticed hollow stems on many nice colas/

Peace,

 

[Owl Mirror]

Xero000,

My guess is you haven't trimmed or smoked much weed. The stems may not be truly hollow but after they are cut, dried, and cured that middle pulp dries out and yeah, you could make drinking straws out of some of my branches. I've noticed hollow stems on many nice colas/

Peace,

I agree in that after drying out, the center of the stem may lose the inner pulp and appear hollow. This may also be an important point in breeding. The fact of the center pulp being larger in some strains over other strains could lead to plants that are better feeders and providers of nutrients .

I wish some of the major breeders found on this site would chime in on this conversation. I would like to hear from them if they look for these traits as well as the final product.

 

[Xero000]

Xero000,

My guess is you haven't trimmed or smoked much weed. The stems may not be truly hollow but after they are cut, dried, and cured that middle pulp dries out and yeah, you could make drinking straws out of some of my branches. I've noticed hollow stems on many nice colas/

Peace,

HS - you came close to understanding my point, but couldn't resist donning the mask of elitism. In any case, it is anatomically and factually inaccurate to refer to the soft pith in herbaceous dicots as "hollow." And that soft inner pith is present in all such plants.

I takes neither a wealth of experience trimming, smoking or growing cannibis, nor a bachelors degree in environmental science with a specialty in plant resources to understand that when the plant is alive and growing while that space is soft and light-weight - it most certainly is not hollow. That the pith can be dried out and removed after cutting is not really relevant to the biology of the plant.

Anyway, while it may seem counter-intuitive at first the mass of a plant is better supported in individuals with a wider diameter pith because the net mass of vascular bundles that provide support are then arranged in a larger diameter tube around said light-weight pith. As far as geometric structures go, a tube is much stronger and more rigid than a rod of the same mass. This strength naturally increases with diameter.

P, L, R

 

[Owl Mirror]

HS - you came close to understanding my point, but couldn't resist donning the mask of elitism. In any case, it is anatomically and factually inaccurate to refer to the soft pith in herbaceous dicots as "hollow." And that soft inner pith is present in all such plants.

I takes neither a wealth of experience trimming, smoking or growing cannabis, nor a bachelors degree in environmental science with a specialty in plant resources to understand that when the plant is alive and growing while that space is soft and light-weight - it most certainly is not hollow. That the pith can be dried out and removed after cutting is not really relevant to the biology of the plant.

Anyway, while it may seem counter-intuitive at first the mass of a plant is better supported in individuals with a wider diameter pith because the net mass of vascular bundles that provide support are then arranged in a larger diameter tube around said light-weight pith. As far as geometric structures go, a tube is much stronger and more rigid than a rod of the same mass. This strength naturally increases with diameter.

P, L, R

Thanks for your explanation Xero000

The Ethiopian Male I recently trimmed back and placed back in a vegetative state did indeed have a hollow central stalk. There was no solid pith mass but, could have been used as a straw without modification.

My two previous plants, (Master Kush x Skunk) had a large fibrous pith mass.

 

[Xero000]

Thanks for your explanation Xero000

The Ethiopian Male I recently trimmed back and placed back in a vegetative state did indeed have a hollow central stalk. There was no solid pith mass but, could have been used as a straw without modification.

My two previous plants, (Master Kush x Skunk) had a large fibrous pith mass.

That is a rather interesting example Owl. I would wager that what you are seeing is an environmental response (pith autolysis) rather than a specific genetic trait.

PA was originally thought to be a symptom of disease or other deficiency, but more recent research has indicated that it can be a normal response to environmental changes. In this case the plant is consuming it's pith to fulfill the plants increased carbon requirement during flowering and/or re-veg.

I'm still curious enough to ask a few questions that you may or may not be able to answer depending on your environment and sample size:

Do you observe this trait in other individuals of the same species/geno. Did you observe this trait before re-veg? Before flowering? Since expressing the trait Does this or other individuals with this trait seem more temperature sensitive than others from the same species?

Cheers.

 

[Hydrosun]

Xero000,

I just cut up a bunch of varieties of cannabis and my plants have a happy environment with explosive growth, so much so that the stems at the top of the plant are hollow as they grow. A razor blade goes through the stem like butter 4" from top and you can easily see the hollow gab of the stem. I'll grab a photo next time I top for clones.


I don't have a science background, but that pith stuff must fill in after the plant grows, maybe it turns to wood as it grows even bigger still, and it drys out to nothing when harvested if it hasn't turned to wood. It doesn't really matter to me how or why it does it. I just know through first hand experience with really healthy plants that the main stem is hollow on the fast growing ladies.

Peace,

 

[Owl Mirror]

That is a rather interesting example Owl. I would wager that what you are seeing is an environmental response (pith autolysis) rather than a specific genetic trait.

PA was originally thought to be a symptom of disease or other deficiency, but more recent research has indicated that it can be a normal response to environmental changes. In this case the plant is consuming it's pith to fulfill the plants increased carbon requirement during flowering and/or re-veg.

I'm still curious enough to ask a few questions that you may or may not be able to answer depending on your environment and sample size:

Do you observe this trait in other individuals of the same species/geno. Did you observe this trait before re-veg? Before flowering? Since expressing the trait Does this or other individuals with this trait seem more temperature sensitive than others from the same species?

Cheers.

I have only cut through the stalks of 3 plants, two of the MKxS1 females and one Ethiopian male.
I'm just getting started growing and I'm limited to the number of plants by my states law.
Down the line, after a few more harvests I'll be better able to give more examples.

 

[Haps]

Fast growth in hydro seems to promote hollow stems, and when I say hollow, I mean it, no pulp, however it will not be hollow all the way to the root. Even the same plant will not always grow the same way. You mean you guys dont have a big foot long hollow stem joint pipe? Lets the smoke cool nicely.
H

 

[Xero000]

Nice pics hydro - those do indeed look like healthy plants.

You're right Haps - growth stimulators found in hydro (or soil medium) nute recipes would encourage or accelerate PA by increasing carbon demand from rapid growth.

If anyone's interested - I dug up a link to a peer reviewed study done in 1993/94 (with beans & tomatoes). It shows that treatments with growth stimulator (in this case gibberellic acid) and flowering would result in PA expression. Also that CO2 supplementation would suppress or reduce PA (by otherwise fulfilling the carbon requirement).