havent seen brevity around in a while. not the same without the dazed and confused comments. hahaha
Slater: Oh, man, I'm fuckin' wasted.
This one could be quoted often.
I was talking about growth patterns and branching with my bro last night. I was curious about LST and topping and how all that works. We know that doing these sorts of things encourage branching and we could say that increased light to the lower developing branches causes them to grow faster. That's all fine and dandy. It's not the total truth however....
Branching is controlled by auxins in the plant tips. Before topping, the greatest concentration of auxins in the plant is at the tip of the meristem, at the top. These auxins send out chemicals down through the plant which tells the branches below to reduce cell multiplication and elongation. This is what keeps the branches shorter. Of course there is variance between different genetics that may determine the maximum length any given branch. The differences between indica and sativa is a good example. Indica typically has little branching, sativa is a branch monster.
When you top a plant you are cutting off that auxin supply. The result is increased branching. Slowly, those auxins build up in the tips, The greatest concentration being at the tallest point and it now becomes the top.
So, although light does encourage the branches, or actually, the plant, to grow, it's not actually the light that 'makes' them grow, it's the auxins that keep them from growing.
No thread high jacking here. Just thought I would share information. Correct me if I'm wrong but I think I have the basic idea covered adequately.
Did you snap some photos of those seed bro?
Early