Hollow stems, good, bad?

[Waira]

Hollow stems is pith autolysis and it means the plant needs more carbon for photosynthesis. Other than that they are very healthly and dverything you where doing was locked in no stress really during the whole grow is another key factor for this happening

Understood, and good point on lack of direct cannabis studies too...
On the other hand, I have to wonder about the Carbon deal though. Here's why: mine are outside, in nice breezes, small sized and not growing at crazy rates (and under C fixing pressure), nice T and RH% so VPD is usually just fine; they get regular hits of fulvic acid by foliar applications as well as plenty humic-fulvic into the soil as well...
Soil herd gets carb's too, no "starvation" via roots there either it would seem...
As such, it's hard to buy that this is a case of plants not getting the C uptake and fixing they need to keep up with growth and metabolism...

A caveat: I've not cut up plants in prime veg' stage before (thankfully), only at the end of their life and we know the plant is tapping into internal resources at this point so perhaps the hollowing is created/magnified during this end stage?

 

[Badfinger]

A caveat: I've not cut up plants in prime veg' stage before (thankfully), only at the end of their life and we know the plant is tapping into internal resources at this point so perhaps the hollowing is created/magnified during this end stage?

Thats a pretty good theory.

 

[Talonxracer]

Understood, and good point on lack of direct cannabis studies too...
On the other hand, I have to wonder about the Carbon deal though. Here's why: mine are outside, in nice breezes, small sized and not growing at crazy rates (and under C fixing pressure), nice T and RH% so VPD is usually just fine; they get regular hits of fulvic acid by foliar applications as well as plenty humic-fulvic into the soil as well...
Soil herd gets carb's too, no "starvation" via roots there either it would seem...
As such, it's hard to buy that this is a case of plants not getting the C uptake and fixing they need to keep up with growth and metabolism... View attachment 1581887

A caveat: I've not cut up plants in prime veg' stage before (thankfully), only at the end of their life and we know the plant is tapping into internal resources at this point so perhaps the hollowing is created/magnified during this end stage?

My thoughts as well.

 

[Badfinger]

The inner core of the stem is called pith. The primary function of pith is to transport nutrients throughout the plant and then store the nutrients within its cells.

Pith autolysis is when the storage pith of the stem is autolyzed (meaning it destroys itself) by enzymes in the plant that degrades cell walls, leaving a hollow stem. From my understanding, this happens when the plant is starving for carbon, which the pith is basically a core of. So if it's lacking the "juice" from what's provided to perform certain functions of photosynthesis, it takes what it needs from the pith core.

I would think hollow stems is perhaps a tell that your nutrient regiment isn't providing enough to the plant (in my humble opinion.) @Mañ'O'Green @Waira any input on this?

It is just mostly a genetic trait. It is believed that hollow stem plants have higher THC production so this trait shows up a lot because of selecting for it. The xylem where water/mineral transportation takes place would be just inside the wall of the hollow core. There can be virus activity that can cause this but that is rare compared to the genetic selection.

Honestly, I haven't seen any notable difference between them. I've been running organic nutes only for a few years now, and haven't noticed any differences. I chop my plants to bits too when done, so I get to see a good representation of such things!

All these admins show up at once in my thread. Reminds me of owning a little cantina, and I got 3 cop cars parked out front, bad for business..LOL
I'm joking of course. Intelligent input is always welcome.

 

[Tom Bombadil]

Pith Autolysis in Herbaceous, Dicotyledonous Plants: Experimental Manipulation of Pith Autolysis in Several Cultivated Species

Abstract. Pith autolysis, a condition in which dicotyledonous herbaceous plants have a hollow stem, results from the autolysis of a plant's storage pith. O

academic.oup.com

With autoflowers I see this mostly in very fast growing large hybrids.. Blue dream photos seem to have a propensity too.

 

[DoobieGrows]

I think the hollow stems is from genetics. I am not sure which one is responsible. It probably has something to do with plants coming from dry arid conditions started to use their stems as a Conveyor belts for water and nutrients. This is just my personal bro science explanation