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[Mr. Krip]

I have not seen any hollow stems since switching to high brix. Granted I only did 1 grow with synthetics but I flowered 10 plants and every one of them had hollow stems. As far as deficiencies go, poor calcium uptake and boron deficiencies cause hollow stems. I suppose it could be genetic but out of the hundred or more high brix plants I've done, I've never seen hollow stems in any of them.

Hmmmm...Interesting!

Checkout this article on Pith Autolysis: Pith Autolysis in Herbaceous, Dicotyledonous Plants: Experimental Manipulation of Pith Autolysis in Several Cultivated Species

Note:

Our central hypothesis concerning the aetiology of pith autolysis states that the carbon from the pith is transported to the growth regions of the plant and used at times when the plant cannot meet its carbon needs by photosynthesis alone.

And:

Also in support of the central hypothesis is the prevention of pith autolysis by the addition of extra carbon to the plant, in the form of an increased CO2 concentration of the surrounding air.

I'm pretty sure it's related to CO2 availability and, if I had to guess, my plants would be more prone since I'm drawing air in the flower tent from the veg tent. In other words, I think the plants in the (packed!) veg tent are sucking up a lot of the CO2 from the air before it makes it to the flower tent; and the lower concentration is what caused the hollow stems.

 

[Old Salt]

Hmmmm...Interesting!

Checkout this article on Pith Autolysis: Pith Autolysis in Herbaceous, Dicotyledonous Plants: Experimental Manipulation of Pith Autolysis in Several Cultivated Species

Note:



And:



I'm pretty sure it's related to CO2 availability and, if I had to guess, my plants would be more prone since I'm drawing air in the flower tent from the veg tent. In other words, I think the plants in the (packed!) veg tent are sucking up a lot of the CO2 from the air before it makes it to the flower tent; and the lower concentration is what caused the hollow stems.

I saw these hollow stems in some plants after my last grow in coco/perlite using the General Hydroponics' Flora Trio and Supplements. I read here in the forums that it was nothing to be concerned about, and was 'normal.' Thanks for letting us know the cause, and methods of avoiding this. I'll increase the airflow through my tent, and hopefully that will take care of it. I really don't want to get into CO2 injection.

 

[Mr. Krip]

I saw these hollow stems in some plants after my last grow in coco/perlite using the General Hydroponics' Flora Trio and Supplements. I read here in the forums that it was nothing to be concerned about, and was 'normal.' Thanks for letting us know the cause, and methods of avoiding this. I'll increase the airflow through my tent, and hopefully that will take care of it. I really don't want to get into CO2 injection.

I have no intentions of adding CO2 to the mix, either, and, IMHO, the reason to add CO2 should be for increased yields and not to "cure" hollow stems, since as Brother Duggan very accurately points out:

Hollow stems .....get them all the time...no biggy!

As far as I know, it is nothing to worry about!

 

[Old Salt]

I'm not going to worry about it, but will try more air flow to avoid it.

 

[Duggan]

As far as addition CO2 goes, as long as you/we have sufficient 'fresh air' coming into our houses /garages/GR's. plants will be fine. I've only ever used added CO2 for two grows a very long time ago and found no difference . A normal house with normal air exchanges is totally fine for our 'hobbie' grows. Naturally if someone is using every room in the house to grow, the CO2 will drop but for our small grows NO CO2 deficiency's happen. Cheers...just my op.

 

[Mr. Krip]

BAG O' PCAKE BUDS

The recent harvest has been bagged since Saturday and I wanted to "jostle" the buds around in the bags to make sure none were sticking together.

When I opened the bag with the PCake buds, I literally started chuckling out loud at how good these buds look. These pics don't do them justice (I'll get better ones!) but you get the idea!

DSCN0336.JPG

• Mr. Krip
• Jul 15, 2019
• 1

DSCN0335.JPG

• Mr. Krip
• Jul 15, 2019

On another note, I realized I haven't even looked in the main tent since Saturday.



Happy Harvests!

K

 

[Amy Gardner]

They look so delicious!

Thanks for the info about hollow stem and pith autolysis. I had some in my first Brix kit grow and posted to the Q&A about it becasue I have to use a homemade Promix - faumix - and had heard hollow stems was because of low cal. That was only last year and no-one mentioned it wasn’t an issue an seemed to agree it was a lack of calcium so we upped how much I buffered my SPM with. Certainly no-one said ‘don’t worry about it’! It’s good to have this info now, I maybe won’t be so concerned if it happens again.

 

[irie lion]

BAG O' PCAKE BUDS

What you meant was, bag full of frost

 

[Neiko]

Hmmmm...Interesting!

Checkout this article on Pith Autolysis: Pith Autolysis in Herbaceous, Dicotyledonous Plants: Experimental Manipulation of Pith Autolysis in Several Cultivated Species

Note:



And:



I'm pretty sure it's related to CO2 availability and, if I had to guess, my plants would be more prone since I'm drawing air in the flower tent from the veg tent. In other words, I think the plants in the (packed!) veg tent are sucking up a lot of the CO2 from the air before it makes it to the flower tent; and the lower concentration is what caused the hollow stems.

Ok, that makes sense too. Considering Calcium Carbonate is CaCO3 and makes up the cell wall structure it could still be calcium related. Your plants look great, I'm not trying to say anything negative, I'm just trying to nail down the cause of hollow stems.

 

[Teddy Edwards]

Hollow stems in many plants at maturity is completely natural. I see it every year at harvest. The bigger the cannabis plant (10-12ft for me, outdoor grower ), the more pronounced the bore through the main stem.

To the inside of the ring of vascular bundles is the pith. This region is made up of almost exclusively parenchyma cells. These are too far on the interior to carry out much photosynthesis or other interesting biochemistry. But these cells may store water (as in cacti) or storage polymers for later use. For example, the pith of a potato tuber (a kind of stem) holds vast quantities of starch. In some stems, the pith becomes quite hollow at maturity...the cells have died...a process commonly called apoptosis. Bamboo is an excellent example of that.

Ross E. Koning 1994

 

[weenmeoff]

You should try drying low and slow!

 

[Duggan]

Hollow stems in many plants at maturity is completely natural. I see it every year at harvest. The bigger the cannabis plant (10-12ft for me, outdoor grower ), the more pronounced the bore through the main stem.

Ross E. Koning 1994

Thanks for jumping in here Teddy! i knew this as well, but great to see someone else post that it's a natural thing...cheers.

 

[Doc Bud]

There's "normal" hollow stems, and then there's autolysis.
Barring other factors, a hollow tube is stronger than a solid tube and so sometimes a very healthy plant will form hollow stems to support a heavy harvest.

However, a plant with poor roots, poor soil, or very low CO2 in the closet will get the "other" kind of hollow stems.

If everything else is on point and brix is up, simply make observations and over time and repeated patterns you'll figure out if it's the strain or not.

I do NOT get hollow stems unless I go back to those crazy Sativa's I was growing at one time or another; Willie Nelson, Colombian Gold, etc. Those had hollow stems. I also have C02 enrichment to 1200 ppm.

 

[Duggan]

 

[Neiko]

There's "normal" hollow stems, and then there's autolysis.
Barring other factors, a hollow tube is stronger than a solid tube and so sometimes a very healthy plant will form hollow stems to support a heavy harvest.

However, a plant with poor roots, poor soil, or very low CO2 in the closet will get the "other" kind of hollow stems.

If everything else is on point and brix is up, simply make observations and over time and repeated patterns you'll figure out if it's the strain or not.

I do NOT get hollow stems unless I go back to those crazy Sativa's I was growing at one time or another; Willie Nelson, Colombian Gold, etc. Those had hollow stems. I also have C02 enrichment to 1200 ppm.

Thanks for the input Doc!

 

[Mr. Krip]

Ok, that makes sense too. Considering Calcium Carbonate is CaCO3 and makes up the cell wall structure it could still be calcium related. Your plants look great, I'm not trying to say anything negative, I'm just trying to nail down the cause of hollow stems.

Nothing negative perceived, Brother!

 

[Mr. Krip]

Thanks for jumping in here Teddy! i knew this as well, but great to see someone else post that it's a natural thing...cheers.

There's "normal" hollow stems, and then there's autolysis.
Barring other factors, a hollow tube is stronger than a solid tube and so sometimes a very healthy plant will form hollow stems to support a heavy harvest.

However, a plant with poor roots, poor soil, or very low CO2 in the closet will get the "other" kind of hollow stems.

If everything else is on point and brix is up, simply make observations and over time and repeated patterns you'll figure out if it's the strain or not.

I do NOT get hollow stems unless I go back to those crazy Sativa's I was growing at one time or another; Willie Nelson, Colombian Gold, etc. Those had hollow stems. I also have C02 enrichment to 1200 ppm.

I did not mean to indicate that this wasn't normal. Below is a post I made a few years ago on the subject and it points out some other reasons for hollow stems.

The hollow stems are normal and fairly common with MMJ. As I understand it, it's not necessarily a sign of good nute intake, though.

The area that's hollow is where the "pith" would normally be. The pith is the soft, spongy center in the middle of plant stalks where carbon is stored. When the pith starts to disappear, it's called "Pith Autolysis" and, while it does NOT indicate any real problems with the plant, I don't believe it's because of good nute intake.

What it does indicate is that the plant needed more carbon, so it started to feed on its own carbon reserves.

Some plants are genetically prone to have a hollow pith and other reasons can include plants that are grown in low light conditions, low CO2 conditions, and fast-growing/leggy plants can also be more prone.

So, for example, if the growroom is packed with plants, there may not be enough CO2 for all of them because they're all sucking it all out of the air. So, because there's not enough CO2, there's not enough carbon, and because there's not enough carbon, the plant will start feeding on it's own carbon reserves in the pith.

Low light conditions effect the plants ability to photosynthesize, so even if there's enough CO2, they won't be able to break it down, resulting in the same feeding on it's own carbon reserves.

It does not indicate any problems, per se, just a sign that the plant was feeding on its own carbon reserves.

I hope that helps!



EDIT: I should add that flowering plants use lots of carbon to help form those buds, so its also much more common in flowering plants!

In my specific case, because I pull fresh air into a packed veg tent, then pull the air from the veg tent into the flower tent, I'm thinking it's possibly a lack of CO2, especially since Brother Neiko hasn't seen the hollow stems with the Bubbas, so it's likely not prone to the strain and it wasn't low light conditions with the sunburn on those colas.

 

[Doc Bud]

We're all learning such great stuff all the time here.

 

[Old Salt]

My last grow was four CKS Crown Royales.

At harvest I didn't check the stems.
The two plants directly under the light had hollow main branches.
The two plants to either side of these did not have hollow main branches.
I didn't check the secondary branches, or shoots.
The plants were fed identically. All plants had 10-20% run off when fed twice per day.
The two plants directly under the light produced 60% more than those to either side.

My hypothesis is that the plants should have been fed more often. The more intense light the plants in the center received allowed them to produce more. To get the nutrients required they cannibalized at least the cores of the main branches.

I've decommisioned the light used for that grow in favor of a DIY COB that lights the canopy more evenly. Under the new light, I'm feeding three times per day while still in veg. There are two plants of different strains in the tent so I won't be able to do a comparison this grow. The next time I grow a tent of four Crown Royale, I'll try and remember this, and report back.

Edit: I should have mentioned the grow was coco/perlite substrate using General Hydroponics' Flora Trio and Supplements as a drain-to-waste system. (Sorry Doc )

 

[Duggan]

We're all learning such great stuff all the time here.