If it were a problem i feel like it would be purposely bred out. Especially if some do and some dont. I think it is a non issue.Some of my biggest producing plants had hollow stems and seemingly no ill effects from it
Hollow stems, good, bad?
- Thread starter Badfinger
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hear is the truth : hollow is the result of deficiency - Boron to be specific - BUT I always check my stalks at harvest to see the "hollow" like to get 50% hollow + then I know I harvested the plant close to their time. ref: take a look-see at your stalks at harvest !!! be it "bro science" or not
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Did you read the article I shared?
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From what I can tell, the hollow is a natural reaction when a plant can’t get enough carbon from photosynthesis. While a lack of carbon in the air would be obvious, would too much defoliation also cause this? I’m more curious than concerned, most if not all of my stalks have some hollowness at harvest but I have no complaints about my product.
Well I posted this thread back in 2022. Since then my experience has been hollow stems are the norm for me, and my plants have continued to get bigger and produce more, so I'm not worried about it anymore.
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All my good plants had hollow stems. I thought it was normal. It's called xylem.
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This is how the plants spread the water and nutrients to the whole plant.
Does everyone understand this sentence from the article?
By 'carbon' and 'carbon needs' - the authors are referring to the carbon in the (carbon-containing) organic nutrients made previously by the plant (i.e., not the mineral nutrients absorbed through the roots, etc.) and stored in the pith. In other words, they're just saying:
They're not saying it's a bad thing, just that it happens. It's not really any different than plants pulling N from old growth leaves.
For a cannabis grower, 'when the plant cannot meet its carbon needs by photosynthesis alone' would mainly refer to times when the plant is focusing on non-leaf growth such as stretch or bud mass. Or, other factors that could cause demand to exceed supply - like if you suddenly cut lighting hours, or possibly if the plant is still trying to grow new branches at the bottom but you've already got a full canopy at the top blocking them, etc.
Overall, hollow stems at harvest are really just a secondary indicator that are neither good nor bad in and of themselves. For example, you could conclude that 'hey, I optimized the grow environment well enough that the plant used every resource available to it while it died (i.e., matured)'. Or, you could conclude 'I have room to cut N, limit stretch, do more training, etc during my next grow.' Or, you could just have weak lights and the plant was never able to store many nutrients in the pith to begin with. But, even in the 'bad' cases, there's usually something 'badder' than hollow stems that you would or should have noticed first.
Keep in mind, too, that the internet and other sites also seem to have confused 'hollow stems' with 'weak stems' - but those are two separate things. The pith is at the center because the center of a cylinder provides much less resistance to bending than the mass at the periphery (which is why your tent poles are hollow). And, bending stresses (and the amount of resistance needed) increase with the height of a beam (i.e., stem).
The bulk of what we would refer to as stem strength is provided by the epidermis / outer regions. So, weak / droopy stems are more because of other factors that could range from Ca/Si/etc, to just drooping when low on water (lower turgidity), but usually are mainly just a result of previous stretch in the grow (including any lack of resistance training from wind, etc).
So, as BadFinger indicated above, the best answer to 'hollow stems - good or bad' is probably just 'not applicable' or 'it depends' or even 'who cares'.
But, because of the nature of the internet, it's something that growers notice and then go searching for a simple answer online and then find discussions and threads that confuse things more and then ask more questions which lead to more conversations and misinterpretations which then move those pages higher in the search results which just builds up the myth further, etc. All while the OGs are looking on and thinking 'I never read anything about this in high times and it was never a problem for me, so I never cared or really thought much about it...what the heck's wrong with these kids nowadays anyways?'
By 'carbon' and 'carbon needs' - the authors are referring to the carbon in the (carbon-containing) organic nutrients made previously by the plant (i.e., not the mineral nutrients absorbed through the roots, etc.) and stored in the pith. In other words, they're just saying:
They're not saying it's a bad thing, just that it happens. It's not really any different than plants pulling N from old growth leaves.
For a cannabis grower, 'when the plant cannot meet its carbon needs by photosynthesis alone' would mainly refer to times when the plant is focusing on non-leaf growth such as stretch or bud mass. Or, other factors that could cause demand to exceed supply - like if you suddenly cut lighting hours, or possibly if the plant is still trying to grow new branches at the bottom but you've already got a full canopy at the top blocking them, etc.
Overall, hollow stems at harvest are really just a secondary indicator that are neither good nor bad in and of themselves. For example, you could conclude that 'hey, I optimized the grow environment well enough that the plant used every resource available to it while it died (i.e., matured)'. Or, you could conclude 'I have room to cut N, limit stretch, do more training, etc during my next grow.' Or, you could just have weak lights and the plant was never able to store many nutrients in the pith to begin with. But, even in the 'bad' cases, there's usually something 'badder' than hollow stems that you would or should have noticed first.
Keep in mind, too, that the internet and other sites also seem to have confused 'hollow stems' with 'weak stems' - but those are two separate things. The pith is at the center because the center of a cylinder provides much less resistance to bending than the mass at the periphery (which is why your tent poles are hollow). And, bending stresses (and the amount of resistance needed) increase with the height of a beam (i.e., stem).
The bulk of what we would refer to as stem strength is provided by the epidermis / outer regions. So, weak / droopy stems are more because of other factors that could range from Ca/Si/etc, to just drooping when low on water (lower turgidity), but usually are mainly just a result of previous stretch in the grow (including any lack of resistance training from wind, etc).
So, as BadFinger indicated above, the best answer to 'hollow stems - good or bad' is probably just 'not applicable' or 'it depends' or even 'who cares'.
But, because of the nature of the internet, it's something that growers notice and then go searching for a simple answer online and then find discussions and threads that confuse things more and then ask more questions which lead to more conversations and misinterpretations which then move those pages higher in the search results which just builds up the myth further, etc. All while the OGs are looking on and thinking 'I never read anything about this in high times and it was never a problem for me, so I never cared or really thought much about it...what the heck's wrong with these kids nowadays anyways?'
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Much too late to bother me. The steriler the better.
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