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To many kola's

oldjarhead100

oldjarhead100

New member
I never thought that was a possibility, I was reading in ATU 4th year grow and she mentioned she had to many kolas should of had 10 instead of 22 ,and the light bulb went off .I see those big massive kola's others grow and I've grown some fantastic ones . As growers we are always trying to increase yield ,Can we over try and actually decrease yield .

So heres my question has anyone else noticed a difference in kola size when have 20 to 40 kolas , I noticed it awhile back but always thought it was lights,ferticating ,space ect. it never occurred to me that 2 many would make them all suffer ,but looking back all of my plants with lots and lots of kolas had smaller kolas .could this be why , I know that when I fire up the grow room I will be fluxing plants some with 8 kolas and some with 20 or more same plants , I'm hoping this will turn into a great discussion ,Thank you ATU for getting the brain to work today but please dont do that more than twice a week LOL
 
OJH, like I wrote on my topic, I'm going back to read stuff over and see if I can put it all together better. I'm definitely limiting colas on the next grow, I just have to know how to do that right, because when I switch to flower, all these other colas shoot up. I remember Nebula writing something about doing too much clipping and damaging the final harvest, so I gotta hit the books (tutorials) again.
 
Very good subject about to many colas limiting size. I would also like to know when "timing of removal" of these does not make the plant produce more and just focus on the 6,8,? colas you want to mature. It has to be timing i'm thinking but at what point? Just look at crowding and what happens. Space, crowding and circulation. Thank you for the subject.
 
I have always understood (never really tested tho) that the more cola's you have the smaller the individual colas are. The way i think of it is like a pie graph. No mater how you divide it, the pie doesnt get larger but the pieces get smaller depending on how many pieces there are. That being said im sure that explanation is a vastly oversimplified and more an educated guess than anything. Love to hear more of what everyone else has to say!
 
It would seem like you'd have to really focus on the root system to expect to have more AND bigger colas. A given root system is only going to provide X amount of nutrients to pass through. Do a few large colas result in more usable bud than a bunch of small ones? It seems the small buds from a large number of bud sights would have more "overhead" in producing those buds.
And you guys should really listen to me because I'm almost through my 2nd grow so I really know what I'm talking about.
 
I rarely limit my colas. If I can get the cola light and wind I leave it. I also have steadily increased my pots size too. That being said some strains do very well with lots of colas and some suffer in both yield and quality from what I've seen. So the answer to this question is going to be a very difficult one to answer. All of this above is referring to inside grows.

Outside is a whole other game and I dont think translates well into inside.
 
Too many tomatoes on the vine will often lessen the size of the tomatoes (Quality) but not necessarily the overall yield. This year with less then ideal outdoor conditions I had a pile of small tomatoes. I did not trim the plants enough and let too many side shoots grow. Too many blooms etc.
Not what is desired imo.

I am trying for less colas with my 1st auto grow. We shall see. Topped one NL/MX cross and the other left to go natural.

My next photoperiod grow I will let the root systems fully develop before going into flower and will test both more and less colas of the same strain in the same growing area. Will be interesting to see the result.
That brings another question to mind.

Is Quality and Potency always associated with Quantity?

I have read it is not and certain stresses on the plant can make it more poternt while lessening yields.
I am sure many of you know this but me I am still such a rookie and hopefully will learn this.
Luv this forum. :love:
 
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The general rule I try to follow is that each topping will double the number of colas you have while cutting your cola size in half. Having more smaller colas can be advantageous for growers that battle issues with bud rot, the idea being that the smaller colas are less susceptible than larger colas would be. More colas shouldn’t necessarily reduce yield as long as the colas are able to be trained for ideal light penetration. The idea of training for multiple colas isn’t to increase yields but to maximize the yield potential the plant already has through better light management.
 
Since I'm a bagseeder I have more time to watch my bud sites for slackers. One bs on each side of the stem. If one is just a nub while the other is twoish inches, the slacker nub goes away. I've noticed in my almost year experience that if you have a slacker and an achiever, you get a smallish slacker cola on one side and medium achiever cola on the other. With just the achiever I get one larger cola. And lots of training. I can point you in the direction of a fantastic web site about training, if you're interested.
 
Yes I agree if you have the right light, air flow, and nutrients the number of colas should increase yield. That is the trick. Getting everything just right.
 
From my experience, which ain't much, is if everything is right, in your environment.
Light, proper breeze, pot size, less colas, will be larger, come harvest time..
My indoor grows have been automatics, and I cut off bud sites about week 3 of flower.
I ain't grown outdoors in 4-5years, but then all we did was bend them over, and try to get as many budsites as possible, big difference in outdoors versus indoors.
Gone huntin.
HappyGrowing
 
Guys and Gals my head spins with questions on this subject. Maybe I need to study the structure of what exactly is a cola, bud sites on the cola Gingerbeard (I've never removed budsites on a cola ) . I've taken small whimpy stems cleaned out the center of side shoots and what not. Manage 6-8 true colas/stalks. But why have 20 stalks on several plants unless you got giant grow room that allows such space? I'm trying for just quality, not dealing massive amounts just home use. Am I reading too much into this?
JohnEmad I have 5 photo grows indoors. How do I know that my roots are fully grown out when I flip to flower?? I totally get veggie growing tomatoes and such. Unless a person has enormous space and or keep a separate room for old mother plants is the only way I know how a fully developed root system shows itself.
I think what we are all talking about is INDOOR and most rec. growers are space limited not all but what I've seen here is most grow indoors in tents.
Obi-Wan exactly.

Thoughts??
 
SoOrbudgal I can grow my plants to about 32" long by 11" wide. That is limiting but I can fill my space with good training.
I wouldn't trim bud sites on autos like I do on my bag seeds. I can veg as long as I want and train for bigger colas. Basically anything below, growing separate from the cola, is only a bud because it is only one.​
A cola is made up of buds. The jars of curing buds are buds that have been disassembled from the cola. Bud sites grow at the base of fan leaves.
 
I think cola refers to a main stem. All budsites have potential to become a cola in themselves if trained but when light is adequate the budsites grow bud instead of stem. If they are too far away they stretch and can sometimes stretch to the size of another cola, but usually just get in the way (side shoots like you said) I remove budsites at the bottom of the plant (lollipop) if i know that they wont get too much light and sometimes i let the shooters go to see if they grow tall enough to get any useful bud. Usually i turn the larfy stuff into hash but im working on not getting any larf to begin with. Still need some practice!

Oh and i can tell when the roots have filled out in my pots because i use fabric pots and they start to poke out before getting air pruned. If you use a plastic pot it would be more difficult tho..maybe check the sides or look at the bottom drain holes to see if any roots are poking out?
 
Hi SoOrbudgal,
I should have said let the roots develop a bit more as I probably didn't with my 1st grow. It makes sense to me when people state the roots help determine the plant.
Ya, lots of variables in this wonderful hobby. :)
 
Tersky Except that the pie's gonna have the same number of calories, but will a bunch of smaller colas have the same potency and weight of fewer larger colas? I hope so!!!!!!!!
 
smoorman You are wise, oh obi wan k-newbie!!! ;-} I think I really failed to produce as much as I could have on my last grow because of 22 colas where there should have been 8 or 10. I've never gotten near harvesting 6 oz off of one plant with around 10 really phat colas. My goal for next grow, starting soon.
 
Well to date my best inside grow was this last one. I grew great genetics and only topped and super cropped them. One plant made 540grams. Total for 3 was 1176 grams. But my plants were 7 feet tall inside under 1000 watts mh/hps. I doubt most have that luxury.
 
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