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Inverted said:
What is the meaning of this and will it continue throughout the life of the plant?

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The little baby mutant should keep producing three leaves per stem, and it should also start producing three branches per node. You should have better yields with it.

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erb said:
Once its begins to flower the triplet feature will go away, your yield will not likely be any greater.

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Actually if he gets three branches per node instead of two (which might happen), he'll subsequently have more bud-sites, thus, potentially grater yield. Also, the statement "once it begins to flower it will go away" isn't really true. Sometimes this will stop after the third or fourth node, or when it starts reaching maturity and starts alternate nodes it will disappear. In fact, I've seen someone with a mutant like this have it three weeks into flower, 12/12 lighting of course, and it took forever to begin flowering and was still producing three leaves per node.

From what I've read, the idea is that these plants usually are male, but not always, so hopefully we'll get lucky here. They might grow slower too, but I'd personally keep them going to see what happens.

Also, the name for this is whorled phyllotaxy.

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erb said:
More bud sites won't always mean greater yield if the roots system isnt also larger to support it.

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Once your nodes start alternating it will go away.

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It's generally associated with sativa strains, that could explain your friends problems with trying to get it to flower.

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erb said:
You never know, each plant is a unique individual, only by growing it out will you start to understand it.

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Sirius said:


but I don't see what the size of the root system has to do with it. People who have grown the whorled plants have stated that it requires more water and nutrients. Really, the root size is regardless as long as they are being fed and watered more to compensate for the fact that they have more plant/buds to support.

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Hanky said:

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Sirius said:


but I don't see what the size of the root system has to do with it. People who have grown the whorled plants have stated that it requires more water and nutrients. Really, the root size is regardless as long as they are being fed and watered more to compensate for the fact that they have more plant/buds to support.

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Root mass is directly proportionate to yield, the larger the root mass the larger the yield.  This applies to soil, hydro, aero, agro or any other kind of ponics.

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Hanky said:
Root mass is directly proportionate to yield, the larger the root mass the larger the yield.  This applies to soil, hydro, aero, agro or any other kind of ponics.

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Yes, this may be, but within the context of what I was saying, you will theoretically get a better yield from the mutant plant compared to a similar but regular plant in the same size pot because the mutant will simply use more nutrients and water in the same amount of time, since its producing extra buds (as we're assuming it has more branches than the other). It'd, again theoretically, use the same amount of water and nutrients to produce the same amount of buds as the other, plus more water/nutrients for the extra. Clearly if the other normal plant had a lot more space for roots, it'd be capable of producing more than it would otherwise, but we're talking a comparison here.

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erb said:
Although you may have more bud sites, there will only be a certain amount of light to divide between them, indoors.
Also there will be more shading from the bud sites. resulting in other areas of the plant not getting the full amount of light.
weak light penetration means weaker buds.

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This is all true, which is why I was speaking theoretically, referring only to the roots factor at the time. It would all just depend on the specifics of one's setup. There can still be plenty of light and if shading really was a problem, training could be employed to maximize yield as well.

All in all, we're talking about a mutant that could have slower growth and development entirely for its own reasons, even if it was a female. Ultimately, its just a freak that could perform slightly better or worse.

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Sirius said:

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Hanky said:
Root mass is directly proportionate to yield, the larger the root mass the larger the yield.  This applies to soil, hydro, aero, agro or any other kind of ponics.

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Yes, this may be, but within the context of what I was saying, you will theoretically get a better yield from the mutant plant compared to a similar but regular plant in the same size pot because the mutant will simply use more nutrients and water in the same amount of time, since its producing extra buds (as we're assuming it has more branches than the other). It'd, again theoretically, use the same amount of water and nutrients to produce the same amount of buds as the other, plus more water/nutrients for the extra. Clearly if the other normal plant had a lot more space for roots, it'd be capable of producing more than it would otherwise, but we're talking a comparison here.

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Inverted said:
I actually believe based on my common sense that since it started out with 50% more leaves/surface area, that technically it will be able to get a head start on the other seedlings since it will be able to soak up more light than the others it will develop the next set(s) of leaves quicker and it exponentially grows more and more...  Correct me if I'm wrong?!

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I'm not really certain on any of this, although I'm taking more time now to read up on the biological processes involved, but I would think that the water/nutrients would still be a limiting factor, even if the plant were capable of performing a greater degree of photosynthesis since it can absorb more light. Maybe the mutant would grow roots quicker as a result of that, but if not given more space, it would still reach that limiting factor, even if it grew faster initially...

But this has certainly been a fun discussion.