Why do seedlings have more 'fingers' than clones?

By: Simon

About the differences in leaflets, I can say that what you see has to do for a great deal with the fact that cannabis is an annual which we keep alive for many years. Their genome has not evolved for that but it works nevertheless. We can keep cuttings from an annual plant alive for many years.

Seedlings do show an increase in leaflets with every new leaf pair up till at least 9, 11 is also common, and 13 is not rare. 

It's only when you make clones that the number of leaflets regresses. A clone has a different growth pattern in many ways. It grows and will always stay like a side branch, it wont ever become like a main stem which a seedling has.

The main stalk from a seedling is hollow, this is a great way to stay up in gusts of wind without breaking. It is flexible, very light, and can bend a lot before it breaks, it is simply evolved like that. Clones maintain solid stems like side branches, and I have never seen one suddenly grow a hollow stem. They follow the growth pattern of a side branch. The plant has no genes which can make it 'switch' to being a main stem, because this is an unnatural situation.

The genes which are expressed in clones from photoperiod plants are such that we can work with them. Not so with autoflowering plants. But things like the solid stems, the regression to usually 5 leaflets, the random growth of roots in all directions in stead of a main root with lateral side roots, are all different from what a seedling shows. But at least we can keep them alive and work with them.

The number of leaflets, although genetically determined, also depends on the health of the plant. The more 'fingers' the healthier a plant is.