am i doing it wrong?

Hi guys this is my 1st grow.

i started ut growing some northern lights from seed, i got a nice bushy female plant that i took clones from and everything seemed great.

while i was vegging the clones i decided to put the mother in to flower and see how it went as this is my 1st time, The mother plant shot up from about 2ft to maybe like 4ft and has lots of branches all coming up from the 1 plant each with its own buds (like 5/6 branches) they all look like they could be the main top of the plant the only way to tell them apart is tracing the stem down if you get what i mean?

the thing i was wondering is if this is normal? like most pictures of plants look like they have 1 big fat stem covered in buds and only fan leaves making the plant bushy like this http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5f/Cannabis_flowering.jpg
my worry is that iv done something wrong to my plants because they dont look like that and having more stems with buds will end up with less of a crop because the plant cant concentrate on making the buds big?

im thinking maybe its because i let the mother veg for a long time or something?

and will my clones be the same or will i be able to get them to grow 'properly' =P

Also the mother plant seems to stretch alot up to the light even though i had it 4/5 inches above the tops of the leaves and was starting to burn itself on the bulb.

any help or reassurance that my babies are not freaks would be greatly appreciated


Nap

there are alot of possabilitys on why yours does not look like that..whell it depends on what type of light you are useing how far away the light is how long its been in flower and yes it is normal for them to grow alot during flower. now unless your planning on reverting your clones back to veg after your plant is done it probably wouldent be worth cloning if you are trying for mnor bud go for LST

Having multiple colas isn't a bad thing. Some people like one, some people like 20, it's all personal preference. You can have less or more yield depending on any number of variables, so it's impossible to say for sure. Post some pictures.

Also, research "LST" or "Low Stress Training" to deal with your plant if it's getting out of control.

it's a good thing, you will have a higher yield and all will be well. Good luck

ahh thanks for the fast replies guys glad to hear its not a bad thing.

The clones are in veg, i set up a seperate room for veg/flower hoping to cycle crops between the 2.

as for the LST i have hung some fishing line in lengths and am training the highest brances around that while the slightly shorter ones catch up, seems to be working but it does love growing seems like it gets bigger every time i look at it lol. will probably get some chicken wire when i find time i imagine that would work alot better than my diy fix =P

i will try and get some pictures up 2mo to get some opinions.

it all depends on genetics. Some plants naturally bush out. It is generally a good thing, so be happy.