Is this a mutation or nutrient issue?

Hi everybody! I've got a strain that seems to have mutated, or is responding negatively to conditions and exhibiting unfavorable growth characteristics. I started it from mystery bagseed last year, and have been cloning it and growing it inside ever since, absolutely loving the results. However, some of my clones behaved differently this summer in a hoop row, right alongside other ones that performed as normal. Basically, the "mutants" have very short internodes, much smaller leaves, were more susceptible to spider mites, and the flowers formed differently. Instead of spears that didn't get super tight, a million little bruce lee fists popped up instead that were absolutely rock hard and more round in shape. The strangest bit was that bigger buds formed on the lower branches, totally upside down from normal.

I have a mother of this plant that's a few cuts down the line from the original seed plant. perhaps I took a clone while the donor plant was stressed? I've never seen this, and I don't want to lose this strain, but I don't want to keep it in its corrupted form. I've included a few pics to show the current vegetative pattern and how the buds formed differently. Has anybody experienced this before?

OK you have some that have mutated. Have all the clones taken since mutated similarly?

I'm not a botanist but it sounds as if your strain has decided to go one way - toward the indica side but this is just a guess. Plant behavior changes such as budding lower may indicate some problem that sounds related to the growing environment.

my mother plant is the only one I have of this strain that isn't in flower right now. It does appear to have mutated.... but I have seen this behavior now under t-8 lights inside controlled temps and humidity, as well as outside with much bigger temperature swings. so, I've kind of nixed environment as the culprit.

bump.

pleeeeeez?! anybody?

any old grower worth his salt will tell you about the "one that got away". I've let a few unicons slip through my fingers over the years and I'm hoping not lose this one too.

one more humble please, I'm on my knees. anybody know what's up with plants changing their growth pattern?

It's called genetic drift. Look up genetic drift in plants. Parents or parent plants pass down a "fixed" gene. If interbreeding continues (self pollination) or by other means of reproduction it continues As you get further away from the true parents the fixed genes become weaker and the rest is a wild card. That's the most simply I know how to put it. Maybe someone else knows a little more of the technical aspects but either way that's your problem in my opinion.

Jimmy Sparkle said:

It's called genetic drift. Look up genetic drift in plants. Parents or parent plants pass down a "fixed" gene. If interbreeding continues (self pollination) or by other means of reproduction it continues As you get further away from the true parents the fixed genes become weaker and the rest is a wild card. That's the most simply I know how to put it. Maybe someone else knows a little more of the technical aspects but either way that's your problem in my opinion.

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thanks for the answer.... genetic drift is what I fear has happened - I was hoping it wasn't permanently corrupted - I'll have to flower out my mother plant to see I guess.

I grew some awesome bagseed one time and it was super stoney and a beautiful plant. It produced a few seeds which I grew and they were mostly the same however they were a little more leggy and the buds a little more fluffy, but all in all very nice. They also threw a few seeds and since I like to experiment I grew those also. Oh dude, what a horror show that became. Almost no disease tolerance, wild leggy growth, long ass buds with huge gaps and fluffy like a pom pom. It was crappy looking and tasting but it was potent as hell. The yield was also horrible. Clones from clones from clones will eventually do the same thing.

Ya your supposed to change the mother once a year, I change mine every 9 months. You only had that strain for so long anyway so let it go and look to the seed banks for strains you can identify and grow again and again if you find one you like.

Try out dakini kush from centennial seeds, you can get them at seaofseeds.com or marijuana-seeds-canada.com. it's very easy to grow mold and pest resistant and it's a strong heavy indica you won't be disappointed.

Hey - it's female so smoke it !!!!!!! Look's great - that bud is in the late, lat stage of flower when it produces seeds ; if any you will have S-1's (seeds)

I like the look of your buds in the pictures,interesting shape and color

New Age United said:

Ya your supposed to change the mother once a year, I change mine every 9 months. You only had that strain for so long anyway so let it go and look to the seed banks for strains you can identify and grow again and again if you find one you like.

Try out dakini kush from centennial seeds, you can get them at seaofseeds.com or marijuana-seeds-canada.com. it's very easy to grow mold and pest resistant and it's a strong heavy indica you won't be disappointed.

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oh man, if you knew how good it was you would want to keep it too! I hate the thought of losing it since as an unknown, it's pretty much irreplaceable - I wouldn't know where to begin to try to re-create it. I always hear that your suppose to replace moms frequently, and clones of clone degenerate etc., but.... there are enough clone-only strains out there that perform consistently (blue dream, trainwreck) that I wonder just how long it takes for things to degenerate or if it's really more of an issue of clones being taken off of an unhealthy donor plant.

...So just a question from a Newbie Grower: when this happens, are the flowers completely fucked? As in non smokable? Its a total loss?

in this case, no, the flowers weren't fucked, they smoked the same but formed differently. the overall health of the plant seemed weaker, less vigorous, less productive

I have taken a clone from a clone from a clone for years and years no genetic drift. Temps can change the structure. Purple shows up when it gets cooler. Some plants look different when you grow them outside.