Why do buds foxtail

However, this is a niche demand, and most of you prefer their buds to be compact and dense, and not elongated, wispy, and airy. Unfortunately, this is exactly what foxtailing in weed leads to. Foxtailing buds can be due to either genetics or stress, usually heat and light stress. We say that buds are foxtailing when they begin to elongate uncontrollably at the tip or grow a lot of tapering side shoots.

Flower clusters in cannabis consist of many calyces. A calyx is where the seed develops if the buds catch some male pollen. Calyces usually stack up very close to each other , forming those compact fat colas that we love so much. They look like the plant has second thoughts of reverting back to veg.

Why does foxtailing happen if nothing in its genes makes it particularly prone to this issue? Most marijuana growers agree that what causes foxtailing in weed is usually heat stress. There is the example of heads of cabbage not forming in the tropics. Tropical heat turns a cabbage plant into a tall stick with every leaf on it growing separately. The same thing happens when people try to grow temperate-zone pines in the tropics. Individual shoots may each become several feet long without any side branching.

In cannabis, this reaction to heat may be a defense mechanism. In the tropics, heat goes hand in hand with high humidity which may spoil the buds if they are too solid. And foxtailing is one way to achieve that. This would explain why tropical Sativas have more predisposition toward foxtailing.

The answer depends on genetics. If your strain of weed has genes that tell it to foxtail, you may not like the looks of the buds, but they may turn out to be outstanding in every other respect. Or choose another strain for the next time and move on. But if foxtailing is not genetic , treat it as a sign of trouble and adjust your environment accordingly.

Excessive heat also leads to the evaporation of terpenes , making your buds less aromatic and flavorful. When dealing with fox tails you need to narrow down posible causes things which could be stressing your plant cracked or split limbs ph temps and yes light range It can also be a sign you have been flowering too long and overfeeding triggering fresh growth rather than maturation.

I had one plant foxtail in my first grow. We also may have let her go too long but she never showed amber trichomes. She did, however, hermie and now I know that foxtailing is a warning. I had a Northern Lights plant do that, but the buds just went from smooth to lumpy. The buds got a lot larger, so I was happy. Great smoke! This is very interesting, definitely clears up my confusion. The above pic is of the tallest cola in the second pic the top left part of the pic.

That back corner seems to have the tops with the apparent issues. Too early to tell how it will end up. I also added lights just after I switched to flower and was running my lights at around 18" from the trellis so 10" or so from the top I posted above. I raised my lights. I am actually going to try an experiment on one of them that is doing it based on something donaldj said you could try to do but probably not recommended.

She is definitely Foxtailing but seems it only really effects bag appeal unless you wind up hermied or worse. My Gold leaf plants fox tailed all over the place on my first grow because I let the temperature get up to between 80 and 90 degrees. The buds were good. The easy way to check if the distance to the light is safe is by placing the palm of your hand where the cannabis plant is the closest to the bulb. Monitoring your light height as plants mature and raising it when necessary can help to avoid foxtailing cannabis.

Any type of stress or deficiency can cause a plant to grow abnormally, so reducing stress is ideal for avoiding foxtailing buds in addition to carefully monitoring heat and lights.

A good tip here is to keep a journal with every action you take in cultivating your cannabis plants and their reactions. This will make it much easier to detect the source of the problem if one appears. As for consumers, you may want to avoid foxtailing buds with their lower potency unless you put some research into the specific strain to know if the reason is purely down to genetic predisposition.

Herbies Head Shop expressly refuses to support the use, production, or supply of illegal substances. For more details read our Legal Disclaimer. In compliance with the Law on Information Services, we inform you that this website uses cookies.

To deliver a personalized, responsive service, we collect and store information on your interactions with our website.