Fasciation - A Genetic Mutation
One common misconception we hear from growers is when they refer to fasciated plants as polyploids or triploids. This general belief has swept over forums and chats online but it has no basis in truth.
Fasciation is a plant mutation that is visible on stems and flowers of cannabis plants. The stem grows very wide, flattened and elongated. It can appear multiple stems put together, and same for the flower. You can see examples in the video above from one of our R&D fields in 2020. It generally only effects a few branches and is relatively rare - but we found a huge population in one of our CBDV variety trials.
Polyploidy refers to organisms that have more than 2 complete sets of chromosomes. While it is common in commercial agriculture and does happen naturally - aside from often larger fruits and sterility there are no completely obvious signs of polyploidy.
Fasciation Is Not A Sign of Polyploidy
Fasciation is not an indication a plant is a triploid, or a polyploid. The mutation may look cool flowers often are just big fluff balls. Fun to look at, not great for production.
How Can You Tell If A Cannabis Plant Is A Triploid?
The only way to know whether a cannabis plant is a triploid is by using flow cytometry to analyze plant tissue. The big fancy machine requires trained experts to run and it ain't cheap. Ask your triploid breeder if they've got a flow machine before you push play on an order. The more you know :)
If you are looking for triploid genetics, we've got you covered. Check out our lineups.
