Mind if I rant? I know some of you have see this one before, but I feel that it warrants a re-post.
One thing people seem to FAIL to recognize, and often quote the opposite, is one simple fact.
Plants are ENCOURAGED to grow taller/bigger/stronger when damage occurs. Most people say that this stresses the plant and therefore is bad. OF COURSE IT DOES!! THAT'S THE POINT!! But stress is not always a bad thing.
Placing a fan in your grow stresses a plant and makes stronger stems, even though most people only do it to get good air circulation. The biggest reason most people forget (or don't know) is that blowing around in the wind is what CAUSES the big strong stems that hold up those huge colas.
When you snip/clip/prune/defoliate ANY plant, the plant responds by growing new stronger growth. It's a survival response. Anyone ever heard of TRUNK PIERCING?! I used to do it all the time in my larger grows. it causes very hearty growth in the veg stage because the plant believes it is constantly under attack and therefore grows stronger and stronger. When leaves are pulled, in order to survive, the plant grows more to replace what was lost. If this did not happen, eventually the same stressor, repeated would strip the plant completely and it would die. The general response, when lateral growth is removed, vertical growth is the response. I believe to possibly get above whatever has been biting on the sides.
Think of it like this. A deer comes along and munches the sides of a plant. The plant responds by growing taller, and adding weight to stems, and putting out more leaves/growth higher up. Eventually the deer would not be able to reach the vegetation it is after and wanders off in search of something else, thus the plant survives.
Adversely, when we top a plant, it responds by growing more girth and almost doubles it's lateral growth. In the deer scenario, eventually the deer will not be able to reach the inside of the plant where there is green, and the plant survives, and then can grow taller.
I know a lot of you are thinking, "A plant doesn't just make a decision to grow a certain way," and you'd be right: There is no thinking about it. But hormonal differences in plant tips, and stems, and trunks, are what causes this, and thus the response is the same. do you make a decision to scar over when you are cut? Poor example of course, but it does sort of prove my point here. Cells do what they're told to do by the circumstances they are presented. Cause and effect. When you work out, are you not sore the day after? Do you not grow stronger because of the torn muscle tissue regowing and increasing to withstand that stress later? Repeated stress of this sort can cause a dramatic change in muscle tone and bulk and strength of the tissue. The same thing can be observed in plants. Supercropping, for example...
/grace
