An axillary bud is a small meristem in the axil, the upper angle where a leaf petiole meets the stem. Every node has one (or a pair on opposite-leaved growth). Under apical dominance most stay small; released, each can grow into a full branch. In flower, axillary buds produce the clusters of pistillate flowers that make up bud sites along each branch.
In practice
When you top a plant, the two axillary buds just below the cut become the new main shoots. When you lollipop, you remove low axillary shoots that would only make small, airy buds in shade. When you take a clone, you want a node with healthy axillary buds above the cut.
Many growers write "auxiliary bud". The botanical term is axillary, from axil.
A strong axillary bud next to a weak petiole can be damaged by tearing leaves off rather than cutting them; that is one practical reason for "tuck, don't pluck".
Don't confuse with
- Apical meristem: the bud at the tip of a shoot, not in a leaf axil.
- Pre-flower: the first flower that forms at a node, not the bud itself.
- Bud (flower): a mature cluster of flowers; slang reuse of the word.
The stalk that attaches a leaf to the stem at a node; in cannabis it carries all the leaflets of a palmate leaf.The suppression of side-shoot growth by the main growing tip, driven mainly by auxin flowing down the stem from the apex.A female flower with a pistil but no functional stamens; in cannabis, a bract-wrapped ovary topped by two stigmas.A bud site is a node where flowers form, where leaf meets stem, or a branch tip; training aims to put more of them in strong light.Lollipopping removes the lower branches and small shoots on a plant, usually around the flip, so energy goes to the top buds and airflow improves underneath.The zone of dividing cells at the very tip of a shoot (or root) that produces new leaves, nodes and stem; removing it is what topping does.The first individual flowers that form at stem nodes during late vegetative growth, letting a grower tell male from female before full flowering.The point on a stem where a leaf (petiole) and its axillary bud attach; branches, flowers and clone roots all originate at nodes.The dense, elongated cluster of flowers that forms at the end of a stem or branch; the main cola tops the leader.
