True leaves are leaves produced by the shoot apical meristem, as opposed to the cotyledons formed in the embryo. In cannabis the first pair has a single serrated leaflet each; later pairs carry three, then five, and more leaflets as the plant matures, up to seven to eleven or more on large fan leaves.
In practice
Growers count true-leaf nodes to time things. Common landmarks: start light feeding at roughly the second or third set of true leaves; topping is often done at the third to fifth node; seedlings are usually ready to transplant from a small cell once they have a few sets of true leaves and roots reach the cell edge.
Early leaves arise in opposite pairs. As the plant moves toward flowering, phyllotaxy usually switches to alternate (one leaf per node). That switch is a maturity marker, not a sex indicator.
Slow, cupped or pale first true leaves usually point to light intensity, overwatering or medium pH before nutrients.
Don't confuse with
- Cotyledons: the smooth, rounded seed leaves that come first.
- Leaflet: one blade of a compound true leaf.
- Sugar leaves: small resinous leaves within the flower clusters.
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.One of the two rounded seed leaves packed in the embryo that open first after germination and feed the seedling until the true leaves take over.One of the separate serrated blades that make up a palmate cannabis leaf; a mature fan leaf typically has five to eleven leaflets.A large palmate cannabis leaf with several long leaflets on a long petiole; fan leaves do most of the plant's photosynthesis and carry few trichomes.Transplanting moves a plant and its root ball into a new container or the ground; done gently it causes little shock, but GenetixBay advises against it for autoflowers.Overwatering is watering so often that the medium stays saturated, starving roots of oxygen, which causes drooping, slow growth and root disease.pH measures how acidic or alkaline a solution is on a 0–14 scale; in growing it controls nutrient uptake, with soil best near 6.0–7.0 and hydro 5.5–6.5.A small leaf growing from within the flower cluster, often coated in trichomes, which is trimmed off and commonly kept for processing.The saw-toothed edge of a cannabis leaflet, with teeth pointing toward the leaflet tip.The point on a stem where a leaf (petiole) and its axillary bud attach; branches, flowers and clone roots all originate at nodes.
