Question about maturity

Hi folks

I'm intrigued, when reading about sexual maturity, I see people say "alternating nodes" or "alternating leaves" are a sign of maturity. I'm not too clear on what "alternating nodes" means though, can someone explain, or even better show me a picture?

Non-alternating:
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Alternating:
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Thanks! Extra points for ascii 1337|\|355

I topped my plants on the last two nodes and the new growth looks like that, but I think it may be due to the mangling with scissors as opposed to maturity - they are a month old from seeds sprouting but a little behind due to some issues in their first week of life.

Going to let them grow naturally for the next seven days before possibly LST-inh them. Hoping to see some signs of maturity then.

Reckon they will probably get another couple of weeks veg at least, as they are (were) only at 5th node - cut back to 4th now.

On most strains after topping once then waiting 2 weeks, they will be mature enough to induce flowering.
So at about a month and half or plant height at 12-18 inches you can start educing flowering.
If your going to lst, fill out as much area you need and once you feel that its about 1/3 of want you want your final full grown plant size to be, you will be fine to start 12/12.
Just remember that there will be a stretch once switched to 12/12 and can grow up to 3 times its size depending on strain.

Thanks Roscko. I am definitely basing my decision as to when to flip on size - I am growing in a tent so space will become an issue quickly if I leave it too long! I am planning for 3x growth in flowering as one of the girls is a super lemon haze which can grow pretty big and leggy during its 10-13 week flowering period.

Having said that, so far she is the most compact of all my plants, *really* bushy! Let's hope she carries on growing in the same way, I will be a happy farmer!

Leads me to another question actually - is that the best way to decide whether to make a mom from a vegging plant, basing the decision on growth aggression and bushiness, or are there other factors I should consider? I have heard of methods for cloning during flowering, but I would prefer to clone during veg to minimise stress.

That's good to hear! As far as the other question, you can make a mom out of just about any (healthy) vegging plant that's in its maturity. Even before maturity if your not planning
on taking a lot of cuttings for cloning.
Also yes you can take clones from flowering, some even prefer it.
If your planing on scrog or lst you can take them during flower and cut clones from the bottom where your most likely going to trim anyways.
As for some great help in the cloning process check out this vid:
its Jorge Cervantes and hes good at showing the ropes