Since I noticed the triploid branch, I've had this silly idea percolating through my head of getting hold of some pollen and fertilizing at least 1 node of that branch, should it turn out to be female. My (fuzzy) logic being that a triploid plant would have half again as many nodes, or 1.5 times the yield of a "regular" plant.

So...

Are tri-lateral nodes a genetic thing? Or is it caused by stress of some sort? I'm confused because only one branch is displaying it.

If it is a genetic thing, is there some reason this type of trait shouldn't be bred in? Can it be bred in? I'd imagine it'd be a multi-generational thing, like when I was breeding cichlids. (I developed a strain of convict cichlid with a pronounced & detached first spine of the dorsal fin, called it the "spike convict", sold a few hundred to pet shops in the SF Bay area in late 80s, dunno if still around)