Help! I just broke my main stem!

StonyGeoff

StonyGeoff

New Member
Today was the day to untie my plant. I've had her tied down for a week, with the top tied down lower than all the other branches. I woke up this morning, untied her (by now she has quite a thick stem), and proceeded to bend the main stem back & forwards, like i've done before. But as I was stretching her up straight again, she snapped! Not completely off! But most of the way thru the main stem!
If she was upright and not bent over, she'd be about 11" tall. The break in the stem happened about 3"1/2 up from the bottom. There are a few branches below the snap, as well as MANY branches above!

What I've done, is gently tied her down again, pulling the whole plant over so she's leaning on her wound. There is very little, if no split that can be seen now that I've tied her over again (ever so slightly)

I'll try & wake up my house-mate so I can get a picture up here and point out exactly where the break in the stem is, and show how I've tried to help her, help herself ;)
 
PS .. today is the day I was planning put her on 12/12
Should I leave her on 22/2 and give her recovery time before going to 12/12 ?

Here are the images:









I also gave her a shower/hose-down with some rain-water, delivered by a squirtee bottle. I figured the extra water molecules might help her out a bit with the recovery/repair

DSC00031_2.JPG
 
Take a couple clones to keep the genes in stock. I've survived similar damage by splinting the break. I used a tooth pick and some masking tape.(masking is easier to remove latter)
 
Don't untie her for at least 48 hours. You will be able to tell by the brown and green line you will see soon. They heal fast, but it's the main stem and you want it to start to swell before you untie it. You will end up with a fat spot in the stem there, and that's no problem.
 
Some growers purposely break the inner hurd of the plant. This technique is known as "super-cropping" and it does allow for increased water and nutrient uptake past the breakage point. The only danger is when the outer "skin" is broken there is a chance of disease (yes plants can get infections). However, the plant naturally seals off cuts rather quickly by forming a scab over the wound. It would stand to reason that your plant will be fine. :peace:
 
If tape is needed use electrical tape over some of the others, masking tape is the worse. The reason for electrical tape is that it stretches some as the plant grows and won't cut off or restrict circulation eventually. If it doesn't stretch some when you pull on it, it's not the best choice.
 
It's been said before but just leave it alone and it will repair itself - pretty much can't keep it from it, lol. These plants want to grow, in spite of what we do to them. I normally have to bend many branches over if I'm growing a sativa. May not have to this time. Looks like vertical growth has stopped about 12-18 inches from the lights, hehe. I don't support them at all when I kink them unless it's to lay them on another branch for support. Within a couple of days, they've healed for the most part and they even beef up the site of the accident, lol.

Remember this though, so it doesn't freak you out. If it was the top cola that was bent over and it's now lower than the side buds, one of the side buds is now gonna get the signal to grow and one of them will try to become the new top dog, lol. Enzymes and hormones at work, hehe.


peace
 
Now I am confused (again). When I super-cropped my sativa, I did the outside branches during veg and the main stem in flowering. When I did the main stem, the outside grew up, and when I did the others, the top seemed to grow up.

I thought by cropping the main stem you were slowing the main stem and giving the bulk of the grow to the other branches.. So it helps whatever stem you crop to grow more huh.. strange. I could have sworn in the video the growth was stimulated on the front side of the crop, not the backside. (in front of the bend, and behind it)
 
Well, it was my understanding that by bending the stem, you in effect put a "Kink" in the hose that carries water and nutrients. This increases pressure to the rest of the plant, just like it would increase pressure in a regular hose. This in effect would increase growth to all portions of the plant, except on the other side of the supercrop bend. After the bend heals, it is stronger then it was before, and allows normal uptake.

So is this just a wrong anaylsis?
 
mojo said:
It's been said before but just leave it alone and it will repair itself - pretty much can't keep it from it, lol. These plants want to grow, in spite of what we do to them. I normally have to bend many branches over if I'm growing a sativa. May not have to this time. Looks like vertical growth has stopped about 12-18 inches from the lights, hehe. I don't support them at all when I kink them unless it's to lay them on another branch for support. Within a couple of days, they've healed for the most part and they even beef up the site of the accident, lol.

Remember this though, so it doesn't freak you out. If it was the top cola that was bent over and it's now lower than the side buds, one of the side buds is now gonna get the signal to grow and one of them will try to become the new top dog, lol. Enzymes and hormones at work, hehe.


peace
Click to expand...

SICK :-D

:cheesygrinsmiley::cheesygrinsmiley:
 
Boss said:
Well, it was my understanding that by bending the stem, you in effect put a "Kink" in the hose that carries water and nutrients. This increases pressure to the rest of the plant, just like it would increase pressure in a regular hose. This in effect would increase growth to all portions of the plant, except on the other side of the supercrop bend. After the bend heals, it is stronger then it was before, and allows normal uptake.

So is this just a wrong anaylsis?
Click to expand...

I would say yes, it is the correct analysis. However, if the plant grows long enough after the super-cropping then increased uptake past the breakage point should be resonable as well.
 
I've never heard anything like that before. So you're saying that you believe it's kinda like blowing up a balloon? Pinch on one part of the balloon and the other part bulges out. That leads to the question of why topping has the same effect when by topping a plant, you're creating a release of pressure. I'm new here and don't want to wear out my welcome before I even take off my coat but I don't think we're talking pressure changes here. The uptake of water and nutrients by a plant happen mostly at the root level and it happens through passive transport into the cells. Water flows through a garden hose due to active transport, ie a pump somewhere down the line. Kinking a hose doesn't stop the pump but a plant pulls water out of the medium based on a host of factors, all of which will never allow a surge of pressure to happen. Pressure in a plant isn't good as the cell walls in a plant don't flex, they burst. Unlike animal cells.

According to what I've read that actually deals in depth with the subject, growth of main and side shoots is controlled by enzymes and hormones. Whether those enzymes are secreted due to light, or gravity, or whatever. A seed germinates and grows root down and green side up due to enzymes and hormones. It grows toward light due to enzymes and hormones. It begins to flower because of enzymes and hormones. It's normal for one of our plants to focus its growth into developing another taller and larger flower in order to be pollinated. We can control that and focus its energy into all of the side shoots by scroging or doing a bit of LST. Every time I tie down or kink the stem on a main cola, if it doesn't try to stand back up and retake its position, the nearest cola to it that is higher will try to take the lead.

The name Boss probably means you could fire me, lol. I'm not trying to be argumentative and disruptive - just trying to spread a little information. Arguing with the boss isn't a good thing!

The sooner we get a coco forum here, the sooner I'll be out of everyone's hair, lol.

I haven't even introduced myself yet, guess I better be off to do that, hehe

peace
 

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