Trick to Thicker stems(Help)

Goldenrod · May 20, 2012

great question, great thread. thanks for all the input farmers.

true grit · May 20, 2012

ran silica (protekt and rhino skin) for bout half a year and saw no real benefit with my experience. But I have also heard that protekt has one of the lowest active silica rates once bottled.

MrSmilehappy · May 20, 2012

PGR stands for? i'm still learning the grow abbreviations

dankworth · May 20, 2012

MrSmilehappy said:
PGR stands for? i'm still learning the grow abbreviations

Plant growth regulator. Some are safe and okay, many are hella sketch. There is a sticky thread at the top of the Nutrients section that goes into some detail about this.

dankworth · May 20, 2012

Something I forgot to mention. When I started to use silicates years ago, my stems became far less brittle. I used to accidentally snap at least one or two branches off of the plants while moving them around. They would break off at the knuckle.
When I feed mine pro-tekt(overdue to replace this with homemade K silicate) the stems become more pliable and "bendy". Far less brittle.

Medijuana · May 24, 2012

When the plants are young and the main stem hasn't gotten too woody, you can just give it a squeeze between your thumb and finger. Squeeze down gradually until you feel a slight crushing sensation, but don't go past that. Give the plant at least two to three days to recover, and repeat. You'll eventually see the main stem get REALLY thick and strong. I know some will call this super-cropping, but the tutorials I've seen on that technique seems to really fuck the stem up, and it takes at least a week for the plant to recover. I only squeeze until there's the slightest hint of stem damage; the plants don't seem to be phased at all by it. Also, I don't crush the whole circumference of the stem on the same pass, only the two sides that my finger and thumb are touching. Let those recover for a few days, then treat the other two sides. You can work your way up the stem. Eventually the stem will become fat and woody and you won't be able to damage the stem at all, no matter how hard you squeeze. It's definitely more tedious than silicone supplementation or a full-on super-cropping, but I still got some nice fat stems on my relatively short plants. Oh, and only do this during the veg stage. I experimented this stem squeezing on one of my plants after I flipped, and she didn't appreciate it at all. She got kind of runty compared to her sisters, but she's still producing decent buds.

StonerB · May 25, 2012

green punk said:
FWIW
Yellow bottle product line has PGR issues, if i remember correctly. Not completely sure, sales guy at local shop said that.

Only the ooze was recalled. It was found to be spiked with daminozide. I dont trust the line period, if you cheat once you will do it again and the results have always seemed a little "too good" for what was claimed on the bottles.

StonerB · May 25, 2012

Silica works well but if you want to try an oddball stoner idea try using a hypodermic needle and injecting a mild "sugar water" straight into the stalk. Be VERY careful as I have seen most plants can only take about 5-10 cc and even this takes a steady hand and about ten min. to gradually inject it. I have no idea what this does scientifically but in my mind the roots turn most nutes into plant usable "sugars" so I shortcut the process and give them sugar in the form of liquid fructose. It also created what I would call track marks on the veins and some even burst so this is quite possibly why they got so big because stress has been shown to increase vigor ( if they dont hermie) I only stopped this because I finally realized all the fructose is most likely produced from monsantos gmo corn, fuck that going in my plants. Try injecting something else, maybe just RO water or even a dose of bennies. I dont have the space to play right now but im sure the possibility exists to find a way to do this right, maybe an IV with a controlled drip.

manicinmaine · May 28, 2012

dankworth said:
Add a silica product. Many use Pro-tekt @ about 1 ml/gallon. That and supercropping.
Good job noticing the correlation between stalk girth and size of flower sets.
Lots of light from the get-go also promotes thicker stalks. Higher wattage lamps, and reflectors that do not throw hella wide like the raptors, ochos, etc.

icompletely agree with him^^ i also use dyna grow silica solution but what i have noticed is that at higher rates the stems and stalks seem to get almost too rigid, when training before dyna gro i rarely had a break, but now i have to be super gentle cause they break and sometimes cannot be repaired. when i do have a break i wrap the are with medical tape and hope for the best. but at an applicaation rate of 1ml/gal i think u may not see much of a difference. at 2-3.5 ml per gal i have noticed stalks and stems rigidity increase to handle weight from even the heaviest production.....

Afghi420 · May 30, 2012

Fans do wonders for pumping up your stems. I just started a bunch of auto's, germinated them and had them in peet pots for a few days until they got to big, then had them in small plastic cups for awile. Once i put them in the cups i put a fan on them, very lightly at first, but if the plants are moving even just slightly, it will make a big difference on the stems. Ofcourse once they get a little stronger you can move the fan a little bit closer, definitely a must for strengthening up your plants early on though. I should have taken some pictures earlier on, but you should have seen the stock on my plants, even when they were still quite small they had some heavy duty stock happening.

occluded · May 30, 2012

Lots of light from the get go. Stops them from starting out stretched. Silica definitely helps.

mal · May 30, 2012

I use Protect silica, but when they're young say 8-10" I like to foliar feed/spray the entire plant including and especially the stem with Nitrozyme. It is The shit for enlarging your stems, spray once a week and watch your stems fatten up. You can spray them earlier as well but I like to let them go on their own for their 1st month or so. Take care and I hope all is well with you and yours

mal

james palmer · Apr 27, 2016

outwest said:
Could not agree more. Strain matters too. The size of your container matters a lot too. I don't use any of the additives listed above, and the stalks on my plants are not nearly as thick as you see in hydro/soilless, but they are damn hearty. The photo below is a Bubba from a few weeks ago. It's quite a bit thicker now.

outwest

View attachment 218967

james palmer · Apr 27, 2016

james palmer said:
View attachment 594654

somaboy · Sep 3, 2016

Just looking at a pamphlet from med-man I have. He recommends massaging the stalk and stems by gently twisting and bending. "Shock massages: boost immunity, branch and stalk strength for bud support,nutrient uptake and unbreakable cell walls." I have tried this and it does definitely increase branch strength, so if the branches are stronger the stalk must also increase in size.

Funkadelic · Oct 1, 2016

somaboy said:
Just looking at a pamphlet from med-man I have. He recommends massaging the stalk and stems by gently twisting and bending. "Shock massages: boost immunity, branch and stalk strength for bud support,nutrient uptake and unbreakable cell walls." I have tried this and it does definitely increase branch strength, so if the branches are stronger the stalk must also increase in size.

Agreed^^ Giving them mini workouts/massages - just like lifting weights for us. Challenge is to do it without breaks. Gentle at first.

Fans always, always, always. Does some workout for you.

My last round had an Ewok in corner, least light, least fans, but smallest pot (1g cloth, vs 2-3 others had), all were in coco.

By week 5, it was the largest and had the thickest stem. I think small pot coco beats larger pots. Lots of discussion on it, but Im sold.

Worst run I ever had was with few fans, little movement. Plants were thin straws and floppy weiner stems. My 2 cents.

Funkadelic · Oct 1, 2016

Also suggested pinch/bend/fans, then give a day without fans to recover. Helps them repair tissue quicker. Same principle as weight lifting in humans again.

Love to learn more suggestions. I did a round with a great deal of Protekt and I suspect it stunted height. Could be another factor though.

Boydamo21 · Dec 14, 2017

Hi im a new grower...and i dont have any idea in growing..i have a 4-5 weeks plant the problem is its so small and i think its slow growing..i put it out in the morning until the sun down..then i put it in 23watts cfl light until morning. I give it some pellets that my neighbor use in her tomatoes. I give ones a week. It started to get greener because its a little yellow before. Its not legalize here in my country can you tell me a little advice in how to grow...plssss heeeeeelllllpppppp. The leaves at the sides turning yellow.

Ken Forward · Nov 16, 2019

james palmer said:
View attachment 594654

Is there soil in these pots and are you using a drip feed or hydro.. just never seen these pots before.. where I'm from weed is legal to grow upto 4 plants .. and wanna know some more info on ur setup displayed in your pics. Looks like a solid setup I like it.. this is my first plant that I'm actually trying to produce a decent bud... it's a clone

Gingercat · Feb 13, 2021

outwest said:
Could not agree more. Strain matters too. The size of your container matters a lot too. I don't use any of the additives listed above, and the stalks on my plants are not nearly as thick as you see in hydro/soilless, but they are damn hearty. The photo below is a Bubba from a few weeks ago. It's quite a bit thicker now.

outwest

View attachment 218967

Trick to Thicker stems(Help)

Trick to Thicker stems(Help)

Goldenrod

true grit

MrSmilehappy

dankworth

dankworth

Medijuana

StonerB

StonerB

manicinmaine

Afghi420

occluded

mal

Premium Member

james palmer

james palmer

somaboy

Funkadelic

Funkadelic

Boydamo21

Ken Forward

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Gingercat

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Trick to Thicker stems(Help)

Trick to Thicker stems(Help)

Goldenrod

true grit

MrSmilehappy

dankworth

dankworth

Medijuana

StonerB

StonerB

manicinmaine

Afghi420

occluded

mal

Premium Member

james palmer

james palmer

somaboy

Funkadelic

Funkadelic

Boydamo21

Ken Forward

Attachments

Gingercat

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