Damaged top colas

[robnox]

Hi all. First time poster and first time grower looking for advice.

I have two outdoor plants that are a week or two away from harvest. Forecast called for first frost of the season last night, so I covered the plants with a light tarp. I used some stakes to tent the tarp but when I came out this morning, it was no longer tented. I'm guessing some wind moved it around. Very upset to find the top cola of each plant had been bent over and snapped under the tarp. They are both hanging there, not off, but dangling. Unfortunately had no time to do anything about it right away, had to go out of town for the day. So, tomorrow (after work) it will be more than 24 hrs with the dangling colas.

What can I do? I read some pages on sites that suggested I could possibly fix them by wrapping the damaged part of the stem, but most of those situations were much earlier in plant's lifecycle, not close to harvest. I haven't scoped the trichomes in few days but last time it was all clear trichs with some mushroom heads.

Any and all help is appreciated.

 

[Jimmycricket]

If they are snapped and not really connected then there is nothing you can do now. You would have had to repair it within hours of happening.

Tomorrow when you go look at them if the leaves on the cola are droopy, then its disconnected and you should just cut them off and let the rest of the plant continue to grow normally.

However if the leaves are tracking the light and it looks normal (besides being bent sideways) Then you have two options. The first is to leave it be. The second is to put a stake in the ground then tie up the bud straight again.

I would need pics to advise you which path I would take.

 

[Muttt]

You can use some tape right were it got bent and try to splint it. If there is still tissue connection, it should mend itself.

 

[LittleAbigH]

Its probably gone, like jimmy said it would have been better to try fixing them right away and even then they still may not have made it.

good luck

 

[Aardvark]

I accidentally snap a branch or cola every once & awhile, too and you should not worry too much if the stem is only kinked and not broken off.

How I repair a broken stem is to get a short piece of tubing that is the right inner diameter (I use scrap airline tubing for young plants & 1/2" hydro hose for mature trunks), slice it lengthwise and wrap it around the broken stem. It is OK if it doesn't go all the way around, but me sure the wound is closed 100%.

In most cases, the tubing does not need anything else besides the "splint" and within two weeks it will have healed with a "knuckle". If the break is too big for the tubing to hold it up, then reinforce it by wrapping it with a little bit of duct tape, but do not fasten it so it smothers the joint and also, leave a folded-over "tab" of the tape that will allow you to peel it off to adjust or remove it without causing further damage. The following picture is of a healed break from 3 weeks ago; it was broken about 80% through the stem, so I used duct tape, too. I didn't do anything besides the splint.

The most important aspects of this are:

1. Do not wet the joint or let it get contaminated

2. Make sure t close the break completely because air inside the bark will quickly cause death.

3. Do not "seal" the break with glues, etc. because it will interfere with the bark rejoining at the break.

Here is one I made yesterday after snapping the cola (looking for caterpillars); it is essentially the same thing as setting a broken bone with a splint:

Good luck!