Stem strengthening?

hydroman

New Member
Ok, so this spring i have decided to attempt my first outdoor grow. I've run into a bit of a problem. My babies are in a decently windy enviornment and are reaching about 5 inches now(these plnats were grown completly outside, they were not started off inside except for germination of the seeds) and my stems are still a little too skrawny for the heighth of the plant and som e are starting to become a bit top heavy, now obviously because its outdoors i can't really induce any kind of wind other than what mother nature'll give to me, so is their any chemical way i can alter the strength of these stems? I just don't believe they have a chance of supporting the weight of buds at this rate, atleast not without some like wood-stake supporters or somethin.
Thanks
 
im not sure about chemicles to strengthen but you could use sticks or somthing to hold the buds up when they get heavy due to weak stems

im pretty sure when your plant is in veg. the more food and water it gets the bigger and stronger your stem will grow so maybe you should water them with some food.

^ yes get somthing high in nitrogen. nitrogen helps with the growth of leaves and stems and how well the vigour of your plant is
 
also if you gently take the stem in your fingers and very very gently bend in different directions..not to the point of breaking the stem, but just bending it over...repeat that every few days...or you can use sticks to train them...bend a plant over slightly using a stick and the plant will learn to bend around the stick to reach the light and with that it gets a stronger stem...
 
The seedlings are not getting enough light. They a stretching too much to reach the sun-light and this is making the stems very thin and weak.

Besides moving them, use something to support the stems. The wind should eventually make the stems hardy enough so the plants can stand on their own. However, a change of location to a better lit area would do wonders for the problem as well as for final yeilds. :peace:

Also get a fan blowing on them

That would be an excellent solution for indoors. But he states he is growing outside. :cheesygrinsmiley:
 
na....they are getting plenty enough light, they just don't have enoguh force(stress) acting upon them to really get a good stem going, its not that these plants are lankys just not real bottom-stem strong kinda thin, and these ae planted IN the ground so it would be a pain to dig them out. Jakc flash thakns for the ides, i think i'll have to bend my plants around some sticks! This is off topic but has any one noticed if you turn a plants sideways it grows a whole shitload like now in my hydro set ups i always flip the cups horizontal after a few weeks and the plants grows a new direction and seems to really strengthen up, maybe i could just excavate the plants pot them and turn em sideways.
 
im with letting nature take its course, dont worry bout your plants till they are actually too top heavy that they are falling over till then just hope for a couple good windy days and itll strengthen them up quick
 
I try to let nature do what nature does best, but I have used small bamboo poles a few times. Plenty of it around here.
 
Silica can help strengthen stems, but I can't recommend it in this instance.

When my seedlings get top heavy I pile up enough soil around the stem to support the plant. This is fine because more roots will shoot into this soil. Just make sure it is well drained so the stem doesn't rot.
Your bamboo sticks sound good too.
 
Going through it again here... have some really small thin cane poles by each one and each has a small cylinder of screen wire attached to it so that each is in its own little cage so to speak... not touching the plant but close enough that when they lean over they're supported a little. (We have a lot of cane here in the creek bottoms and such, but these came from wallyworld, about three bucks or so for a fistful of them.)
 
when seedlings start to stretch beyond thier capacity i do what grandma said to do and i find a very fine stick, like toothpicks but a little longer, and gently pierce them into the soil around the plant, usually 3 does it and its supported from its own weight and can resist any wind damage.
i started doing this after i lost a few of my seedlings from the wind actually breaking them in half.
shit, its trail and error that does it.
 
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