Hey everyone. I’ve been growing for a few years now and I’m noticing compared to my buddy’s grow my stems are much thinner and I struggle more with the flowers getting to heavy and having to prop them up. What can I do to fatten and strengthen my stems? I grow in soil, I’ve been using General Hydroponics nutes and recently got recharge to help. I usually use 3-5 gallon fabric pots and am using a Mars hydro TSL2000 light. Any hep would be much appreciated!
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On the nutrient side, you can use a product like silica, that will help. Be sure that it is getting enough base nutrients like Nitrogen.
More light intensity or less distance from the canopy to the light can help reduce stretch, this is best with a light that favors the blue spectrum over the red.
You can also increase airflow in your grow to provide a little more wind over the branches.
There are also training techniques like Kushmans Chiropractics to build stronger stems through callousing.
But your best friend will be a scrog net if you have weak branches and heavy buds.
All bases covered
oh, and veg longer 🙂
Enjoy the journey!
Thanks chad! I’ll certainly look into silica and that training method. This new light is much stronger than my older ones so I’ve been worried about burning the plants and am perhaps keeping it too high. I’ll look again at the manufacturers recommendations.
Can you recommend a silica product?
I use a product called Silica Blast from Botanicare. There are many choices, but this works for me.
I’ll definitely take a look!
botanicare’s silica blast is what i use as well. I love it and have no complaints. Thich branching on all my plants.
i use armor si with GH and my stems held great.
another thing you could try is just tying the plants down when theyre tall enough to lean over the pot. every time i low stress train around week 3 or 4 of veg the stems thicken up nice. i think all the side branching kinda makes the plant off balance with the air hitting the branches like a big sail.
Stout MSA silica is cheaper than most and the “right kind”, in that its instantly available and wont create huge high ph problems. BUT, if these are from like 4th or 5th gen clones from a mother plant, silica wont help anything. If from seed, veg longer. But I run into the exact same problem when I keep using clones, even clones of clones.
This go around I’ve just started is my first from clones then I plan to go back to seeds. Hoping I can fatten these ladies up!
Bigger pots, turgor pressure, balanced nutrition, a fan, and strain dependant.
Try some low stress training. Kyle Kushman has some great techniques, but there is a lot of good content on youtube about low stress training of cannabis.
The old twist and crack…works great….
Right?
Chad covered it all. Start silica 3-4th of veg until week 6-7 of flower. Start topping, chiropractic twisting and LST after 3-4th node and continue into week 4 of flower.
*Note always as liquid silica into a small amount of water then add the silica/water into your mix water FIRST before adding anything else. If not and you see a foggy layer in the water that’s the silica petering out of solution. Happy Growing 🙂
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Air movement is huge. Use fans to put a little wind on your plants so they are always slightly swaying in the breeze. The movement will significantly help strengthen stems, kinda like giving your plants a work out to help them build muscle. (This alone could explain the difference between your grow and your friend’s if his air movement is better.)
Another thing that can help is applying some cytokinins and enzymes via sprouted seed teas or coconut water. Teas made with sprouted corn or coconut water contain plant growth hormones that encourage thick beefy stems and lateral growth. Busting out the seed teas in early flower is a good way to bulk up stems before they start stacking flower weight.
The best way I’ve found to get fat stems is not to scrog them until they have built up some mass. I seem to get better results by letting the stems bulk up a bit before I trellis or support them. That way there more opportunity for water and nutrients to make it to the top. Silica will help ya but its mostly due to proper nutrition and air movement. I had fat stems way back before Silica was a thing and thats what we did. Every grow is different.
Did we all leave out a healthy aerated rhizosphere and root zone or do we just take Recharge as a given in proper nutrients.