Today's installment of "hey you are stoopid" (majorly broken stem)

(yes this was stupid)

The following is maybe a 3 month old plant that was wayyy stunted due to major over watering.. finally bounced back once I got the watering and nutes right and it's turned out OK.

I topped it at about 7" tall at the 5th or 6th node I then bent the two new growths basically at a 80 degree angle from the main vertical stem. woo hoo. This is what is pictured.

Was getting over zealous trying to bend/train a stem back down as it was getting a bit too high and *crack*... the Y section where I original topped the plant cracked.. These are maybe 1/2" branches.

Wasn't sure what to do. I tried cutting some thin strips of duct tape and wrapping the branch.. but I just couldn't get the leverage/force needed to close the crack and keep pressure applied. Also attempted some plant training wire slop-fest and couldn't get enough force to keep the gap closed.

I finally ended up with this macGyver BS... Two splints I grabbed from the kindling box and a wire tie. The ratcheting action of the wire tie is the only thing that seemed to be able to hold the crack together.

Was planning on tossing this puppy into flower soon (days). What else can I do but sacrifice something to the gods?

Thoughts?
Prayers?
Incantations?

Duct tape.

mr sunshine said:

Duct tape.

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tried that.. couldnt get the necessary force to pull it together (and keep it together).

Things are complicated by the fact that it's a real tight fit, and tough to get my hands in there

Cut it off and clone it.

Leave it the way you have it for a week or so...monitor the leaves towards the broken stem...you may have to mist the leaves in that direction...the leaves will let you know what will come of your repair...don't mess with it too try and make it better...g/l

A week ago I installed a new carbon filter. During installing I dropped the filter and it severed one of my main colas. I instantly grabbed it forced it together with my hand forcing it to be firmly against it as I wrapped duct tape around multiple times. The cola seems to be just fine miraculously, and growing just fine along with the rest.

encase it first with a plastic straw then if you need it to be more tighter wrap the straw with electrical/duct tape. Its really no big deal, it happens all the time, the plant itself will figure out how to heal itself, as long its just a crack and not a cut.

Mine was completely cut except the skin on one side of the stalk. I can't believe that branch didn't die.....

Xs121 said:

encase it first with a plastic straw then if you need it to be more tighter wrap the straw with electrical/duct tape. Its really no big deal, it happens all the time, the plant itself will figure out how to heal itself, as long its just a crack and not a cut.

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I'd need some mighty fat straws! But I really like the idea!

Thats funny, my man. But youll be okay for sure, just make sure that its bonded back together. But ive had a few split right in half. Ill personally just ziptie them back together

Straight down the middle

I just looked mine has actually split my bandage right apart, it obviously mended itself before it did

Thanks for the info folks. A bit of good news so far... I let this plant really dry out prior to the crack... to the point it really wilting.

Yesterday right before I cracked the stem and repaired it I gave it a good soak. This morning both sides were perked up equally as you expect in a plant with no damage, so at least that proves that water is getting to where it needs to go.

Awesome. Just think in nature no one is there to even close the gap at all when a animal rustles through and snaps a limb.

Yea they can survive and thrive even after major damage...i like electrical tape, ive done spints with it and just as a bandaid too... its kinda crazy how little it can slow em down. But id give her a week to week and a half before the flip...

I've now got two splits in mine. First one was done a while back. Same deal with the one I just did about 15 mins ago. Over did the training trying to get the canopy as wide as possible.you can see the first crack. The new one is hiding in the middle.

Looks like some serious n toxicity orsomething?

Ah yeah. I found out all too late that my supersoil is way too hot still. Had to leach the shit out of it today.

I think we all have cracked our plants in the middle once or twice before. Major freak out moment, especially when you have already invested 1-2 months into the plant haha.
I cracked mine twice as bad as that (one side hung by a thread). Still grew till the end of flowering though it didn't receive as much nutrients as the other one so it was smaller.

Not much you can do about it though it looks perfectly fine to me you should be sweet. Bad part is even if it's worse than it looks you won't find out for ages as they have a tendency to stay green for AGES even if you killed the stem.