plant bent over question?

[mokepot]

ok i had a few plants that were inside vegged for about a month then have been outside ever since then. its been getting cold outside freezing for a few days at a time but they have been outside in this for over a month have been fine up until now. one of the plants is about 2 feet tall and i checked it the other day and about half way up the stem it had completely bent over, and was like extremely soft at the bend, and some of the leaves are curling but not all of them the internode growth is still ok, so my question is this plant dead and will no longer grow? or can i bring it in and put it under a hps light and atleast salvage something out of it? like maybe i could tie it standing upward and put some good light on it and maybe get a little something off of it, does anyone think this will work or not? thanks for any help...

[chimera]

I'd try it, just don't know why you waited so long.

[mokepot]

i know putting them outside was bad and i never planned to, but bad things come up. so i wonder though since the stem is fucked up like that will it even be able to grow anymore, like will it be able to take up nutrients through the stem? and if it doesn't continue to grow upward anymore will the internode growths still be able to grow? thanks for the reply and anymore help...

[-mu]

If you don't go messing around with the bend, it will heal, no problem.

If you act straight away, you can splint it into whatever position you want it to heal, and leave it. But it's probably too late now, just leave it.

-mu

[mokepot]

ok thanks for the replys...so should i just leave it outside and see if it does anything or will it surely die? or should i bring it in and leave it alone or should i bring it in and put it under the light and splint it back upward? thanks for any help...

[-mu]

It's been a day, I'd leave it.

They heal fine if you splint them into position, but I've not tried doing it a day later; might be risky. I often snap stems (taming the sativas around my ScroG) and bend them through trellises and all sorts, they heal fine, but you've gotta leave them to it. Nature.

If you start messing around with the bend after it's started healing, I dunno what would happen. You could try it, and tell us how it goes, if you feel really brave.

If you leave it alone, so long as it's not snapped off completely, and it's supported in its current position, it will heal, and the growth above the snap will be as vigorous as ever, maybe more so.

Unless there's a chace of frost outside, or something like that, I wouldn't move it right now; that's just more stress for the plant. It's best to wait a few days for it to finish healing.

-mu

ps. if you later bring it inside, and want a straight plant, you could make a second bend.

[mokepot]

hey thanks for the replys...well i know it is going to start freezing every night very soon so i should definately bring it in before that right? and the plant has been outside for a month and a week or 2 and there is still no sign of buds or even hairs for that matter except for a few showing sex at the internodes. there didn't even seem to be very much internode growth until i switched the light cycle to flowering, but now its growing alot of new leaves from the internodes. so is this normal to not see buds yet and for the internode growth to just now be growing alot? since they have been outside they haven't had that good of light either. so your saying i should bring it back in in a few days and if i want a straight plant then to make another bend above the one thats already there, and it will grow back up? also how long do you think it will take to actually start budding, since it has taken this long to start growing leaves from the internodes? thanks for any help...

[-mu]

If there's a chance of frost, YES, bring her in. And keep her in.

It sounds to me like your light schedule is the problem. Perhaps there's a brightish light outdoors hitting the plants at night, a street-light perhaps. If you want flowering to progress, you need to get that 12 hours of solid darkness.

At the start of the 12/12 period, it is normal to see lots of leafy growth, it's called "the stretch". And sometimes you won't see definite sex until maybe 14 or more days into flowering, depending on the plant. I wouldn't worry too much, just get them into 12/12, and keep them there.

The second bend: First wait for the first bend to heal. As you're not really deeply into flowering, you might just want to leave it bent over. New growth will be vertical from the stem, and instead of one main cola, you'll get lots of colas. A bit like heavy-duty LST.

I chucked a couple of sativas into the side of my flowering chamber a few weeks back, and a week later, had to bend all the stems over to get them under the light. I snapped a couple in the process, and just left them to it. They're doing fine.

So long as the stems aren't woody, you can put them through torture and they will repair themselves. Crushing stems is a popular supercropping technique, for instance.

So when your plant is healed, and growth above the snap has started, you can snap it again - if you really must - and get a "Z" shape (on it's side) with your main cola again pointing straight up.

But as you have more than one plant, it might be interesting to just leave it, let it do its thing, and see how the yield compares to the other plants (which I'm presuming have had similar treatment, apart from the snap).

With cannabis growing, there's always a hundred different ways to do anything.

-mu

[mokepot]

hey thanks for the reply...also i was wondering since they have been outside here lately i think they have only been getting about 10 hours of light, so if i bring them in and put them under a hps light should i just go ahead and still put them on 12/12 or should i start out with less light and work my way up? i don't know if this will cause shock or stress since they have been in a cooler tempature outside and only getting 10 hours of light, will it? also on the plant that is bent almost all the fan leaves have curled up and turned crispy so should i cut these off or just leave them? and it really doesn't matter about the fan leaves, because it only buds from the internode growths right? thanks for any help...

[mokepot]

does anyone know what i should do given my circumstances i mean they have been outside in cold tempatures for over a month, so should i go ahead and just put them on 12/12 or should i start out with fewer hours of light then work my way up? and like i said before i think they have only been getting about 10 hours of light outside. and should i cut these curled up fan leaves off most of all the fan leaves are curled? since it is flowering i didn't know if i should or not? thanks for any help...

[mokepot]

also i was wondering when they were outside they wasn't getting very good light, so does that mean that i should start the light out pretty high above the plants then gradually work the light closer? or does it matter? also what is a good height for a 250hps i have heard that you can get them as close as half a foot from the plant, is that true? or would i be better off with a foot away? thanks for any help...

[-mu]

I would put them straight into 12/12 with the light a couple of feet away, and move it closer over the course of a week or so. If the margins start to curl up, it's suffering heat stress.

Keep the ventilation strong.

-mu

[mokepot]

thanks for the help...and does anyone know if i should cut these curled fan leaves off or not? thanks for any help...

[-mu]

Only green leaves are useful to the plant. If there's a chance of getting them back to their green state, do that instead.

If not.... To cut or not to cut? it's a thorny one! If they are brown, and looking at them makes you uncomfortable, I'd chop them. Being uncomfortable around your plants is bad news.

Personally, I'd let the plant's own wisdom take care of it. If she's done with them, she will cast them off quickly enough.

-mu