As I prepared to move a plant I'd been growing into it's own DWC bucket from a bucket with 3 other plants, the stem snapped in two down the middle. Oh No! That was the biggest and healthiest plant in the veg room! It was in perfect health, and as soon as I changed the angle of the plant, the stem snapped in two where it had rotted. It was one of two seeds of unknown but supposedly impressive genetics given as a gift and I don't want to lose it if it can be saved. There were no symptoms until it broke and I didn't see the rotten part as it was just slightly above the level of the hydroton rocks. It's branches might be just a little too young to clone. It's about a foot tall. I think it's been severed from it's entire root system, it's started to wilt severely and I think that I should make a clean cut and try to grow back the roots in pure water, maybe with some of this hydroguard I have here or some cloning gel. The stem is maybe 3/5" thick. I've only successfully cloned a plant once. What should I do? I have other plants but if this one can be saved, I'd like to do so. Thanks in advance for your prompt response. -ZB-
Yeah, you've got to root it. I don't see how you have any other choice if you want to save it. If the other half of the plant is fine, then you could always clone off of that before you flower it. I can't wait to get to the point where the plant is so big it could snap under its own weight.
Well I sliced up the plant today after trying to splint it unsuccessfully. I chopped off all the big leaves and made 3 clones and they're sitting in my closet right now (I've had really bad success cloning except for one that grew vigorously in a rockwool cube only after it's stem had been soaking in a bottle of water for a week or two), hopefully it'll make it. If not, well, only the strongest survive. It's just nature's way. Question: is it possible to take a, say, 60 degree cut on the upper and lower parts of a stem and hold them together until they heal? Can a plant graft onto itself like that? Seems odd but maybe it's possible, these things can do most anything it seems.
Interesting. I don't know if the grafting works on these little fellers. It makes me want to try something similar. I'm now thinking about grafting onto a current stem after I finish my current grow. I'm curious about what it would gain. Maybe it will grow faster because it's already got this huge root infrastructure in place. Maybe it will do worse becuase the roots are "flowered" already and the cutting is from a vegging mom. I hope I can remember to do it around mid-Feb when I harvest. The grafting stuff I've come accross in my life indicates that you should cut a V into the top of the trunk and cut the same shape at the bottom of the cutting, then wrap thtem up in something wet until it takes....man, I'm really curious...but i gotta go watch bush now and see if he can sell me.