Easy way to fix your broken stem

Kratose

Well-Known Member
I decided to make a thread of this. In my grow journal I did a post about this. Because it just happened to me, as you will see from reading the post. Now, before I get to this, I want to let you all know, there are many other ways to fix a broken stem, but I went with what I had to use in my house. The safest, easiest way for the plant. And also very easy for a new grower who has a accident in his grow room.

I am just going to copy everything from my post in my journal. I hope it helps some of you 1st time growers with common problems.

Ok, so your working in your grow room, and as your doing your daily maintenance, For instance, moving the lights up, and during that process, the light falls and breaks your flowering plants stem, Or vegging plant. Or, you bump into a fan it falls and boom, a stem breaks.

Since this just happened to me again, I will post what I did for a good quick fix. My situation was a fan. I was doing my daily maintenance when I bumped into what the fan was on, and it fell off injuring my afgani plant. That plant is unlucky. 3nd time something happened to it, but it still budded, and still kept going strong. The first was the transplantation, didn't go as smooth as I would like. 2nd was a light gave away and chopped it in half, that was the worse. Now a fan split on of the tops. Since this top has nice white hairs everywhere, I dont want to Top it. I am going to save it, let it heal.

So, say this just happened to you. What do I do? Dont panic, keep your head cool. Check out the situation, Inspect the plants injuries. How bad is it? Was it just bent? Was cracked? Was it bent cracked and torn? Mine was Bent, Cracked, and torn. So I will go with that. After you inspected the plant, I determined I wanted to save it and not top it. So my next step is. How can I save it? What household supplies do I have that I can use. Everything I used to save mine, Just about everyone has in there house. I can provide alternative things you could use.

So, I figured I would need, A tooth pic as a splint, Some long trash ties to twist together (this will be explained later). A straw, And some Scissors.

Now to the fix. Pull your plant out of the grow room to make sure no more accidents happen. Do it carefully. Take your plant to a well light area with good space.


This is what I did, Pictures provided.


Picture 1-3 The supplies. Those trash ties I mentioned, I took 4 of the long trash ties. I twistes 2 together of each, then I connected to two to make one long one. This will be used to support the stem bye twisting it around the plant. You can also used insulated copperwire if you had any. That would work better.

Picture 5-6, The damaged stem

Picture 7, The first step of the fix. I take the trash ties I twisted together and wrap them around the stem. Not too tightly. At the break, I use the tooth pic as a brace, the twist tie will wrap around that so its held in place. The picture shows how its twisted around the plant, but the tooth pic brace is on the other side.

Picture 8. The straw. I took the straw and cut it down the middle with the scissors. I cut one piece to go over the inter node where the break in the stem is. I cut another piece to go on the inter node above the break, for extra support. Now that you have done this, Let the plant do its job and heal itself. You will be surprised how bad of a break can heal. I am not sure if this one will, but if it does not, I will top it.

Picture 9 This shows how it looks after the fix. Not too bad huh? Has some support, and should be able to heal itself. Also the buds are getting the light instead of hanging over all broken, or loosing the top completely.

Picture 10. Picture ten is a group shot of some of my plants. Can barely tell what plant is injured. Not to shabby Sadly though, the Afgan use to be a good looking plant. Sorry somebeech, I know you liked this one! The others are still going strong tough!

This was actually done yesterday, and the last pic was today. Still looks good. Nothing dieing, or turning yellow. I am sure there will be some delays or problems on that top because of this, but I hope it can overcome this break. I figure I would post this, I am sure it will be helpful to many people in the future. It happens to everyone!

You can also use Duct Tape, and Electric tape as a fix. You can use a ziptie and a steak to create a cast too, this is easy, but most new growers do not have this available. I rather not use anything that is going to stick to my plant, thats why I did not use duct tape. But it works well. My friend Somebeech Informed me metal tape is also great to use. I was told it does not stick to the plant as bad like the duct tape would, therefor minimal damage. So I would check that out for future problems, and better fixes.


If the plant does not happen to heal itself, and you do loose the top. simply cut it just about the node under the damaged area. This will be your new top. But hopefully it will make it!

Thanks for any rep anyone gives me for this in advance. I don't do it for the rep, I do it to help you, but thanks for takin the time to show you appreciate the posting of my fix.

Thanks for following my grow, and I hope while watching my grow you learn something new.

Remember, if this happens to you, keep your cool and your might be able to save your plant!
You can check out my grow for more pictures of my grow. Link is in sig.

Happy Growing!





__________________
 

OregonMeds

Well-Known Member
That's cool that you figured all that out on your own but there's nothing wrong with tape sticking to it, don't avoid tape because of that it just works best and is so much easier.
 

DoneW.Dirt

Active Member
I just broke a stem on a fan leaf fifth node up. I dont thinkits he end of the world, but will this effect the final outcome?

I was tucking fan leafs behind bud future bud sites when I did this. Is it good to tuck fan leaves? It just seems like good thing to do.

I'm 24 days along woking on my seventh nodes.
 

weedyoo

Well-Known Member
hahah why is that plant so tall any way and at that stage i would have toped it
but i break the main stem its called super cropping
 

Kratose

Well-Known Member
hahah why is that plant so tall any way and at that stage i would have toped it
but i break the main stem its called super cropping
Yeah, I know what supercropping is, Lol, I do it too. This is much worse, was very ripped up,

That plant is so tall because i just got back into growing, and 2 of my plants were not started with HID lighting. Then I got the HID lighting and I vegged em for a total of 6 weeks.

The rest of my plants are the right size for there age, they were given HID lighting from the start.

But this plant was starting to flower, and I decided to fix it.
 

Kratose

Well-Known Member
I just broke a stem on a fan leaf fifth node up. I dont thinkits he end of the world, but will this effect the final outcome?

I was tucking fan leafs behind bud future bud sites when I did this. Is it good to tuck fan leaves? It just seems like good thing to do.

I'm 24 days along woking on my seventh nodes.
Nah, breaking a fan leaf is not bad. If its the main stem, then thats when you need to make decisions.
 

Kratose

Well-Known Member
That's cool that you figured all that out on your own but there's nothing wrong with tape sticking to it, don't avoid tape because of that it just works best and is so much easier.
No, there is nothing wrong with it, I just didnt have duct tape, believe it or not, so I used what I had, I did mention duct tape, but I would rather use a steak as a splint, and a few zip ties. So I was only doing something to help new growers who might have this problem.

If you have duct tape, and want to use it, go for it. If you don't, get creative like I did.
 

Kratose

Well-Known Member
Here are some pics of my other plants.

They are not from today, should show the date on the pics.

All of my pics can be found in my grow journal.
Sig is in my link!
 

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Kratose

Well-Known Member
hahah why is that plant so tall any way and at that stage i would have toped it
but i break the main stem its called super cropping
Even though at first it didn't have adaquite lighting and cuased it to stretch, its filling in nicely. So I am happy!

I have a few bud shots up in my last pic update in my journal. Was taken like 3 days ago or so. Gonna take new ones in a few days. There is lots of growth going on
 

Silentbobs son

Well-Known Member
Great post, I just had a stem break on one of my girls. It happened below the soilline so I dug her out and put small rocks around her till the stem gets strong again.
 

Fiaman

Member
Great post, I just had a stem break on one of my girls. It happened below the soilline so I dug her out and put small rocks around her till the stem gets strong again.
Well i Had a limb break due to a storm and was only hanging on by its skin nothing else so it kinda came off when i grabbed it. So its in good condition but it litterally was dismembered amputated as u say not the main but a secondary limb. Its in a cup of water suggestions
 

Fiaman

Member
Great post, I just had a stem break on one of my girls. It happened below the soilline so I dug her out and put small rocks around her till the stem gets strong again.
Well i Had a limb break due to a storm and was only hanging on by its skin nothing else so it kinda came off when i grabbed it. So its in good condition but it litterally was dismembered amputated as u say not the main but a secondary limb. Its in a cup of water suggestions?
 

uwantsumdis

Member
ok well ima bring this threead back. i do lst on all of my plants so this is a jack herer and i found out it was a girl about a week ago. so even before i took it from the flowering spot i have been doing lst . from the first Y where it topped it from the first time i tied them down a long time ago. so since ive had this plant that is/was going to be a mother re-vegging she has grown alot and plus i top alot in veg state.but she was going back up toward the light a bit so i figured i could get a, little more on her so i pulled down and she snapped right down the middle of the main stem about 3/4 of an inch.the main stem is almost as big as one of those kindergarden pencils.my zip ties are in my truck and the ol lady is gone in it so im gonna take a bread tie and pull the two together. i wonder if i can tie it too tight? will it restrict the flow of juices? or should i just take her and get what good clones i can before everything dies? heres what ill do, ima let her go for about a week, no food(im all organic ),just plain store bought water. would take pics but the transfer cord for the camera is in the couch or something, my son had it last. but i will report my findings back. with pics if i find the cord.
 

dude120193

New Member
i started to flower yesterday and today i was moving stuff around and the light fell and broke my stem, but it was still connected so i put medical tape and two hard plasic peices for a splent on the sides two hold it up, than i got a stick and put it in the pot and tied a string loosley around the stem to the stck to hold it up. so do you my plant will heal its self. i hope it does because i looked at her before she broke and she has white hairs. shes a lady!!!
 

Nicktalife

New Member
I decided to make a thread of this. In my grow journal I did a post about this. Because it just happened to me, as you will see from reading the post. Now, before I get to this, I want to let you all know, there are many other ways to fix a broken stem, but I went with what I had to use in my house. The safest, easiest way for the plant. And also very easy for a new grower who has a accident in his grow room.

I am just going to copy everything from my post in my journal. I hope it helps some of you 1st time growers with common problems.

Ok, so your working in your grow room, and as your doing your daily maintenance, For instance, moving the lights up, and during that process, the light falls and breaks your flowering plants stem, Or vegging plant. Or, you bump into a fan it falls and boom, a stem breaks.

Since this just happened to me again, I will post what I did for a good quick fix. My situation was a fan. I was doing my daily maintenance when I bumped into what the fan was on, and it fell off injuring my afgani plant. That plant is unlucky. 3nd time something happened to it, but it still budded, and still kept going strong. The first was the transplantation, didn't go as smooth as I would like. 2nd was a light gave away and chopped it in half, that was the worse. Now a fan split on of the tops. Since this top has nice white hairs everywhere, I dont want to Top it. I am going to save it, let it heal.

So, say this just happened to you. What do I do? Dont panic, keep your head cool. Check out the situation, Inspect the plants injuries. How bad is it? Was it just bent? Was cracked? Was it bent cracked and torn? Mine was Bent, Cracked, and torn. So I will go with that. After you inspected the plant, I determined I wanted to save it and not top it. So my next step is. How can I save it? What household supplies do I have that I can use. Everything I used to save mine, Just about everyone has in there house. I can provide alternative things you could use.

So, I figured I would need, A tooth pic as a splint, Some long trash ties to twist together (this will be explained later). A straw, And some Scissors.

Now to the fix. Pull your plant out of the grow room to make sure no more accidents happen. Do it carefully. Take your plant to a well light area with good space.


This is what I did, Pictures provided.


Picture 1-3 The supplies. Those trash ties I mentioned, I took 4 of the long trash ties. I twistes 2 together of each, then I connected to two to make one long one. This will be used to support the stem bye twisting it around the plant. You can also used insulated copperwire if you had any. That would work better.

Picture 5-6, The damaged stem

Picture 7, The first step of the fix. I take the trash ties I twisted together and wrap them around the stem. Not too tightly. At the break, I use the tooth pic as a brace, the twist tie will wrap around that so its held in place. The picture shows how its twisted around the plant, but the tooth pic brace is on the other side.

Picture 8. The straw. I took the straw and cut it down the middle with the scissors. I cut one piece to go over the inter node where the break in the stem is. I cut another piece to go on the inter node above the break, for extra support. Now that you have done this, Let the plant do its job and heal itself. You will be surprised how bad of a break can heal. I am not sure if this one will, but if it does not, I will top it.

Picture 9 This shows how it looks after the fix. Not too bad huh? Has some support, and should be able to heal itself. Also the buds are getting the light instead of hanging over all broken, or loosing the top completely.

Picture 10. Picture ten is a group shot of some of my plants. Can barely tell what plant is injured. Not to shabby Sadly though, the Afgan use to be a good looking plant. Sorry somebeech, I know you liked this one! The others are still going strong tough!

This was actually done yesterday, and the last pic was today. Still looks good. Nothing dieing, or turning yellow. I am sure there will be some delays or problems on that top because of this, but I hope it can overcome this break. I figure I would post this, I am sure it will be helpful to many people in the future. It happens to everyone!

You can also use Duct Tape, and Electric tape as a fix. You can use a ziptie and a steak to create a cast too, this is easy, but most new growers do not have this available. I rather not use anything that is going to stick to my plant, thats why I did not use duct tape. But it works well. My friend Somebeech Informed me metal tape is also great to use. I was told it does not stick to the plant as bad like the duct tape would, therefor minimal damage. So I would check that out for future problems, and better fixes.


If the plant does not happen to heal itself, and you do loose the top. simply cut it just about the node under the damaged area. This will be your new top. But hopefully it will make it!

Thanks for any rep anyone gives me for this in advance. I don't do it for the rep, I do it to help you, but thanks for takin the time to show you appreciate the posting of my fix.

Thanks for following my grow, and I hope while watching my grow you learn something new.

Remember, if this happens to you, keep your cool and your might be able to save your plant!
You can check out my grow for more pictures of my grow. Link is in sig.

Happy Growing!





__________________
I actually jus made a tiny splint off a broken branch I jus found today..it’s my Bruce Banner and want all the yield..although it was a tiny branch I couldn’t bare to clip it
 

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Star Dog

Well-Known Member
I've bent and cracked stems on a regular basis, i used to twist the stem back and fourth between my fingers to soft it (break the hurd) for bending it over, if it's done correctly it bends over and stays round, if it's not done correctly it will crease/fold the stem and can/does split the stem, ime the plants keep going and create a knuckle where the crack was if left alone.
 

Nicktalife

New Member
I've bent and cracked stems on a regular basis, i used to twist the stem back and fourth between my fingers to soft it (break the hurd) for bending it over, if it's done correctly it bends over and stays round, if it's not done correctly it will crease/fold the stem and can/does split the stem, ime the plants keep going and create a knuckle where the crack was if left alone.
Good to know..figure I’ll keep an eye on her for a week and go from there
 

Rum Nugginz

Active Member
I actually jus made a tiny splint off a broken branch I jus found today..it’s my Bruce Banner and want all the yield..although it was a tiny branch I couldn’t bare to clip it
Personally, I would have covered the wound with aloe and wrapped the broken area with some gauze tape before splinting. Aloe vera gel helps to heal stem cracks etc. it has regenerative properties. Nice work on the splint. :leaf:
 
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