Replant Those Long Stretchy Stems ( Its Easy )

blue bunny 420

New Member
Nope they won't dampen off unless your medium is totally soaked all the time. Plant them deep. Seriously. Chop off the bottom half of the plant and bury it up to the first node you left halfway up the plant. And then give them a good watering or feeding whatever your on. Then leave it for a few days before watering again.... Seriously i almost guarantee it won't even feel it. It's getting a hair cut pal, they love it

View attachment 4082423
Thanks, will give it a shot
 

Gagetowndog

Member
This is just to show you how easy it is to bury those long stretchy stems ,

After you replant them make sure you lower your lights so they wont continue to stretch

I do not have a pic of one of those seedlings with the long ass stem reaching for a light that's 2ft high

But i got this one that i internally let slightly stretch a little , you can see the slight stretch at the bottom of the stem

You do not want your soil wet when you do this

its best for the soil to be dry so the extra soil will come off the roots easier

After you take your plant out , GENTLY break lose the soil from around the roots

After you got the excess soil off the roots , put some soil back in the bottom of your cup or pot

you dont want to put your plant right in with the roots hitting the bottom of your cup because you dont want the chance for the roots to grow out the drain holes

so put some soil in the bottom first then put your seedling back in

position your seedling at desired height for your stem to be buried at

i would bury all the way up to the Cotyledon leaves ,

after your have replanted and buried your stem you can then give it just A LITTLE bit of water

the part of the stem that you buried will eventually start to grow roots

your plant will pretty much not go into shock at all from this

just make sure your gentle when your braking the lose soil off the roots

Like i said this is not a bad stretchy plant but the same principle applies with those long ass stretchy stems

hope this helps you all that has the long stretchy seedling stem problem

remember to lower your lights so they wont continue to stretch
 

Gagetowndog

Member
I have cups about half full. If they stretch I put them closer to the light. Also I can just add more soil. I have the cups ( about 40 ) hanging from my clone closet wall. If the sprouts start leaning sideways, I just give the cups a small turn..as they are on an angle and the weight of the sprout will bring them back to center. The cups with a coke bottle work as a humidity chamber and will steam up by themselves.
I rewash the cups and bottles and reuse them.
I have a humidity dome and heating pad with thermostat and I have found the cup method to work better for me. All clones and seedlings don't have the same needs, this "cup way" I can give them more or less light, nutes, heat, soil to one plant at a time as needed.
After about five days I take the cap off the bottles so they can harden up slowly.
When the plants look like they are ready , I take the bottle off.
This is a cheap way of doing it, no plugs to buy. And it's a great space saver.
 

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Gagetowndog

Member
What works good is a half oz of water (1/4 nutes) for the seeds and 1oz (full nutes) for the clippings/clones per cup, then stir up the soil so there is no soaking wet spots, I just use a spoon handle.
Extra coke bottles can be stacked on if the plants doesn't like the light.
Seed cups go directly under the light, clones get 3 days of almost all dark.
 
This is just to show you how easy it is to bury those long stretchy stems ,

After you replant them make sure you lower your lights so they wont continue to stretch

I do not have a pic of one of those seedlings with the long ass stem reaching for a light that's 2ft high

But i got this one that i internally let slightly stretch a little , you can see the slight stretch at the bottom of the stem

You do not want your soil wet when you do this

its best for the soil to be dry so the extra soil will come off the roots easier

After you take your plant out , GENTLY break lose the soil from around the roots

After you got the excess soil off the roots , put some soil back in the bottom of your cup or pot

you dont want to put your plant right in with the roots hitting the bottom of your cup because you dont want the chance for the roots to grow out the drain holes

so put some soil in the bottom first then put your seedling back in

position your seedling at desired height for your stem to be buried at

i would bury all the way up to the Cotyledon leaves ,

after your have replanted and buried your stem you can then give it just A LITTLE bit of water

the part of the stem that you buried will eventually start to grow roots

your plant will pretty much not go into shock at all from this

just make sure your gentle when your braking the lose soil off the roots

Like i said this is not a bad stretchy plant but the same principle applies with those long ass stretchy stems

hope this helps you all that has the long stretchy seedling stem problem

remember to lower your lights so they wont continue to stretch
Couldnt u
 

BarryBwana

Well-Known Member
So I put my germinated seeds into rockwool thinking I'd be using coco (first time) but based on good advice will be using soil instead to get my feet wet.

Anyways, both seeds germinated beautifully in paper towel before transplanting into the soaked and pH'ed water. However, the early popping one is stretching a LOT (even after I moved closer to the T5) and the other one popped with no cotyledon.....

I got the most nurturant soul I could and perilite, will it work to plant the rockwool stretcher in the soil/perilite mixture and bury the stem? If so, do I want to keep the soil around the buried stem dry and just water the edges to try and force that root development and protect from rot?

Thanks guys!!
 

MrsGreenThumb79

Well-Known Member
Ok I have a somewhat dumb question I'm new in the Autoflower type. What the question is is can I fill the dirt up to the cotyledon on an Autoflower like you can with photoperiod.
 

TheBeardedBudzman

Well-Known Member
I have cups about half full. If they stretch I put them closer to the light. Also I can just add more soil. I have the cups ( about 40 ) hanging from my clone closet wall. If the sprouts start leaning sideways, I just give the cups a small turn..as they are on an angle and the weight of the sprout will bring them back to center. The cups with a coke bottle work as a humidity chamber and will steam up by themselves.
I rewash the cups and bottles and reuse them.
I have a humidity dome and heating pad with thermostat and I have found the cup method to work better for me. All clones and seedlings don't have the same needs, this "cup way" I can give them more or less light, nutes, heat, soil to one plant at a time as needed.
After about five days I take the cap off the bottles so they can harden up slowly.
When the plants look like they are ready , I take the bottle off.
This is a cheap way of doing it, no plugs to buy. And it's a great space saver.
Love it. Excellent use of space.
 

Mullumbimby

Well-Known Member
nice, i actually plant my clones / seeds with 1/2 the pot empty in case i have to add soil. Same thing as your doing but not transplanting.
I do this now as a matter of course. Start off with only half a cup and top-up if she stretches. Works every time. It achieves the OP's objective and satisfies all those who think they are likely to damage those tiny roots by lifting them out and replacing them.
Another thing I've found is that it's not necessary to water the 'extra' soil that's supporting the stretchy stem for the first couple of days. I have lost a couple of seedlings that way.
I water from underneath and allow the newly buried stem to gradually get used to its new status of 'below ground' plant, then carry on as usual after 3 or 4 days.
Big thanks to @goten, who put me onto the whole idea ages ago (this is an old thread now) these are just a couple of refinements I've developed, which may be helpful to some.
 

Fubard

Well-Known Member
Re: Adding medium instead of digging up and reburying.

It's something I figured out myself as an experiment as my theory was that you cannot disturb or damage fragile young roots. I don't use starter pots, it's straight into the final pot so I don't transplant but I leave enough space at the top so I can add more medium if necessary and, with stretchies, pack it up in a mound around the stem so the support is there and, obviously, just by packing it tighter at one side you can straighten stems as you "bury" things then add more medium to level things off once everything is stabilised.

Then I just water in a ring around the seedling as normal, and, well, I've got a blue cheese that definitely didn't stall or slow down due to transplant shock.

Good to know I ain't the only one to think a little sideways like that, especially when you're talking about someone with bear paws and sausage fingers like me.
 
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