"breaking" your stems?

Powertrance, I like your idea about the trunk.... Next time...

As far as compairing human anatomy with plant anatomy though.... by that thought then if you cut off your finger before you hit maturity will 2+ grow back??? lol.

I would think that you could do this busting up process right up until you switch to 12/12. The plant is continuing to grow during this period and will just be starting to send it's signals to go into flowering. Just a hypothesis on that one....

I happened to accidentally break a head during training on my scrog, pulling heads in sharp curves like a candy cane. Rubbed some rooting powder into the break put a piece of painters tame around it and about a week later it was 2x stronger than before the break, also had a nice little nodgel below it where it ruffed up from the gel......

If you do break them or bend them significanly enough that you rip the flesh at that point, and there no support left, slob on some rooting gel, brace it, wrap it with some tape and you'll be straight........

Can't say that the broken head is any stronger than any of the others though...

I think this is still fair to ask, since I can't find any answers to my questions the first time around. Are you sure that it isn't scar just tissue? Do you have any plants you did not do this to, but have the same conditions otherwise? you know, like a control for the experiment? When I test a new teqhnique I always leave about half untouched so I can have an accurate comparison to prove my theory. Some plant's respond better than others to topping, for instance. Just wondering, because it would really help your statements, if you have something to compare it to.

That being said, I wan't to restate my neutrality on this issue. I haven't tried it or seen it so for me I just don't know anything and want to learn. looking foreward to seeing your results. If it works for you, I would consider using the method to some degree, at least give it a test run. You know what I mean? Thanks for posting this is an interesting topic!

MetalSmelter said:

If you do break them or bend them significanly enough that you rip the flesh at that point, and there no support left, slob on some rooting gel, brace it, wrap it with some tape and you'll be straight........

Can't say that the broken head is any stronger than any of the others though...

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I've noticed that areas in the stem that are damaged will repair much more easily with rooting hormones. Also they will be very large and look burly. This happened to a plant I had, A huge section came off in the wind and i used hormone gel and wrapped it up with an ACE bandage. After just a few days I was able to graft the half of the plant that was ripped off back onto the plant. the join was really thick, a little bigger than a baseball. I don't know if the plant had better buds tho, It did get alot branchier. I should have pruned a little. If only I knew then what I know now! lol

brendon420 said:

as it states
Simulating wind by providing a gentle breeze will help your
stem grow strong to support the weight of the leaves and buds as the
wind will cause small tears in the plants stem walls, tears that are
repaired as the plant grows and provide strength to the main stem.
Bigger, stronger stems = bigger, stronger plant = more & better buds.

i guess the same concept can be applied to super cropping yes??? no??? where is your 'evidence' twoard your 'theory'?

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I would have to agree with this one and that your plants "nautral" (as in things that NORMALY occor in nature) systems of growth are most likely the best and most productive... They have been at this genetically for longer... I think that you would be better to suit your growing enviroment...

Of course i am a big fan of bending and other forms or low stress intervention... This one is just a little too destructive for my tastes... =]



Experimenting with root hormones in cretin areas sounds interesting if not just for MORE DATA... =]

I like what you've done smokertoker, well done mate.
I really don't see what the problem is. If your growing your plant indoors and you bust it up even if it takes 2 weeks to heal, if you get more bud it may be worth the wait.
At the end of the day its only a more brutal form of other tecniques that have been used on the plant for 100's of years that have already been mentioned in this thread.
You would need to grow a control plant at the same time though without using this technique to truly gauge the benefits.
Good luck mate, keep it up, be interested to see your final yield.

marijuanajoe1982 said:

I've noticed that areas in the stem that are damaged will repair much more easily with rooting hormones. Also they will be very large and look burly. This happened to a plant I had, A huge section came off in the wind and i used hormone gel and wrapped it up with an ACE bandage. After just a few days I was able to graft the half of the plant that was ripped off back onto the plant. the join was really thick, a little bigger than a baseball. I don't know if the plant had better buds tho, It did get alot branchier. I should have pruned a little. If only I knew then what I know now! lol

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It's just like that scene in karate kid

would you suggest doing this in flowering?

i'd like to try to do this on the upper branches to give the lower budsites time to reach the higher ones

I would not suggest that. And beyond that... the branches that I damaged grew faster than the ones not damaged.

Well i had to break a few in two places and crook them like a letter N to gain some height back, the twist tye them down to make sure they keep reaching up......we'll see how strong they get, as there about the size of a skewer round, Majority of the heads are 8+ inches long from the top of my scrog.

We'll see how well they do and if they can support the bud weight when it starts coming in....

ahh i see, i'll wait for my next crop or i could abuse this lil'un, he/shes a test dummy, just thru it in with my flowering plants for shits and giggles

There you go, I doubt it will do much though. I have a smiliar short shit (new seedling ~10") in with mine, but it has shown me it is a female. I put a screw in it's main stalk just before changing the lights to 12/12. No noticable results from that yet, only been like a week.

A screw in its main stalk, metal screw?

lol, ya, one of the eye hooks. Someone earlier was talking about screwing one in the trunk to get it really fat. The stalk has been getting fatter but I think bc I'm in 12/12 and I have my light focused on my main plants it hasn't been doing much. I don't think it has negatively affected the growth anywhere in the plant. I just think in better conditions it would be performing much better.

Thought it's time for an update. Still got about a month left, but the ladies are looking very nice... The stems I did the most damage to are the fattest branches. The branches I was breaking the stems on look better than the true colas.

Oh ya, Powertrance, you talked about putting a screw into the base of young plants to get the stalk fatter... I just took a screw and screwed it in a couple of my clones bases then removed the screw... Dude on one of the clones about an inch up the stem tore itself open it got so fat. It is my 2nd biggest clone... I think that has more to do with where it is from the light.

smokertoker said:

Have you ever tried "breaking" you stems. I have been pinching, twisting and overall generally busting up my stems that will leed to bud sites later. Those bastards have been getting soo thick and exploding with growth throughout the whole branch. I highly recomend this method.

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i have tried it, do it in veg, not flower... ot just encourages the plant to "survive" dosnt hurt. i dont know if it helps

I have done this to two sad looking branches in flower and both of them are much better off now than they were before... This can be done in flower and be benifical... Definitely helps...

ganjagoddess said:

So in essesence and by comparision

a human being can gain Really good strong muscles without impeding blood flow by ripping his muscles slightly off his bone but still atached and applying stem cells to fill the gap(s), as opposed to microscopic tears that are part of the NATURAL muscle building process.

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Actually, the correct comparison would be human bones. And yes. That is correct. Thai boxers and martial artists continuously fracture and break bones through out their training so that they will grow back stronger.

Ever try to break a stack of cement blocks with a karate chop? You would break your hand in the best case scenerio. But if you constantly fracture and heal the bone in your hand then eventually you will be able to break blocks with your hand without breaking it.

Hope this helps.

namenottaken said:

Actually, the correct comparison would be human bones. And yes. That is correct. Thai boxers and martial artists continuously fracture and break bones through out their training so that they will grow back stronger.

Ever try to break a stack of cement blocks with a karate chop? You would break your hand in the best case scenerio. But if you constantly fracture and heal the bone in your hand then eventually you will be able to break blocks with your hand without breaking it.

Hope this helps.

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AS it is true that a Bone Break when set properly will usually have a larger bone mass post heal i.e. density, the bone itself is weaker and lacking in years of calcium buildup until the equal amount of time you have been alive has passed minus bone age degradation.

In other words THIS IS A MYTH... there is no truth to the fact that breaking a bone will essentially make it stronger.

Broken bones stronger when healed? - No BS Martial Arts
When broken bones heal, are they stronger after the break?

ganjagoddess said:

AS it is true that a Bone Break when set properly will usually have a larger bone mass post heal i.e. density, the bone itself is weaker and lacking in years of calcium buildup until the equal amount of time you have been alive has passed minus bone age degradation.

In other words THIS IS A MYTH... there is no truth to the fact that breaking a bone will essentially make it stronger.

Broken bones stronger when healed? - No BS Martial Arts
When broken bones heal, are they stronger after the break?

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True the real way is to stress the bones not actually break them. Weight training muscle building exercises will cause increased bone density.