how can i strengthen the stem?

Exo said:

you could bend the stem back and forth to strengthen it too. just be gentle.

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A fan on it's slowest speed, and set back a distance if need be to make the breeze even softer, works far better than bending stems back and forth. The breeze mimics wind in nature and it is the back and forth, side to side motion of tree trunks, bush stems and plants that causes increased growth/caliper size. A fan lightly blowing on plants give them something that if grow in the wild, and that is important for strength down the road when carrying a (hopefully) heavy yield, that they otherwise would not receive when grown indoors. It gives them something they evolved to rely on for stem growth/strength/caliper size.

i have heard silica is good for this, never tried it though

ye what bricktop said br()

xogenic said:

am i right in saying that you shouldnt repot any higher than where the teardrop leaves are,

think this is why i ended up with stem rot just out the top of the coco on one of my last crops

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I have known people to replant deeper than the cotyledons after they have fallen off and get away with it. When I have replanted deeper I would stay about 1/4 to 1/8 below them.

I have never grown using coco but my guess is you had damping off disease and that wouldn't come from replanting a bit deep. It's conditionally caused, environmentally caused.

Damping Off disease thrives in cool or cold, dark or cloudy, wet or damp conditions. The disease is airborne, and can spread very quickly from one seed tray to another.
The fungal spores take root in your soil and quickly spreads. It is fatal to young seedlings, nipping them off at the soil level.

ok so the otherday i was watering the plant and a little to much water came out all at once for some reason (hadnt happened before) and i guess it softened up the soil to the point where the plant bent all the way over....i straightened it back up and put some squwers in the ground to help hold her back up. does anyone think the stem will regain strength? over the last day ive noticed the leaves are still growing bigger but just worried. plant is almost a month old from seed

Brick Top said:

You can use a fan to blow on the plants. The swaying motion will cause stem growth.

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yup. once they are bigger, you can also shake the plants, it slows growth upwards, but the stems get huge.

ok well pulled the support sticks away today and seems like the plant is holding its self again!