How do I get green stems instead of brown?

So on all of my mothers for some reason, the stems of the entire plant are brown, as in lignified. I don't understand why the new shoots are not green, but even when I prune it, the stems grown in already brown. It's much harder to get an already lignified stem to root, and also I remember reading that the green stems have unrestricted growth potential, whereas after they form the brownish color, being the precursor to bark, they can only grow so much. I really don't have any insight as to why this is happening. My plants are in potting soil and I water with RO water every day and water with nutrient solution every other day. I am using hydro nutrients because that's all I have at the moment. The nutrients are H&G 50/50 A+B. I am using a T5 light with 2 Flora Sun, 1 Ultra Sun, and 1 Coral Sun bulbs. Also another plant is just under a plain old 5000K CFL.

If anyone has any insight into this it would be of great help

over watering is stressing the plant. Prob lack of lumens will be stressing the plant.

Some argue this but red/browning stalks are a sign of stress, certainly with the strains I have grown. Reduce stress = reduced colouring.

That seems to make sense. I also have a nasty case of spider mites that I can't seem to get rid of, which I know must be stressing the plants as well. As for the over watering, My hands are sort of tied there. If I go more than a day without watering the plants all wilt and droop. They are in small pots and I like to keep my mothers that way, on the small and dense side, bonsai style. But when you do that, they do require daily watering. Maybe I need a different nutrient mix as well? What happens when you use hydro nutrients in soil? Could that be contributing to this?

Could possibly be a fungal infection known as brown stem rot. Pictures would help.

No it's not a rot or infection, the stems are brown because they are lignified i.e. forming the precursor to actual bark. They have a tough exterior which is rigid, unlike a plant with soft green flexible stems.

How can you avoid watering daily when keeping plants in small pots?

I think I'm going to take some clones and make new mothers, I just hope they will take root with the lignin present. But I'm worried that even if I do, they will produce a entirely lignified plant. Hopefully the stems will revert back to their natural, green, unstressed state when they become new plants in fresh soil?

repot
root trim
healthy plant

shagalicious said:

repot
root trim
healthy plant

Click to expand...

and

I agree with repotting. Roots are binding up and you can't get enough nutes to the plant. Green stems are healthy. When the color up they are deficient in something. Try repotting and then feed em heavy!...