What causes weak, easily bendable stems?

Hi,

My friend has two flowering females in 5-gallon, stand-alone hydroponic bubble buckets. They are both in week 2 of flowering. One of the plants is showing Indica traits and the other is most likely a Sativa. They both came from bag seed from good chronic.

They are both being fed Advanced Nutrients 3-part formula (Grow, Micro, Bloom) with no other additives or supplements. The water is RO filtered tap water. The nutrient solution is changed once a week. The bottle says to use 1.4 tsp per gallon during "mild flowering" phase but he thinks that's too much so he used the Advanced Nutrients old calculator (Nutrient Calculator, Hydroponics nutrient calculator) which he used last grow with success.

Temps are kinda hot, sometimes 85 degrees and humidity is around 50-55%. A fan and a dehumidifier are on constantly but there's no AC at the moment. Lights are 730 W BadBoy Quantum T-5 with 12 bulb setup. The same lights were used last grow with great success and fluorescent lights were preferred because of heat problems.

The plants stems are very bendy and weak with no strength or rigidity. Hardly strong enough to carry big buds. The stems are more like twizzlers than plant stems and bend and fold too easily.

What is causing this and how can my friend save his grow?
 

Tonaloc989

Well-Known Member
use bamboo sticks like stakes and that should keep the plants from falling over. or you could use plain old yarn to tie the plants up, i know its a pain in the ass but it will work if he works with it
 

DrFever

New Member
well can be a number of things was his lights up real high , plants Stretched ??? does he have enough air movement in the room ,
what other problems are the plants showing ????
 
well can be a number of things was his lights up real high , plants Stretched ??? does he have enough air movement in the room ,
what other problems are the plants showing ????
The plants look quite healthy from afar but on closer inspection, the branches just bend too easily and the leaves and kinda soft and not waxy like usual. There was a spider mite problem over a month ago but repeated sprayings and using a "doktor doom" fogger seemed to knock it out for now.
 

dsmoke1

Active Member
Check the roots. Look very close for tan/black specks. Any little bugs in there? Root Aphids in hydro will attack your nutrient source and give your plant a starved look. Your plant will remain green, but it will have a very soft (almost velvety) and limp feel to it.

Get back to us.

Also, you're in the sweet spot for PH right? 5.5-6 is ideal. You risk lockout running outside of that, but that will cause deficiencies, and not limping.
 

Sensibowl

Active Member
Hi,

My friend has two flowering females in 5-gallon, stand-alone hydroponic bubble buckets. They are both in week 2 of flowering. One of the plants is showing Indica traits and the other is most likely a Sativa. They both came from bag seed from good chronic.

They are both being fed Advanced Nutrients 3-part formula (Grow, Micro, Bloom) with no other additives or supplements. The water is RO filtered tap water. The nutrient solution is changed once a week. The bottle says to use 1.4 tsp per gallon during "mild flowering" phase but he thinks that's too much so he used the Advanced Nutrients old calculator (Nutrient Calculator, Hydroponics nutrient calculator) which he used last grow with success.

Temps are kinda hot, sometimes 85 degrees and humidity is around 50-55%. A fan and a dehumidifier are on constantly but there's no AC at the moment. Lights are 730 W BadBoy Quantum T-5 with 12 bulb setup. The same lights were used last grow with great success and fluorescent lights were preferred because of heat problems.

The plants stems are very bendy and weak with no strength or rigidity. Hardly strong enough to carry big buds. The stems are more like twizzlers than plant stems and bend and fold too easily.

What is causing this and how can my friend save his grow?
Hmmm....what to add to this conversation that hasn't already been said....

To me, it sounds like something is going in in the internal structure of your plants, but that can be due to a number of different things - or all things at once, which would super suck.

your nutes seem right and your buddy certainly was right in toning down the nute schedule....

Check for pests, yes, and make sure that the leaves look healthy because that will tell you if things are getting to the leaves and that the problem is limtied to the stems.

Good luck to your friend!!!
 

Kingrow1

Well-Known Member
Forget the plant i wana see your light setup, 730watt of flourescent is pretty dam good, dose it yeild more than or equivelant to a 600w hps?

How do you get 12 t5 flourescents to add up to 730watts, cant be right?
 

BendBrewer

Well-Known Member
Not sure as my stems are like broom sticks. Tried to bend one the other day ever so slightly and it snapped. Didn't bend at all. Just snapped.
 

MrGhettoGrower

Well-Known Member
Whats your ppm?:lol:When I grow in dirt and getting slow growth:lol:Rubbery Stems:lol:Starting to Look retarded:lol:It might need to be feed:lol:
 

Banditt

Well-Known Member
Hydroponic mediums lack silicate which helps plant cell walls retain rigidity. You may want to look into adding something like DM silica or DynaGrow Pro-Tekt. Lowering your temps would help as well since it will decrease the amount of length between nodes giving your plant an overall more stout structure.
 

LBH

Well-Known Member
Forget the plant i wana see your light setup, 730watt of flourescent is pretty dam good, dose it yeild more than or equivelant to a 600w hps?
It's the same heat, seems kinda pointless.

As for the OP's original question, remember it's a weed and wants to be put to the test. Way too many people baby their plants, afraid to even touch them. If you want strong plants, put them into training, just like a human. My plants have full blown fans on them from 3" on. They all but blow completely over for the whole first day and then, slowly,...they come up. Keep them fighting that fan by rotating them so they fight the fan and the urge to grow to the light in unison,.....plant in training,.....BEAT EM UP! :)
 
Hi,

My friend has two flowering females in 5-gallon, stand-alone hydroponic bubble buckets. They are both in week 2 of flowering. One of the plants is showing Indica traits and the other is most likely a Sativa. They both came from bag seed from good chronic.

They are both being fed Advanced Nutrients 3-part formula (Grow, Micro, Bloom) with no other additives or supplements. The water is RO filtered tap water. The nutrient solution is changed once a week. The bottle says to use 1.4 tsp per gallon during "mild flowering" phase but he thinks that's too much so he used the Advanced Nutrients old calculator (Nutrient Calculator, Hydroponics nutrient calculator) which he used last grow with success.

Temps are kinda hot, sometimes 85 degrees and humidity is around 50-55%. A fan and a dehumidifier are on constantly but there's no AC at the moment. Lights are 730 W BadBoy Quantum T-5 with 12 bulb setup. The same lights were used last grow with great success and fluorescent lights were preferred because of heat problems.

The plants stems are very bendy and weak with no strength or rigidity. Hardly strong enough to carry big buds. The stems are more like twizzlers than plant stems and bend and fold too easily.

What is causing this and how can my friend save his grow?
I'm having the exact same issue with one of my five candy cane autos. It's the largest one and the stem is very thick, but very flexible. Too flexible to be in flowering stage (according to my experience with photo strains in flowering...their stems are rock hard after a week under hps.
 

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rshackleferd

Well-Known Member
Im having a hard time believing this silica, I never use it and i use dwc hydroponics as well so they are not getting one iota when it comes to silica, stems look like tree trunks no branches bending whatsoever. However i have grown some strains that did stretch too far and bend over but this is strain dependent imo. Im not saying silica wouldn't help im just telling you about my setup and what i have seen.

Added: the reason i don't use silica was that I used it on my tomato plants and it kinda fried them, been hesitant about using it ever since. Might have used too much or whatever but it scared the hell out of me.
 

Dr Magill

Well-Known Member
Silica and a good breeze flowing throughout the grow room. Plants will stiffen up from the breeze
 
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