Beneficial Plant Stress

[GroDoc]

Any thoughts on the best times/types of stress?

We all know that at the right times and in the right quantities stress can stimulate growth and production.

Hormesis (from Greek hórmēsis "rapid motion, eagerness," from ancient Greek hormáein "to set in motion, impel, urge on") is the term for generally-favorable biological responses to low exposures to toxins and other stressors. A pollutant or toxin showing hormesis thus has the opposite effect in small doses as in large doses.
In toxicology, hormesis is a dose response phenomenon characterized by a low dose stimulation, high dose inhibition, resulting in either a J-shaped or an inverted U-shaped dose response. Such environmental factors that would seem to produce positive responses have also been termed “eustress”.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hormesis_dose_response_graph.svg

A caveat on "that which does not kill me makes me stronger"

I generally take a gradualistic approach to changes in lights/solutions/temperatures etc. I'll change concentrations and ratios daily by adding nutes/water till the plants start showing signs of stress then drop back a notch.

How/when do you prune? - I generally wait till I have good root systems are developed, got several nodes, and the plants seem robust and stabilized. Usually around 8 - 12 inches tall in veg.

How/when do you train? - I do this during flowering. I guess the when is when they're getting too tall or you need to fill in space. I've been breaking them over with abrupt bends that look ugly but grow well. Is this better/worse than a gradual bend with a tie down?

Is flushing a beneficial stressor apart from it's use in removing salts? When do you flush? I flush a couple of times during flowering. I do not use an EC meter currently?

Are there any plant "toxins" that can be used for beneficial stress?

How beneficial are temp swings between day and night?

Are there any late flowering lighting stressors that help end product?

peace

 

[morrisgreenberg]

hey doc, nice thread, personally and anyone in the know would tell you stressing plants via lighting changes will only promote hermies, negative stress, although and its not proven fact, many old schoolers will tell you 24-72 hours of darkness before harvest will promote more resin, i for one have never noticed anything different when tried. as for temp swings you can mess a plant up by stunting growth if not for correct day temps, the most i have noticed with low night temps is plants turn purple no matter what strain at under 65F. now when we prune plants especially when we top there is a benefit, i wouldnt call them toxins, they are called auxins, these auxins are basically signals being sent to the limbs of the plant, ever top or pinch a plant and the next set of limbs below get bigger? these are the auxins that are allowing all the plants energy to focus on these limbs. i can tell you from my expieriences that extreme pruning like lollipopping each side branch(trimming all vegetation more than 50% of limb) will increase flower size and resin production, all energy will be focused to remaing parts of plants. some old timers will tell you never to touch any foliage, i disagree, its how all these scroggers get large yields

 

[morrisgreenberg]

i want to touch on resin production for a moment. the darkness before harvest is meant to trick the plant into thinking its dying, therefore in a desperate attempt to reproduce the plant will increase resin output for the purpose of hoping it can snag some pollen, like i said i never noticed anything different but it makes total sense, as the whole flowering period is an attempt on the plants end to try to make sure there will be life for the next season

 

[GroDoc]

excellent MGB, that's exactly the kind of info I'm looking for. thanks.

 

[Bretonston]

what types of stress causes mutations, like single leafs and curled new growth...i have a plant that doesnt even look like marijuana its all single leaf and wierd....after this mutation does the plant lose potency...after i corrected the temps and vegged for a week the new growth is turning normal again

 

[mr cheese]

as far as the right time to stress the plants frm pruneing ect its the first 2 weeks of 12/12 as im sure we all knw any done after the 2 week mark results in a lower yeild as the plant puts more energy into recovery rather than development.

iv also noticed this is the best time to take cuttings, i havent kept a mother plant for some yrs now as i get far better resluts rooting success, vigor ect ect taking cuttings the 1st week of 12/12, to me thats when plants are at their most vigorus. i do keep moms but only to safe gaurd the strain.

all best...mrc

p.s excellent thread

 

[sammyz2646]

as far as the right time to stress the plants frm pruneing ect its the first 2 weeks of 12/12 as im sure we all knw any done after the 2 week mark results in a lower yeild as the plant puts more energy into recovery rather than development.

iv also noticed this is the best time to take cuttings, i havent kept a mother plant for some yrs now as i get far better resluts rooting success, vigor ect ect taking cuttings the 1st week of 12/12, to me thats when plants are at their most vigorus. i do keep moms but only to safe gaurd the strain.

all best...mrc

p.s excellent thread

Mr. Cheese, this is great information. I know not everyone agrees on these things, but what you say here makes alot of sense to me. Never thought about the taking of cuttings after going 12/12. I find that pruning as Morris was discussing earlier works best for yield. As soon as I re-direct all the energy that would have fed those smaller and less productive lower branches and smaller flowers now gets re-directed to your selected choice flowers. The very next day after this prune is cool too. Everything is standing straight up and just looks amazing. Leaves form an upward cone around the bud sticking up at 45 degrees.

 

[medi-useA]

what types of stress causes mutations, like single leafs and curled new growth...i have a plant that doesn't even look like marijuana its all single leaf and weird....after this mutation does the plant lose potency...after i corrected the temps and vegged for a week the new growth is turning normal again

Bretonston->Those don't sound like mutations, if they don't continue as the regular growth of the plant...It seems more like a deficiency or ph/lockout prob or even temp probs!. Did you flush also? Or water 'till flow through? Or change/top up nutes? If so, this could have corrected your problem.
I get really funny scythe like leaf blades appearing as first growth upon reveg. Or from a heavy pruning during veg.
But the new growth always straightens out.

Stress
I use a 30cm oscillating fan on high to stress the branching of my plants. I have found a way of getting some insane growth from branches by crimping them. Yeah, Crimping the branch, I've heard of/done that...

But not like this, I think!
WARNING! Do this @your own risk! I have many failures behind me in this and still make mistakes! You have been warned.

I have MS...and Osteoarthritis. Crimping branches is hard for me...if they've gotten big enough to call stems, I'm farked!

So I got my curved/angled needle nosed pliers and used those!

The tips of the pliers narrowed to a tip...too small an area for me to control the crimping action with my hands {motor control futzy}. I was likely to just crimp the branch off.

So I looked @ the length of the pliers after the angled bend and I thought if I turned the pliers so the angled grippers ran alongside the branch, and then crimped I'd do the damage over a larger area.

{point 2 fingers like a handgun [ignore the thumb]..bend them about 70-90 degrees...hold this bend and open and close your fingers like pliers...see the top bit?...your bent fingers? Thaats it!}

This, if done properly, makes the branch 'flop over' but it will recover in a day or so. Done properly, it grows a big knot @ the point of damage.

Here is a pic showing @least 3 branches I have done this to.
Middle third of pic @ the top. 2 in the foreground and one between them in the background with a shadow running top left to bottom right...

muA

 

[One Love 731]

I have a buddy that used to drive big grabber screws into the base of his plants, I credit that to lack of the net and his grow book was last published in the 70's. Needless to say he has much better results now he leaves them alone after the first 2 weeks of flowering and try's not to stress them in any way during the whole grow. Although He also has extreme light leaks with no visible hermi's. I believe MJ can strive in many environments. I think getting your environment consistent is huge, if there rooted well you can get away with allot. Karma, One Love