Weak Stems!!! HELP

[growbig81]

Hey I was wondering what would be the cause of weak stems on the tops? When i was trimming the plants and pulling them out of the trays as i was putting them back i noticed the tops. They came back the next day but it concerns me because they are just entering the flowering shift and seem like I will have lots of problems with drooping and maybe even breaking stems during flower production.

Lights are about 20" from plants

This is a top feed system (drip), fed 6 times day on for 30 min.

Setup:
2- 1000 HPS (hortilux super HPS)
2- 3x6 Flood tables
80- 1 gallon pots filled with hydroton and a 3" rockwool cube
1- oscillating 12" fan
1-12,000 btu A/C
1- 6" Vortex exhaust fan
1-tri meter PH/PPM/TEMP (5.8/580/69)
1- 55 gallon res.
1- 396 GPH submersible pump
80- 1/4" dripper lines

Room is 10'x10'x8'

Using 3 Part Flora series, but only using the micro and bloom the 1 to 2 per gallon ratio (Lucas Formula).
Res. change every 2 weeks with PH balanced water.

What am I doing wrong please HELP!
Let me know if you need more info.

 

[MAZEinaHAZE]

my plants are weaker and limp during "lights out".....after a few minutes of "light on", they stiffen up and stand erect )) hehehehe

is this what you mean ??

got any pix ???

 

[Hazy Lady]

The top of a plant is always soft and bendable during growth and will only stiffen after the stretch part of flowering is done, it is quite normal, they are supple so the plant can heliotrope around during daylight

 

[Craven_au]

Sounds like a nice setup would love to see some pic or a thread.

 

[TicalionStalion]

you could try adding some silica and maybe some Co2. that should strengthen up ur stems. maybe get the fan on em a bit more, not too much tho.

 

[4maggio]

Hey I was wondering what would be the cause of weak stems on the tops? When i was trimming the plants and pulling them out of the trays as i was putting them back i noticed the tops. They came back the next day but it concerns me because they are just entering the flowering shift and seem like I will have lots of problems with drooping and maybe even breaking stems during flower production.

Lights are about 20" from plants

This is a top feed system (drip), fed 6 times day on for 30 min.

Setup:
2- 1000 HPS (hortilux super HPS)
2- 3x6 Flood tables
80- 1 gallon pots filled with hydroton and a 3" rockwool cube
1- oscillating 12" fan
1-12,000 btu A/C
1- 6" Vortex exhaust fan
1-tri meter PH/PPM/TEMP (5.8/580/69)
1- 55 gallon res.
1- 396 GPH submersible pump
80- 1/4" dripper lines

Room is 10'x10'x8'

Using 3 Part Flora series, but only using the micro and bloom the 1 to 2 per gallon ratio (Lucas Formula).
Res. change every 2 weeks with PH balanced water.

What am I doing wrong please HELP!
Let me know if you need more info.

High growbig81...

Your setup sounds great...

You mention 'they are just entering the flowering shift', so they're still vegging or transitioning... Lucas Formula calls for 0ml/gall GROW, 8ml/gall MICRO & 18ml/gall Bloom, running at 900>1000ppm @.5 or 1400ppm @.7.. from veg (under HID) thru bloom... 580 is only half the requirement...

I use Lucas and have also found that with RO water that it needs
some CalMag type supplement (4ml/gal approx).

With all that good set up, go to harbor freight and get a digital thermometer ($30) and lower that light untill top leaf temps are 77-79F.

 

[jm420]

its 0-8-16 for lucas not all plants like it full strength
ph up ec down=to lean
ph down ec up= to rich
some strains naturally have weaker stems than others and may have to be tied up during flower if buds get to heavy

 

[extreegrowerrr]

shiiiitttttttttttttttttttttttt......my buds always got to be tied up lol!!!!!!!

 

[vin marioni]

most indoor hydro ive seen has weak stems. def not as strong as dirt grown erb. add more fans and tie them up, what else can u do

 

[superbolan]

crank the fan up, if your buds are big take it as a blessing

 

[george j warner]

wack in a big fucking fan lol... they'll be stiff as a french man's trouser snake in a brothel in no time xxx

 

[HempAlchemist]

like ticalion stalion said try adding silica and/or CO2. both will help strengthen the stem but in different ways. adding a lil more air movement will help as well as long as the fans arent blowing too hard directly over the plants
good luck

 

[green_thumb...]

What strain are you running?

 

[ak-51]

I had some girls that were vegging for longer then I would have liked them to, I didn't have the capacity to flower at the time and I generally just neglected the hell out of them for like 3 months. They got to be about 2.5 feet tall so when I moved them to flower I ended up taking off pretty much everything except a 6-8 inch deep canopy layer on the top. Now that all of the main flowering is done I can describe what they look like: palm trees. Possibly lolli-pops. These things are way way too heavy on top and I've had to tie them down to the DWC buckets that they're in to make sure they don't tip over and screw everything up.

Fast forward to today I wake up and 2 of them are laying on the floor. The bucket lids were a little crooked, and the net pots were not completely flat on the lids; but for the most part the stems just curved right on over and let them drop. You know the McDonald's golden arches? yeah. like that.

 

[growbig81]

Hey the strain im growing is S.A.G.E! the reason my PPM is low is because I had one try with about 3' (4 weeks old) plants and the other were 1' (1.5-2 weeks old). the reason for this is because of the clones I didn't have enough to fill up the trays on the first time so I had to wait a week or two to get the rest. My PPM is now @ 800 with a PH of 5.8 and 68F water temp. I now have white furry pistils coming out of all the nodes! I will be raising the PPM to 1100 over the next week or two. I will be posting pics soon!