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Insanity - The Girls

Well, maybe. We've had a series of thunderstorms move in and out very quickly. Went outside this afternoon to find one of my douglahs broken very close to the dirt. Two side branches remain, but the main stem is now gone. We'll see if it survives or not.
 
Definitely do a search on this site for my Douglah bourbon chews - a perfect mix of heat and sweet that uses douglah rehydrated in bourbon.
 
Dot Com said:
Do you feed them much or just add dirt and let them go? I ask because they look very green/lush.
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I don't feed them "much", but do give them appropriate nutes based on where they're at in their growth/production cycle from time to time. Now they get CalMag (Botanicare) from time to time, since they're in the production stage.
 
Amazingly enough, the one that I reported the main stem broke almost down to the dirt on 8/21 hasn't keeled over yet. In fact, it's starting some new growth. I'll post pics later this w/e.
 
Glad it is still going. The one fatalii I had that a cat destroyed had 1 side branch survive and I tied it to a stake. It has since gone crazy. You figure what is left is being fed by the root ball that fed the whole thing before the loss. Yours is probably doing the same.
 
Justaguy said:
Glad it is still going. The one fatalii I had that a cat destroyed had 1 side branch survive and I tied it to a stake. It has since gone crazy. You figure what is left is being fed by the root ball that fed the whole thing before the loss. Yours is probably doing the same.
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A technique that I have seen employed (albeit in a different type of crop from chilli's) to try to increase vigour in the plants is a deliberate stressing of the main stem by bending it over without snapping the stem but almost crushing it thereby the theory is this is forcing the plant to increase the thickness and vigour of the main stem to compensate for this damage and allow more nutrients to be up taken by the plant canopy increasing the ability of the plant to grow quicker and stronger.
I have only seen very few examples of this and have no personal experience with how it may work. But the gardeners I have seen use it swear by it, seems too risky to me personally.

Maybe this is a similar effect you are seeing??
 
Can't say I think that's a good idea. Someone here posted a picture a while back - they had visited an orphanage that grew peppers, and the kids told that person they step on the plants intentionally to make them stronger/grow better/whatever. Only if you looked at the pictures of the fields, it was clear this wasn't really a working solution - there were plenty of bare spots in those fields, where likely a pepper plant (or two, or fifty.....) had once stood. They say a picture is worth a thousand words.... ;)
 
Trippa said:
A technique that I have seen employed (albeit in a different type of crop from chilli's) to try to increase vigour in the plants is a deliberate stressing of the main stem by bending it over without snapping the stem but almost crushing it thereby the theory is this is forcing the plant to increase the thickness and vigour of the main stem to compensate for this damage and allow more nutrients to be up taken by the plant canopy increasing the ability of the plant to grow quicker and stronger.
I have only seen very few examples of this and have no personal experience with how it may work. But the gardeners I have seen use it swear by it, seems too risky to me personally.

Maybe this is a similar effect you are seeing??
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I had a mate that used to do that, he said he did it so more light could penetrate into the middle of the plant where sunshine (read hps light) wouldn't normally get. Looked like he was twisting, bending and crushing the branches all in one motion.
 
SourcePLANT GROWTH REGULATION
Volume 4, Number 2, 103-123, DOI: 10.1007/BF00025193
The effects of mechanically-induced stress in plants — a review
Norman L. Biddington

Abstract
Mechanically-induced stress (MIS) occurs naturally in plants as the aerial parts are moved, usually by wind, but also by such agents as rain and animals. It can be induced indoors by various actions such as rubbing or bending the stem or shaking or brushing the entire shoot. The most noticeable effect of MIS is a reduction in stem, leaf or petiole length invariably resulting in plants which are smaller and more compact than unstressed controls. However, the response of other variables can often differ between species and there may be either increases or decreases in stem or petiole diameter, root: shoot weight ratio, chlorophyll content or drought resistance. Why species should differ in this way, and what is the endogenous control mechanism for MIS responses, are inanswered questions. Ethylene, which increases as a result of MIS in several species may cause some MIS responses such as increased stem diameter, epinasty or a change in sex expression. However, evidence suggests that MIS retardation of extension growth may equally be due to lower or supraoptimal auxin levels or lower gibberellin levels.
The uses in the field of the growth promoter gibberellin or the growth retardant chlormequat chloride (CCC) appear to be examples of respectively reversing or stimulating MIS growth response. MIS may be applied indoors if short compact plants are needed, either for aesthetic purposes as with floral crops, or if hardier and more manageable plants are needed, such as seedlings for transplanting in the field. Much more research is needed to estimate the importance of MIS in the field and to assess how such knowledge may be used to improve crop yield.
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Justaguy said:
Yeah I see the point. Do you have link to that article Trippa???
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Its just an abstract to a Journal Article. If you can find the full text or subscribe to the journal then you can read the whole thing. If you really like this type of article on growth regulator's within plants you could always check out this link

Gibberellin literature @

Enjoy the light reading :rofl:
 
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