HYDRO Splitting Stems

[DW2]

Does anyone have any information or experience with the stem of the leaves splitting open?
My grow is in the first week of bloom and I have found a couple of the larger leaf stems splitting open. I am feeding them with GH MaxiBloom, Floralicious Plus, Armor Si, Diamond Nector, and FloraNector (all by the GH schedule for RDWC). The grow room air temperature ranges from 62° F (lights off) to 80° F (lights on). The water temperature is from 63° F to 70° F. The splitting has occurred only in one reservoir (with four plants) and the plants have been consuming a lot of water, from 4 to 4 1/2 gallons a week (well aerated). The pH has ranged from 5.7 to 6.9 (at end of feed). I manifold them at week 4 and have been using LST since. There have been no signs of decencies other than a slight tip burn and curl.
Here are some photos. Any suggestions and or opinions would be appreciated.

[9fingerleafs]

People have tried it but it’s a wife tale, a myth, it not you’d see member over here doin it and comercial growers doin it too.

[DW2]

Howdy 9fingerleafs, I don't understand. What is an old wife's tale and why would others do it? I am not splitting the stems, they are (only a few of them do far) splitting on their own. Do You have an explanation for this phenomenon and what causes it?

[9fingerleafs]

Hahaha I totally misread your post, I’m sorry, I thought you found your stems split, and didn’t saw the pic.
That’s super weird, I have no idea what could have cause that, it looks like the cut is almost too perfect.

[KTM690]

That's pretty crazy looking plants look great keep an eye out for issues. Might just be a genetic thing in the strain

[DW2]

I forgot to say that the seeds for this grow are hermied seeds from a grow in 2016. The 'mother' plant did not have this (that I remember). Over all, the plants are growing and doing well.

[Toker1]

DW2 well that explains things. You didn’t backcross the parental strains, therefore you have a bunch of seeds with unstable genetics. You should expect genetic variation in this case. Hopefully split stems will be the end of what you notice... but be prepared to see more variation in the rest of the seeds you have.

[RFheavy]

Hermie seeds! Your plant is trying to filet the gay away!

[Toker1]

A genetic mutation maybe? Sounds interesting. Do the leaves die off or survive the stem split action?

[Toker1]

Yup. That’s the thing about genetic variation in an unstable plant. You don’t know which traits will still be there from the parents, and what new traits you will find in the offspring. What you said above doesn’t surprise me one bit.
If you like her, clone here because no two seeds you have from that mother plant will be exactly the same.

[DW2]

Thanks for Your input. I'll wait and see how they turn out. I may try cloning again, I cloned a plant (just to see if I could) several years ago. It was a hassle and only a couple of the attempts survived. The bad news, they turned out to be males, I'll never take a cutting again before the sex shows!

[Toker1]

Haha. Cloning is an art. Takes practice.
If you get an aero cloner with a water chiller/heater for a small aquarium, this takes most of the labor out of it and gives great success rates as long as you keep everything clean and cool.

[Rwise]

I would not worry about it,, yet,,, that may be a genetic anomaly, could be light burn, but I would think that would show other signs as well. IF you use a foiler spray on the leaf, maybe these stems were wet when the lights came on and got sunburn. Just a guess,,,

[DW2]

Thanks Rwise, see below for some new photos of the stems with the 'split personality' (lol)

[DW2]

Here are some photos that I took last evening when I was looking at the stems and noticed that all of the split stems were early stems (first produced) where a new growth stem sprouted. These plants are at the end of the first week of 12/12 light schedule. On some of the photos, it appears that the bud sites are already beginning to show.

[KTM690]

That is really wierd. But the rest looks really good might b the way the new growth formed kinda looks like it overtook those leaves at the base which would b the reason for the split. Great grow u have

[DW2]

KTM690, thanks for Your input. The does not seem to be any detrimental effects, yet. I panicked (BURMA!!!!) and started to worry the first thing out. I think that You may have hit on it, because they are only splitting at the sites where there is new growth appearing. I took another look the morning and there are some of the steams that just have a 'groove' in them and not split open.
Thanks for the comment, I have been getting good growth with only 220 watts of CFLs per reservoir, but I really could use a larger area, they are getting where they are hard to get to or even tell which part belongs to which plant. FYI, there are only two plants in the right hand reservoir and four in the other.

[9fingerleafs]

i just realized one of my strains does a similar thing but it doesnt look ripped apart just like a hollow canal along the petiole, will post pics tomorrow because its dark time now

[DW2]

Yes, exactly. I have had stems with 'grooves' or a 'canal' (as You called it) before. There are some on this very same plant now, but these few have actually split open. I hope that since they are consuming a lot of water, 4 1/2 gallons this last week, so I am hoping that the splits are from rapid growth.

[9fingerleafs]

Ohhhh true. I’ve seen main branches “explode” at the bottom because of too rapid growing nodes and branches. I think you found the reason

[KTM690]

Anytime my friend best part of this site is everyone has some helping input

[Keith]

I’ve come across the same issue with my plants. I’m growing sour kaberry. Regular seeds and every time I start from seed the plants will grow like that. If I take a clone they always grow normal woody stems. From a seed the stems will grow normal for the first 2”-3” then almost double in width and grow hollow like bamboo. I never noticed the leaf stems splitting like that but since reading this I looked and mine are also. I’ve asked about this here on the forum and in the hydroponic stores around me and the only thing I’ve been able to find out that they may need more calcium so I started using a cal mag folier spray on top of my regular nutrients. I’ve been doing this for about 2 weeks. With the exception of that issue my plants look very healthy and perky and in the past have produced a good amount of very good bud. People I’ve talked to say as long as they are healthy they are growing so fast that they are sucking up more nutrients which what we want. Good luck that is everything I could figure out

[DW2]

Howdy Keith, Thanks for the information. I have been using a silica additive (GH Armor Si), but have not used any calcium or magnesium supplements because the city water here is mainly derived from well water and some from surface reservoirs, and is very hard. I have not seen any of the usual signs of mineral deficiencies, so I have never used any CALiMAGic or other mineral supplements. I have only grown with bag seed saved over the years (and the hermied seeds from them), so One can ever know that they will do.
You have a very good looking grow going on there. Thanks ,again, for the information.