damaged stems

[kris32]

OK, this may seem like a real dumb queston but i am a total newbie to gardening.

I have a sugar baby watermelon plant and while handling the stems ( i was looking through the leaves to try to find a flower bud that was not yet opened to see how far it was along ) but i think the stem to it broke off partially,just not all the way. Should i just pick off the stem?It's going to pain me to do it just because i have been pretty unsuccessful growing this year . I had strawberries but they ended up super tiny and there weren't any runners so wasn't sure why,maybe i didn't fertilize enough.

Also If I must,anybody know if it will take long to repair itself to going into a flower again?

[nightlite]

Do you mean the main stem that's rooted into the soil or an offshoot branch from the main stem (ie. tree trunk vs tree branch?)
If it's just a offshoot branch leave it and see if more regrow. Plants have a fascinating way of repairing themselves when we least expect it.

Don't worry about the strawberries either. I have a batch of 5 plants. 3 grew berries, the other 2 don't have runners at all. Sometimes strawberries can actually take another year to develop flowers.

If it makes you feel any better, you should see my sad excuse of a radish batch that came out of the ground earlier this month. All leaf, no bulb.

[kris32]

It is a offshoot branch ( i think),it is branched out from the main 'leaves' because theres a seperate branch holding the flower i was awaiting,lol. Thank you for the advice! Didn't think they could really do that.

That isn't good about your strawberries. Well bought my plants from wal mart instead of planting from scratch so i assumed they'd produce. Mine grew 2 flowers and were doing seemingly great because i saw buds like a few more flowers were going to open but then they never did open and from the 2 that opened i got 2 of the teeniest berries ever,lol.Now for some reason pretty sure it is dead! I am going to go see if No frills still has any $1 clearence ones still,lol. Wal mart had nothing,everyone seems to be clearing their plants out already!

Glad to hear i'm not the only one. Apparently nobody gets good at gardening until we get older and wiser (i am generalizing, i am sure there are some young green thumbs!) it seems like and it is actually good to ignore them sometimes... they sorta seem like real people, lol.Love them but you gotta know when to back off!

[nightlite]

Well I've never grown watermelon but I am guessing they're very much like squash and cucumbers and grow on a vine. So you should be able to get quite a few per original stem growing off of the vine. So don't take it if the main stem isn't damaged.

If my tomato leave branches and vines snap when I move them around a trellis as they grow and they grow back and heal themselves.

It could just be the strawberry plant is a baby. Sadly we'll have to wait til next season to see that. Oh walmart, I could write a novel about plants I bought from Walmart. Try Lowes! I know, stores are clearing out a lot of their inventory. This reminds me I have to go buy lettuce seeds.

Gardening as I am learning too, is a lot of trial and error when you start out. The best gardeners (from what I have read) have always said make notes in your garden what works one year so you can avoid doing it the next. And don't beat yourself up about it. Sometimes things just don't take. Cut the loss and try again next time.

[muggos0101]

The wind has really battered my plants on my balcony recently, I have quite a few broken stems especially on my tomatoes. If they're broken really bad like hanging by a thread I pick them off to allow more light to the healthy leaves.If they just look creased or snapped without serious breakage I leave them on for a bit cause I think the plants kind of suck out the nutrients from the leaves as they die naturally. I'm pretty sure I just made up that last part, but I seem to have a green thumb so whatever

I think it's really cool how plants work as a whole, if you look for it you can tell how all the branches and leaves position themselves so they all get sun. I guess everyone has seen if you turn a potted plant around, it will change position toward the light. I just think it's awesome .