[Potty Plotty Lotty]

This is a new one on me:

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2018/mar/25/seedlings-grow-tall-with-cold-tea-and-a-stroke

Fanning with a newspaper seems a bit more practical but even so.... Think the foil trick might be a bit more effective (though less of an interesting headline I guess)...

[mumofstig]

I read years ago that stroking tomato stems made them grow stronger, I've never tried it though 

[DD.]

My tomato plants get their wind stroke twice a day as I move them from the house to greenhouse and back again!

[JayG]

Hmm: stroking stems to make them stronger - as a mod I think it would be wise to plead the 5th amendment! 

Might try cuddling my little tray of cress seedlings I've been nurturing indoors in the absence of anything else edible on the go - hope it doesn't ruin my chances of an egg and cress sarnie!

[al78]

Stroking and cuddling? I prefer to do that to small cute women. 

[AnnieB]

The dutch hydroponic growers do it to the young plants. They pass a board or sail along the block of plants to strengthen the stems. Whatever it is grazes the tops and in brushing over then causes them to bend slightly.

If I recall it causes slight cell damage and the plant builds up the stem when repairing it. Action is to mimic the wind making slight bending of the plant as it blows across it or them.

Not sure of the program but have an idea it was one of the "Food Unwrapped" ones, just unsure how the hydroponics related to the program title. Might well be utterly wrong.

[snowdrops]

This theory has been around for years as I recall, I’ve tried it but not on a daily basis so hardly a scientific based reply & not with a set of control plants that didn’t get stroked so hardly a scientific reply in my case 😄

[rowlandwells]

i think ill go with your suggestion al178 that's if the wife will let me 

[hasbeans]

I've read in academic journals that gently shaking/brushing plants simulates a breeze and signals the plant to strengthen the stem, not sure if it's all plants though and potentially has negatives.  I tend to give a bit more credence to these sources than some of the tinternet but science is still just a theory waiting to be disproved...
eg. http://swfrec.ifas.ufl.edu/docs/pdf/veg-hort/transplant/trans_ph2.pdf