pinch the stem?

I seen someone take neddle nose plyers and pinch near the bottom of the stems of approx. 3 week old veg. plants (grown in dirt). He said you should pinch until you hear a pop. Then a knot is suppose to form there and make thick stems and i can't remember what else the benifits were suppose to be. Said that it something people in Cali. are all doing. Has anyone ever heard or done this? And if so what are all the benifits?

yes have done this. It is a process called super cropping. The idea is to slightly crush the stem leading to a bud, forcing the plant to pump energy into the bud site to induce repair. The result is a bullbous stem and larger buds. Only thing is it adds about 2-3 weeks to grow time.

Keeps them short too. Be careful not to crush to hard.