Girdling for Gold?

[komboloi]

I'm trying to recreate the method for making buds turn gold at harvest.

There is some talk about "girdling" the plants while in flower to deny them of nutrients.

And we know that flushing plants during flowering results in a gradual yellowing of the leaves.

So two questions:

1. Could you just withhold all nutes for a longer period and get not only yellow leaves but gold bud?

2. Anyone have any experience with this mythical practice of girdling a plant to produce gold buds?

I know the result isn't going to be more potent. In fact, I suspect it could be made less potent by the process. But with more capacity to grow than I have to smoke, I thought it would be fun to try.

A bright gold bud....

 

[komboloi]

I'm just going to bump this once in case someone has info. Thanks in advance for any input.

 

[LeeROI]

I think girdling is a myth and you need equatorial highlands for gold.

 

[Hydro-Soil]

Girdling exists... but you can achieve the same effect by tapering off the nutes.

Got a lot of gold in my last harvest... tasty!

Stay Safe!

 

[komboloi]

Hydro: So if you extend the flush, the buds yellow like the leaves? How did you do your taper?

Many thanks for any help. Peace.

 

[Hydro-Soil]

Usually running DWC... so at around week 3 before harvest I just switch to plain water. As the weeks go by... the nutrient strength gets less and less. Usually at around 100ppm or less at chop time.

By the time I harvest, the frosty trim leaves are tan/gold/dead and the color is just reaching into the buds. I try to time it so I'm chopping just as the buds themselves start to die a bit... Still want to harvest when they're alive so you can retain the moisture and do a proper cure.

Stay Safe!

 

[komboloi]

Sorry to be such a pest for info about this, but I'm interested in the project.

So you get gold buds with a 3 week flush in DWC? Or are you saying that it's a mistake to rob the bud of nutrients for too long so they're still alive and retain sufficient moisture to do a proper cure?

 

[mean mr.mustard]

The yellowing during a good flush is the same "gold" that is referred to with Colombian highland variety.

I girdled some of my early outdoor adventures and they did seem smoother with no difference in potency...
But none of them were totally gold... they were more sickly starved and generally just not green.

I would add that they looked more brown but that was way back so maybe the quality was lacking in the first place.

 

[toastfighter2]

I don't know if it helps you at all, but one of my friends had a nice little setup going, and when he moved the last time, he left a couple of the plants in total darkness for a week(possibly longer), and they turned completely yellow. It tasted like shit(not in a good way either) and burnt terrible, but it did have the same buzz as the regular stuff. It didn't get flushed at all, so the burn and some of the taste could be from that. I think that it could be possible to give the plants just enough light to keep them alive the last two weeks, like putting them under some florescent shop lights. This could possibly make all the buds turn the same color as the lower shaded bud on a bigger plant. Just a though.

 

[Hydro-Soil]

I think that it could be possible to give the plants just enough light to keep them alive the last two weeks, like putting them under some florescent shop lights. This could possibly make all the buds turn the same color as the lower shaded bud on a bigger plant. Just a though.

nope... but it was a thought.
Keeping the lights higher the last few days keeps the more fragile turpenes from vaping off or decomposing... that's helpful. The yellowing from the dark was a lack of chlorophyl and having lights (even low powered ones) will keep the chlorophyl production up.

The tapering off of the nutes still allows a full harvest weight. The end smoke is super smooth and tasty. I'm extremely sensitive to touch, taste and smell... waaaaay more than your average joe.

Stay Safe!

 

[trichrider]

this may be fringe, but my method is to wait for the fade and when the fans are turning yellow, pull them off.
the buds are translocating nutrients at this stage so the lack of a source of those nutes makes the buds use up what there is left in the sugar leaves.
do not let them just die in the pot...makes for some fugly dry nastiness.

 

[trichrider]

ready for the pluck.

cannot post pics in edit...

 

[longwaters]

You guys mentioned highland varieties, I bet it depends mainly on elevation and how much ultraviolet light the plant is getting.

This is ECSD. When grown under high pressure sodium it finishes green like most bud. However I recently switched to high UV metal halide during flowering and it brought out some goldish hues.

 

[Hydro-Soil]

Hrmmm...

Judging from the pic (nice one by the way) On the next run, either start the flush 5-6 days earlier or run a slightly lower nute strength... I still see green leaves and tips...

Nice looking bud.

Stay Safe!

 

[BasementGrower]

a nice 2-3 week slow dry works very nice.. gets the green out.. and is really only possible for me in the winter.. i tried to control the environment were i was drying in the summer.. and the ac ended up sucking the buds dry faster.. honestly.. i like my bud a little dryer then most people do .. but it seems to me that the longer the dry.. the more chlrophyl gets out.. the less of that.. the less green in the buds.. u notice. wen u let ur stems dry they go from green to yellow?>?? i find this works for me. but honestly. i mainly grow for myself to smoke.. so the way i like my bud.. and u like urs is diff. but wen i get buds that are still moist.. i dont like it .. i like to pack my joints like ciggs.. and wen i do that with moist buds it dont work well. lol

 

[ColorGRo]

Cure it like they do in Africa.

 

[DHF]

It`s a proven fact that as pot gets stored in airtight containers in dark cool environments but not frozen and kept in suspended animation , that chlorophyll degrades and the plants get "blonder/golder/browner" in the process "after the dry/cure process over many months......but....

Folks really don`t understand about 3rd world countries that grow dope for export to the US and elsewhere that the drying /curing process happens right there in the field under the sun and moon after Harvey , and .......

What happens is after all the chlorophyll is leached from the plants , the inherent anthocyanin comes forth and gives the dominant genetic colors of the plant , and that`s where purple/gold/red varieties originated from with outdoor dope....period...anyways.....

Anthocyanin.......Ya`ll do a google.......Knowledge is power......

Peace.....DHF..........

 

[trichrider]

so ph is the factor?

 

[Hydro-Soil]

so ph is the factor?

That's an interesting question... I never pH my add-back R/O water and during the fade... I don't pH at all. Absolutely no idea what my end pH is... never measured it before in all the years I've been growing. lol

Stay Safe!