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72 hours dark - trichomes development
- Thread starter Pwyll
- Start date
Speed of green
Active member
Idk, i personally think its bullshit to leave them in the dark for three days before the chop.
It doesnt happen in nature, the plants havent evolved to expect it.
i think the flower will continue to mature at its normal rate, however... i have no evidence to prove any of this and i could be totally wrong.
good luck!
It doesnt happen in nature, the plants havent evolved to expect it.
i think the flower will continue to mature at its normal rate, however... i have no evidence to prove any of this and i could be totally wrong.
good luck!
Douglas.Curtis
Autistic Diplomat in Training
They'll show about the same amount of amber as 3 days of regular lighting would.
Yes, the 3 days of dark myth is bogus. The majority of growers who see a difference are seeing their plants responding to the reduction of stress, not increased maturation. There are no magic trichomes which develop in 3 days, nor jumps in cannabinoid/terpene production.
I still love the "Oh! It's pushing out extra trichomes because the plant thinks it's dying and is pushing for reproduction." Umm... yeah, more trichomes to sticky trap pollen, where it's unusable by the flowers right next to it. lol I'm sure it sounded good back in the day.
Yes, the 3 days of dark myth is bogus. The majority of growers who see a difference are seeing their plants responding to the reduction of stress, not increased maturation. There are no magic trichomes which develop in 3 days, nor jumps in cannabinoid/terpene production.
I still love the "Oh! It's pushing out extra trichomes because the plant thinks it's dying and is pushing for reproduction." Umm... yeah, more trichomes to sticky trap pollen, where it's unusable by the flowers right next to it. lol I'm sure it sounded good back in the day.
brown_thumb
Active member
Take this with a grain of salt because I'm a newb and this observation is far from scientific...
I had sixteen plants nearly ready for harvest. On three of them, the trichomes are all very milky and a very few were turning amber. I moved those three plants into a very cool dark closet and left them there for seven days. The goal was to increase THC, CBD and terpene retention and to promote blue flowers. After those seven days, the outside plants were all turning very milky and somewhat amber.
What surprised me is, all the trichomes on the three plants that were moved to the cool dark closet turned completely transparent again. The milkiness and amber color were nearly completely gone. Also, I expected the plants to react to the cool dark environment but other than the trichomes turning clear, they looked no different from the moment they were moved inside.
I had sixteen plants nearly ready for harvest. On three of them, the trichomes are all very milky and a very few were turning amber. I moved those three plants into a very cool dark closet and left them there for seven days. The goal was to increase THC, CBD and terpene retention and to promote blue flowers. After those seven days, the outside plants were all turning very milky and somewhat amber.
What surprised me is, all the trichomes on the three plants that were moved to the cool dark closet turned completely transparent again. The milkiness and amber color were nearly completely gone. Also, I expected the plants to react to the cool dark environment but other than the trichomes turning clear, they looked no different from the moment they were moved inside.
They'll show about the same amount of amber as 3 days of regular lighting would.
Yes, the 3 days of dark myth is bogus. The majority of growers who see a difference are seeing their plants responding to the reduction of stress, not increased maturation. There are no magic trichomes which develop in 3 days, nor jumps in cannabinoid/terpene production.
I still love the "Oh! It's pushing out extra trichomes because the plant thinks it's dying and is pushing for reproduction." Umm... yeah, more trichomes to sticky trap pollen, where it's unusable by the flowers right next to it. lol I'm sure it sounded good back in the day.
my question had nothing to do with increased potency. I needed to use my grow room as a drying room, but 4 of the 8 plants needed another few days. So I switched off the light, harvested 4 the next morning and the other four three days later. So that way 4 could by drying while the others were still maturing in the same room. Seemed to work well. I must say that the plants I left for three days looked really vibrant after 3 days of dark. All the leaves stretching upwards.
Douglas.Curtis
Autistic Diplomat in Training
Analyze your flowering conditions and somewhere you'll find stress point(s) which saw relief during the dark period.
Douglas.Curtis
Autistic Diplomat in Training
Definitely interesting. I left an indica-dominant plant in the dark for a month... just for s&g. It was almost completely amber at harvest.
Analyze your flowering conditions and somewhere you'll find stress point(s) which saw relief during the dark period.
that was my thought also. Temp, humidity, air flow were all good. I suspect too much light for an organic living soil style grow. I used 2 600W air cooled reflectors 2 feet above a 3.5'x7.5' scrog, around 25sf. Using one brand new and one 3 month old hortilux enhanced spectrum HPS.
Does it seem likely too much light might be the issue? I know some people suggest using less light with an organic grow.
i have done this myself with pretty much the same results
sometimes i dont have time to process the plant but ive reached the end of my grow cycle
i just turn the light off but leave all the fans running
i dont know about increasing potency but if done right the potency will not decrease
(remember, im just buying myself some time untill i can harvest)
i also like to harvest at "first light", so for all my crops, i will turn the light off the day before
again, its not to increase potency but to harvest when the terpenes are at their freshest and to give myself flexibility as to when i take the plant down
was it ready to smoke at that point or did you need to dry the plants more?
how did it smoke?
Douglas.Curtis
Autistic Diplomat in Training
It was fully alive and required trimming and drying as usual. The bud structure was super fluffy (compared to the same strain harvested on time) and trimming knocked off significantly more trichomes than usual. Like a light rain.
It smoked fine but was super sleepy. A couple hits and I would fall asleep within 15 minutes, even with a lot of caffeine. When waking the next day I would have a hangover. Not my cup of tea, but super handy when you're sick or have pain you want to sleep through.
Douglas.Curtis
Autistic Diplomat in Training
Not surprising to hear, since they all pretty much grew up with prohibition information. Human bias will verify it every time, for those who are biased to see it. As those in the know are aware, growers are a very biased group. When I see the lab testing, I'll believe it. Good luck on a verifiable and accurate test which can be duplicated.
Looking forward to having this topic lab verified or put to rest.
frostqueen
Active member
Not surprising to hear, since they all pretty much grew up with prohibition information. Human bias will verify it every time, for those who are biased to see it. As those in the know are aware, growers are a very biased group. When I see the lab testing, I'll believe it. Good luck on a verifiable and accurate test which can be duplicated.
Looking forward to having this topic lab verified or put to rest.
This. All we have at this point are a bunch of subjective opinions, anecdotal evidence and premature conclusions. Add this one to the huge pile of myths that need to be lab tested and either confirmed or busted.
As far as a verifiable and repeatable test, it could be done. Two rooms with identical environments, 100 clones all the same age of one genotype flowered in each, all with the same diet; one room gets 72 hours of darkness at the end and the other doesn't. Trichome output could be quantified via microscope analysis and via dry-sift collection. Chemical analysis would cover the potency questions. With that many plants a pattern should be evident.
I've always heard that the trichs just get bigger, not that new ones grow. Either way, any difference should be measurable with a big enough sample group. One benefit that has been documented is increased terpene levels; these spike in the dark and drop during the daylight hours.
I've always wanted to have a couple of climate-controlled greenhouses with room to fully explore these myths - there are so many - under highly controlled conditions using the scientific method instead of assumption. Anybody want to bankroll that...?
frostqueen
Active member
No, seriously: anybody out there want to bankroll that...? 
