48 or 72 hrs dark?

[Guest]

Resin is believed to serve different purposes from protecting the female plant from insects,to keeping the leaves from drying out, and many believe to help collect male pollen. This way if the Stigma (hairs) was not pollenated then their would be an aboundant supply of male pollen in the vicinity.

Does the 48 hour dark period work, I guess you'll have to try it for yourself.

 

[Guest]

soak the soil or w/e u got it in very very well. put in a dry cool dark place, harvest when soil is bone dry. itl help frost up the plant a little bit and does make it stink a bit more i think. other than that not much of a difference.

In a cab grow, would u still be ventilating, or turn off fans as well?

 

[mr beaner]

Hi there

I've left plants in the dark for a few days whilst I've been harvesting them. I've done this to slow the growth and minimise further degradation of THC. The colas that have been in the dark for a bit are no different than the ones chopped first. There is no magic growth and I don't believe anyone could tell the difference between colas harvested a couple of days apart (after about 4 days, leaf colour begins to change but there's no magic extra frosting that I can see!).

Light seems to also be one of the triggers for THC production:

It is probable that the cannabinoids and associated terpenes serve as defensive agents in a variety of antidessication, antimicrobial, antifeedant and UV-B pigmentation roles. UV-B selection pressures seem responsible for the distribution of THC-rich Cannabis varieties in areas of high ambient radiation, and may have influenced the evolution of an alternate biogenetic pathway from CBG to THC in some of these strains. Though environmental stresses appear to be a direct stimulus for enhanced chemical production by individual plants, it must be cautioned that such stresses may also skew data by hastening development of the highly glandular flowering structures. Future studies will require careful and representative sampling to assure meaningful results.

- Pate, Chemical Ecology of Cannabis, 1994

There is a lot of speculation about what trichomes are for, but the collection of pollen doesn't seem to come into it. Pollen is collected on the pistil where it then fertilises the ovary - pollen stuck on trichomes isn't going to be able to do that. Surely in that case the plant would try and grow more pistils than trichs?

I like to keep my growroom very bright all the time (and fairly dry in mid-late flower around 25-35% RH), which seems to help my plants produce resinous, stony buds in large amounts!

HTH

mr b

 

[dmcheatw]

4iiii, i don't see how leaving the light on for 48 straight hrs prior to harvest would help... that would just make the plant think it needed to try to veg itself out again wouldn't it?

dark for 48 hrs makes sense to me since the plant would be thinking it's time is up, but i can't directly relate this to why that would make it more frosty... anway thanks for the replies

 

[4iiii'z]

the point is :-
that last little push before harvest to get the most out of the plant

leaving the light on 48 - 72 hours pre-harvest
is not going re-veg the plant or hermie it, in such a short time frame.

try it on a half harvested plant
cut off all the main buds
leave the lower buds intact
now stick it in your veg room.

I tried it on an Austrailian Blue
couple of weeks in my vegging room (18 - 6)
fattened them up nicely

I have also tried the darkness theory
the plant begins to die, not quite the same as fully matured
whereby the plant will die regardless of lights and nutes

if you want frostier nugs :-
change your strain
messin about with your light aint gonna do jack

best you can hope for leaving the lights on:-
heavier buds
maturer trichomes

lights off :-
couple of bucks off your electric bill

 

[Guest]

growers at OG did it all the time. From what I remember a lot of them said they didnt really notice a differance. And some said it did wonders...

I guess ill have to throw one of my plants in 72 hours of darkness or something this grow and find out myself huh..

 

[dmcheatw]

iiiiz,

IIII see your point. as jay roach said it was common practice on og, to the point that i wasn't really aware that there was a controversy and since you tried it both ways you def make a good argument.

has anyone actually taken two clones from the same mom at the same time and then done each a different way? that would be the best way to see if it would work or not

 

[Guest]

They say this is benefitial to the 'white strains' so milage may vary.

Here's some even goofier info I came across while researching MK-Ultra from THSeeds.

http://www.thseeds.com/pages/news_1.htm

Then take the grow tips from the header and I quote from the link:

3. Light cycles tip
In growing "motherplants, cuttings, veg" the light cycle is 18 on and 6 off. When Inducing flowering of plants to give your plants a good start, it is important to reset it's internal clock. To do this give the plant 36 hours of darkness before the first 12 hours light 12 hour dark cycle. Remember the dark cycle must be kept 100 % dark, any distruption can cause the plant to start to reveg (grow again) and / or hermaphrodite and we don't want any of that...



Has anyone tried resetting the internal clock before flowering, sounds ghastly and possibly fatal to me, but this is a respected breeder's site, cup winner etc..

[edited spelling/link to grow tips isn't final]

 

[viewsonic123]

hey taylor i did reset the clock as you call it with my dj shorts blueberry and my blueberry northern lights on this last cycle and it caused no problems just harvested about a week ago. i read to do this in the cervantes medical grow bible pg.174 top of page. as for leaving plants ready to harvest in 48 hours of dark i have tried it on my last 2 crops and i took pictures this last time and asked my girlfriend and a few of my friends if they noticed a differnce? only one person was able to tell me the differance out of 5 people, i did not really notice anything worth trying it agian hope this helps

 

[Makavellian]

i tried 72 hours dark in my last grow, but i dont know if it made a difference or not .. keep an eye on the moisture levels in your soil though. i found mold in my densest, fattest top at harvest time, which ive concluded was from the wet soil and 72 hours darkness.

 

[mtnjohn]

ive tried a dark period of 48 hrs ...before grows and after grows...on the same strain
..i have grown this strain many times and i couldnt tell a difference at all

the only thing i have found thats makes a plant better is getting her dialed in on the
nute levels...and even then the high isnt much different if at all...mostly the taste and aroma are improved...

just my experience with a certain strain...other strains may react differently...idk
mj

 

[chaingmai]

ok first lemme say that i am extremely skeptical of any "magic" technique like these. At the end of my harvey i had to girls left and decided to try 48 hrs of darkness. One really did show a difference and one did not. So i think it is strain speccific ,which would explain why allot of peeps say it work alot and say it doesn't.

 

[ShroomDr]

ive tried a 72 hour with a pheno i had flowered 3 times before. I did not notice any difference. (in a DWC)

 

[Guest423]

wow, thread from the dead, very well could be dependent on the strain, the strain i noticed the difference on was bluemoonshine.

 

[Relik]

Strain dependent or not, why would you want immature trichomes?

 

[chaingmai]

i let mine mature all the way then gave them 48 hrs of darkness while i was trimming their sisters , i figured it would save electricity if nothing else.... so mine were mature


_irie

 

[Guest423]

immature trichomes?

 

[Relik]

Trichomes appeared during these 48-76 hours would be immature to me (ie. only clear trichs). I don't see the point in waiting 8+ weeks for your bud to mature and expecting the last trichs to change much to the potency of the harvest.

If the plants have grown to maturity, the job's done, IMHO.

 

[Guest423]

depends on a few factors of debate, there could be a few reasons.

turning your lights off for 2-3 days would drop heat, and sometimes cooler temps cause different looks, tastes, and potency. i've noticed personally that cooler temps make a bud look more frosty....outdoors and indoor winter grows.

the trichomes already visable could have a chance to mature more, like if a person favors a couchlock type buzz but in the past always harvested with clear to cloudy trichs but put his plants in dark for 2-3 days could make the trichs go more amber...then that person could possibly notice a difference.

it's all debatable just like everything about growing, some people will say they notice some won't, just like hydro vs organic soil, hydro vs organic nutes, flush no flush, cure no cure, topping vs lst, 24 hour light vs 18 for veg, ect, ect.

 

[chaingmai]

the more trichomes the merrier, mature or not IMHO

_irie