Man at Arms
Active member
So I am just about at that time. (Happy Happy Joy Joy). What is the recommended hours of darkness to give before the chop? 24 hours? Also should my soil be wet or dry when I do chop. Thank you all for any help!
Congratulations!
I don’t mind any of that shit. I go business as usual and chop em when they’re done...and I feel like it.
So I am just about at that time. (Happy Happy Joy Joy). What is the recommended hours of darkness to give before the chop? 24 hours? Also should my soil be wet or dry when I do chop. Thank you all for any help!
I give my plants a dark period, but not because I think it increases potency. Instead I base it on a common experiment done in any college level introductory biology course. I hope to be able to document this in actual cannabis leaf in a future post instead of the germanium leaves I used way back when...
https://learning-center.homesciencetools.com/article/test-for-starch-photosynthesis/
The experiment plays out like this.. you take a germanium plant and cover 1 leaf fully with an index card (no light) and cover only half of another leaf (half light), finally leave one completely uncovered (full light). After 24 hours of light you place the 3 leaves in boiling alcohol. The alcohol removes any chlorophyll, effectively bleaching the leaf. Next we dip the leaf in an iodine solution. The iodine will stain any starch blue/black; the starch is not soluble in alcohol and therefore not washed out. When you compare the leaves... the one in full light will be solid blue, only the half exposed to light will be blue on the half covered leaf, and the completely covered leaf will be a light brown.
The takeaway from this experiment is to show that during periods of light, the leaf is creating sugars which are immediately stored as starch. However, during a dark period the leaf converts the starch back to sugar to use in the leaf or transports it to other areas to carry out vital functions.
If we give the plants a long dark period, we ensure they are using up the sugars stored in the leaf. Less sugar will lead to a cleaner, less harsh smoke. This only really matters if you’re planning to combust the plant material.
Have you ever smoked cannabis before and felt it tasted bad because there wasn’t a long enough dark period?
However, during a dark period the leaf converts the starch back to sugar to use in the leaf or transports it to other areas to carry out vital functions.
Just make sure you keep your fans and other environmental controls running. In other words don’t just pull the plug.