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Blazed Hippie

Thirty Six Hour Dark Period: A Myth With Some Truth

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Blazed Hippie
, 04-29-2010 at 08:11 AM (2109 Views)
Recently, I heard that a 36 hour dark period could help growth and even help resin production. First thing I did when I heard this was look it up in both of the bibles. Greg Green didn't seem to mention it, that was my first clue. My second clue was when I read about it in Jorge's bible. He said there is NO real reason to do this unless you are impatient to determine plant sex. I did my own research and tried it myself in my last grow. The reason I decided to do this was curiosity and my plants were only vegging 4 weeks before I flowered. I was impatient and wanted to see the pre-flowers asap. This impatience payed off for once. I put them in the darkness period for 36 hours and out came pre-flowered plants. It was as easy as that. I had 3 males and 3 females. The perfect ratio. It was nice to be able to sex the plants early, but seemingly useless other than that. I did not see any increased resin or bud production compared to my other plants. This technique does not coincide with my paradigm, so for my current grow this strategy is out. Plus I am going to pre-flower these before I move them to flowering. I was talking to my parents about this the other day (if you don't know my dad is a botanist and my mom is a certified nursery person) they said what is happening internally is the plant thinks that it may die because for some reason the light is not coming on. If the plant thinks it will die and it hasn't entered the flowering stage, it begins flowering. The plant needs to flower in order to propagate its species. It is evolutionarily conditioned to make this so. That is why it is so imperative to remove hermies and males. They WANT to mate. So when it thinks it not going to get anymore light it makes a last ditch attempt to get laid so to speak. Its actually the same biology as hermies but you would use the 36 hour strat right before flowering, thwarting that possibility. Thanks for reading, let me know what you think.

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Comments

  1. Blazed Hippie's Avatar
    Also, does anyone think that if you turn lights off for 36 hours and determine sex, then switch it back to 24/0 or 18/6. Could you get an earlier mother that way? Perhaps.
  2. LeeroySlim's Avatar
    did you notice that it finished quicker? alot of growers on the forum seem to think with that dark period caz it induces flowering faster they will finish quicker
  3. Blazed Hippie's Avatar
    it didn't seem to finish quicker they both took 8 weeks
  4. LeeroySlim's Avatar
    thanx mate i was going to do it to my girls but ill give it a miss now
  5. stinkbudd1's Avatar
    I've been on other threads and have given this as my main reason for going 36 hours dark it is solely for me to determine sex and in doing this as ive shown with pic's on my grows you can definately see the pre flowers forming on the females..but as for the final stage of flowering and total darkness for the 3 days or so im still not yet sold on that i've tried that a couple of times and my plants dont gain much of anything let alone resin..actually they wont even take upthe remaining water that is left in the [pot!.Peace
  6. l333t's Avatar
    seems good if need to see the sex for some reason,good info,But don't see myself using it anytime ,My question is when would i need to know the sex in 36 hours endless i'm moving plants,or no clue?
    Good info, could you veg afterwards or would you need to flower them
  7. thelightison's Avatar
    to bad it doesnt bump up the yeild getting the preflowers out like this. but it would be helpful if you wanted to grow some bag seeds and didn't want to wait so long to sex your plants. thanks for the thread BH.
  8. Blazed Hippie's Avatar
    Thank you guys for letting me know what you think . Most things in growing weed make sense when you look at evolution. I am learning that more and more as I grow. I will write a full thread on that someday probably soon :P
  9. Learn2Grow's Avatar
    You have to place one plant of the same strain directly in the bloom room and the other in the dark then compare the finish time of the two. I am interested to see if this bumps up finishing time.
  10. HappyMan420's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Blazed Hippie
    Also, does anyone think that if you turn lights off for 36 hours and determine sex, then switch it back to 24/0 or 18/6. Could you get an earlier mother that way? Perhaps.
    Do you think it might be good to filter the light the last week or so to mimic the lack of light towards the end of the season and sorta make the plant "freak out"? or maybe going from 12/12 gradually to 10/14 over the 8 weeks might increase productivity in the reproduction centers, simulating the closing of the season?
  11. DrHempenstein's Avatar
    theres alot of reasons for the extended dark periods but ive never heard increased trich production being one of them. In the early stages it is used for pre sexing plants, when given this extended period the plant is stressed into thinking it needs to mature faster because of the lack of light, thus producing the hormones needed for the preflowers to appear. They are then usualy but not always reverted back to veg state to extend the photo period. The extended dark period for when the plant is ready for harvest is to aid in the production of trepinoids,which happens during the plants ''sleep'' phase. Trepinoids are organic chemicals that your plants have creating the aroma that you smell. Think of the smell before and after you turn the lights on for your plants, If you have some in bloom take a sniff for yourself.
    So in lamens terms everyone understands......

    Dark period for veg=early sexing
    Dark period for flowering= increase the dankitude of your plants smell
    Updated 12-24-2012 at 11:05 AM by DrHempenstein (spelling*)
  12. DrHempenstein's Avatar
    ^Not saying it doesnt increase trichs, just that I havnt heard it.