period of darkness before harvesting?

I have a few girls about ready to meet their doom and i have read something in the past about giving them a couple days of darkness before you chop em down. I figure it probably speeds up maturity but thats just my guess. Can anyone tell me if this is ok to do? And why people do it?
Thanks!

Originally Posted by Brick Top
72- hours .... it's 72-hours. People will say 24-hours and 36-hours and 48-hours and now two weeks, but for some reason they never seem to get it right. Shorter length periods of time will not max out THC production and plants cannot continue to live and produce in longer periods of darkness.

72-hours.

Yes it works to some degree or another, up to a 30% in crease in THC in some strains. That is UP TO a 30% increase in THC in SOME strains, NOT in all strains, it is NOT

Hey what I would do instead of taking peoples advice to a test and let us know! If you have two of the same kind of plant then put one in the dark for 72 and just chop the other and do a side by side smoke report and help us all out. If they are not the same I would do it anyway just for your own knowlege.

LoL! all over this thread. wat bennificial element r u exposing it too??

the plant creates the THC as a sort of sunscreen to protect the fragile sugar leafs, so how would darkness add resin?

Howard Stern said:

Hey what I would do instead of taking peoples advice to a test and let us know! If you have two of the same kind of plant then put one in the dark for 72 and just chop the other and do a side by side smoke report and help us all out. If they are not the same I would do it anyway just for your own knowlege.

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+rep howard!

this guys got it. see for your self.

an experiment huh? i like that idea. technically the bennificial element would be.....darkness? hahaha
I think i will put a couple in the dark period and keep a couple out. Ill report in a couple weeks my findings.

my theory on the darkness period is this. although i have no scientific proof to back it up. I think that exposing them to extended dark ( at the end of their flowering period) ultimately tricks the plant into thinking its going to die very very soon. So i figure that if the plant thinks its life is gunna end it will massively speed up metabolism and maturity rates. maturity being the maturing of thc and resin glands. I could be totally wrong on whats actually happening but this is my best guess.

FuZZyBUDz said:

+rep howard!

this guys got it. see for your self.

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Thanks brotha + Rep you too. I have heard allot of shit on this forum and like Matt is saying is what I have heard around here too. What they say is that you trick the plant to think it is dieing and it will push all the energy it has left to the top and push out more Resin. I have never seen a side by side nor have I tried it but like I said, instead of asking us and getting 10 different opinions just do it! Maybe it does work, maybe not but there is only one real way for you to know for sure. GL on the experiment bro.

Now if you asked us weather or not to water your plants with bleach I think everyone would agree that isn't a good idea!!!

My assumption (and it's only an assumption) is that the plant says "HOLY SHIT, the sun is completely gone. I've gotta do something to catch some pollen and/or defend myself." So it creates more resin.

I never tried the 24/48/72 hour darkness thing, but I've been hearing a lot about it and will probably try this time. It can't hurt.

I can tell you that it hasn't affected my weight. I did quadrants awhile back to test the darkness idea, where I did 0 days dark, 1 2 3, (I did a post awhile back that covered my experiment, so I'd have to refer to that), but the end result was that there was no effect on weight.

I wasn't watching comparative resin production or THC content though... I'd have to lab the content for an accurate count. Has anyone done a comparative count by labbing their samples from different dark periods?

THC is produced when lights are out then some of it is destroyed again when lights are on.

If you leave it dark for the last 3 days the plant keeps producing THC in the trichs.

It works on some strains more than others but there is an increase in all so it's worth doing.

I just put a girl into dark last night and it's getting chopped on Saturday.

R2F said:

I can tell you that it hasn't affected my weight. I did quadrants awhile back to test the darkness idea, where I did 0 days dark, 1 2 3, (I did a post awhile back that covered my experiment, so I'd have to refer to that), but the end result was that there was no effect on weight.

I wasn't watching comparative resin production or THC content though... I'd have to lab the content for an accurate count. Has anyone done a comparative count by labbing their samples from different dark periods?

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YUP! sorry yall, but eyes dont read THC content. so how is it that u KNOW this werks 420dog? u stay in holland? got a lab down the street?

"I'm still new to growing myself. The ones I'm on now will be my 3rd or 4th grow but first with good genetics."

sound familiar?

FuZZyBUDz said:

LoL! all over this thread. wat bennificial element r u exposing it too??

the plant creates the THC as a sort of sunscreen to protect the fragile sugar leafs, so how would darkness add resin?

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This is very true. does anyone know when the thc production takes place? Maybe it occurs at a higher rate at night (doesn't make sense to me but maybe) and a extended dark period to a certain extent before harvesting could produce more tasty sunscreen I would very much like to know the answer as I can't do the experiment myself at the moment .

try using metal halide the last 2 weeks of flower, you WILL see a difference.

or if u got some money spend, SUN PULSE has 'high pressure metal halides' bulbs for electronic ballist that come in kelvin rating from 5,000k to 20,000k!!

what about temps?
i live in a climate that has cold winters and my grow room with the lights off probably hoovers around 60-65 degrees F. With the lights on its probably a good 10 to 15 degrees F warmer in there.
So my question is this.
I want to put them in the dark for a few days before harvest.....but if i leave them in 60 degree temps for that long will that have an adverse effect?
Sure i may gain potency but what might the cold do to them?

They'll be fine, that's not that cold.

canabiz said:

This is very true. does anyone know when the thc production takes place? Maybe it occurs at a higher rate at night (doesn't make sense to me but maybe) and a extended dark period to a certain extent before harvesting could produce more tasty sunscreen I would very much like to know the answer as I can't do the experiment myself at the moment .

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at night. is when it gets the most growth.

matticus408 said:

I have a few girls about ready to meet their doom and i have read something in the past about giving them a couple days of darkness before you chop em down. I figure it probably speeds up maturity but thats just my guess. Can anyone tell me if this is ok to do? And why people do it?
Thanks!

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i've read up on this and tried it out myself didnt notice much. and i also use the Ice water stress to the plant for the last 3 days i've noticed a little difference. but i've also heard of a needle tech. if u poke the plant main stalk it will stress and fluffen up the buds.. so many theories.