48 hours of darkness before harvest

Shawns420

Active Member
It does have a 12 hour of darkness, It just makes the trichomes more sticky,greasy and full flavour. The concept comes from the Fact that Light and heat degrade the Trichomes, so during the dark period the essential oils, Terpens etc build up and are at there max just before the sun or light come on. soon as the heat and the light starts the Trichomes start to degrade. From personal experience I've picked my outdoor before the sun comes up the trichomes are WAY more sticky and full of terpenes. Why do you think the plants smell so much when the light is on and the plants are warm cause the Terpenes are being released in to the air. This is also why I said that anything more then 24-48 hours darkness is pointless
 

soilweb

Member
I have often questioned this philosophy. Most arguments in cannabis growing come back to "nothing in nature does it that way" and then i think...well there really isn't anything about growing cannabis that is natural....I mean look how much food we give them....Some rooms actually provide MORE lumens than the sun does. abundant C02, perfect temperatures(indoors at least) any others i'm missing? point being the right answer isn't always how a plant acts in it's natural habitat.
 

estee

Member
"The Stichting Institute of Medical marijuana (SIMM), the first company to sell marijuana through the pharmacies of Holland, has been investigating the medical possibilities of cannabis, together with TNO laboratories and the University of Leiden.


One of their discoveries has been that to keep the ripe plants in the dark before harvesting could increase their potency.SIMM’s growers separated a crop of mature plants, harvested half of them and kept the other half in absolute darkness for 72 hours before cutting and drying. Analysis of the resulting dried buds showed that some varieties had seen an increase of THC of up to 30%, while CBD and CBN remained the same."

Thc degrades in light. Thc is used by the plant as a sunscreen, primarily to deflect UV-b which damages the molecule. The thrichomes are refracting sunlight away from the plant protecting it from the damaging uv-b. The plant produces these trichomes in the twilight hours before sunrise in order to protect itself from the sun. Extending this twilight dark period allows for the plant to continue producing thc without it being damaged by light.
Have you tried it yourself, and if you have what results did you get?
 

stoned-monkey

Well-Known Member
tried extended dark period and it just wasted two days of drying. I do however prefer to harvest around sunrise (lights on), I believe it helps retain that little tiny bit more aroma, plus it saves the lights on for the next plant to start.
 

dankness19

Well-Known Member
"The Stichting Institute of Medical marijuana (SIMM), the first company to sell marijuana through the pharmacies of Holland, has been investigating the medical possibilities of cannabis, together with TNO laboratories and the University of Leiden.


One of their discoveries has been that to keep the ripe plants in the dark before harvesting could increase their potency.SIMM’s growers separated a crop of mature plants, harvested half of them and kept the other half in absolute darkness for 72 hours before cutting and drying. Analysis of the resulting dried buds showed that some varieties had seen an increase of THC of up to 30%, while CBD and CBN remained the same."

Thc degrades in light. Thc is used by the plant as a sunscreen, primarily to deflect UV-b which damages the molecule. The thrichomes are refracting sunlight away from the plant protecting it from the damaging uv-b. The plant produces these trichomes in the twilight hours before sunrise in order to protect itself from the sun. Extending this twilight dark period allows for the plant to continue producing thc without it being damaged by light.
You know this thread begin with people debating over this fact, if you did research you'd probably know something about the topic.
 

dankness19

Well-Known Member
Haha I used a ruler to measure the amount of trich's on my plant. Haha base on what I showed you and research one by other growers not me the myth should be a fact.
 
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Hotshot123

Well-Known Member
I was always under the asumstion that when the winter starts to approach on the plant, The plant produce more THC, to pertect it from the cold weather. Like you putting a blanket on you to get warm. Any truth to this? Any one?
 

TheJKBro

Member
No. No and no.

You are better off giving your plants the full 12 hours of light those last days. The myth that darkness tricks the finished plant into producing more resin is just that, myth. A plant needs that 12 hours of light during the day in order to produce that resin at night.

There IS NOT scientific proof this works, there is scientific proof it probably doesn't work.

If you chose this route at least crank up the de-humidifier to keep the humidity down to 30% or so where it's suppose to be the last week.
Someone on youtube did a scientific test with no darkness, then 12-24-72. and the (24 dark) sample came to be better then the no darkness, 12hr and the 72hr dark.
 

CK?1

Active Member
"The Stichting Institute of Medical marijuana (SIMM), the first company to sell marijuana through the pharmacies of Holland, has been investigating the medical possibilities of cannabis, together with TNO laboratories and the University of Leiden.


One of their discoveries has been that to keep the ripe plants in the dark before harvesting could increase their potency.SIMM’s growers separated a crop of mature plants, harvested half of them and kept the other half in absolute darkness for 72 hours before cutting and drying. Analysis of the resulting dried buds showed that some varieties had seen an increase of THC of up to 30%, while CBD and CBN remained the same."

Thc degrades in light. Thc is used by the plant as a sunscreen, primarily to deflect UV-b which damages the molecule. The thrichomes are refracting sunlight away from the plant protecting it from the damaging uv-b. The plant produces these trichomes in the twilight hours before sunrise in order to protect itself from the sun. Extending this twilight dark period allows for the plant to continue producing thc without it being damaged by light.
Interesting! I’m keen to read up more about that! Here’s the thing, I only knew of tircs deterring pests. I’m 48h from harvest today So excited of course. Beautiful Royal Queen seeds Hulkberry! I switched the lights off tonight, I’m gonna try it for two main reasons. One, to check if their is a difference and yes been flushing 5 days in coco so last PH feed tonight ( maybe pushing flushing 7 days! But in was reading high E.C. levelday ofnflush ) What I was wondering and think the answer is obvious, and the above of the trice proves we never stop learning the plant and learning to last the the technics.
apologies my question I ramble on, I know when I’m stoned and talking my passion and excitement to learn!
Do you have to keep humidity down to 30. I can currently do 55 raining here in Cape Town ZA I’m running really great air flow in the test, is the 30 for bud rot prevention mainly or the trics?
Shot guys always a pleasure.
Stay safe during these times stay loved and mostly loving.
blessings
# I hope some is online now to answer, lights on or off guys.
I just remember my other question! I’m stoned, well not a question but the upside less electricity use, if two days lights off does nothing bad to the bud I say safe the cash??? But if it does, we’ll see this round. I need to save cash during this Covid-19
Anyway cheers happy growers........PEEEACE
 

Potjunkie

New Member
Plants make chlorophyll when lights are on. Chlorophyll makes weed taste smell grassy. Leave lights off 24-72 hours.stops production of chlorophyll. Plants smell and taste better. I think I got that from bergman.makes sense. Yes im new to forum.
 

JStruck

Member
I grabbed a bunch of White Widow AFL seeds. I’ll put this to the test. I’ll put my wifes in the dark 2 days and just chop mine. See what happens ‍♂
 
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