Darkness between veg & flowering?

What is the consensus on whether or not to go dark for 24-36 hours before going to 12/12?

There is no consensus on hardly anything.

I have never seen any evidence that such a dark period has any advantage, or why it would.

You're a fool.

It's bogus - bunk - horse-shit.

Does the Sun stay 'out' for 36 hours between seasons?

Plants just haven't evolved that way.

GrassCity Sucks said:

You're a fool.

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Huh? Really? For asking the question? I picked this up on another forum on this site by someone who also felt authoritative. I would also add that the Sun also does not go from 18 hour days to 12 hour days overnight either.

shotrocker said:

What is the consensus on whether or not to go dark for 24-36 hours before going to 12/12?

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I know a guy who claims he forces his in early by going 11 on 13 off for a day. He grows nice buds under minimum light. But i figure why mess with a good thing. If you stick to basic tried & true methods you can grow mega buds.

shotrocker said:

Huh? Really? For asking the question? I picked this up on another forum on this site by someone who also felt authoritative. I would also add that the Sun also does not go from 18 hour days to 12 hour days overnight either.

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No the Sun doesn't, and everybody would probably score an increase in yield or quality, by gradually lowering the daylight hours over a longer period, until they reach about the 12 hour mark. But who's got the patience for that? .. I don't see either technique making a whole bunch of difference either way, but any time your lights are out is time your plants are not producing sugars, vegetative or floral growth.

You also risk stressing sensitive plants into hermaphrodism.

*shrug*

Sometimes it seems like weed growers live in a pre scientific world. "I wonder if this would work?" Maybe doing that would please the gods!"

If there is no biological reason why doing something would benefit a plant, and no experimental evidence that it does, it's bunk until one or both of those emerge.

Some stoner says, "Far out man, I left it dark for 36 hrs and I, like, got a bigger yield man!" Right, let's see the experimental methodology and all the data, then maybe I'll stop laughing.

Then there was the guy who put cat urine in his dwc res.

This theory comes from more than one experienced grower. They suggest that this helps trigger hormones to flower. I wish I knew who the smartest growers were when seeking advice.

going straight to 12/12 from 18/6 or 20/4 forces chemical process for females to bud quicker than gradual reduction of light, or you would be doing this every day, to mimic daily cycle rather than seasonal..? dunno just a thought???...

shotrocker said:

This theory comes from more than one experienced grower. They suggest that this helps trigger hormones to flower. I wish I knew who the smartest growers were when seeking advice.

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Sadly, it's not as simple as that: There are as many 'little tricks' in growing - well any plant really - as there are growers, and what works for one person simply may not for the next.

It's said that plants don't need a rest during Vegetative growth, and if we didn't need the 12 hours of darkness that goes with flowering, we wouldn't even turn the lights off during budding: The plant needs that darkness whilst flowering to STAY flowering and not revert, and that's the only reason anyone turns their lights off at all.

I will tell ya something though: A few months ago when I started this years garden, I found that my seedlings seemed to increase noticeably overnight whilst enveloped in darkness. I don't quite know why, but I could SEE the slightly fatter leaves, slightly longer stem, .. that was mid summer though, with seedlings, grown under Sunlight. And whilst I swear they did more growing in the dark than in the light, it certainly cannot be anything to do with actual growth or photosynthesis.: Growth during daylight hours was quite slow (we're talking one inch seedlings here though), but it's quite possibly just an illusion: Severl times each day I'd check the seedlings - make sure they're moist and happy, while at night, I didn't look at em at all.

I actually dispute that plants don't need darkness: I believe it benefits them - I just don't know how.

But none of the above has anything to do with torturing them with 36 hours of darkness. As I said, the risk of stressing any sensitive plants into hermaphroditism is - logically - increased, by messing with their lighting.

All plants have evolved over thousands of years to adapt as best they can to natural Sunlight and outdoor conditions, which makes many 'secret techniques' effectively nothing but gimmicks.

This technique is one of these gimmicks.

Edit: The only place I can possibly see this being useful, is outdoors, where the grower doesn't want to wait for winter to get here, and stuns the plant into early flowering but even then, that'd only work if Autumn was well on the way, otherwise the plant(s) would simply revert..

Indoors though, just switch to 12/12 - any strain worth it's space on the planet should be able to produce fine, thick, potent buds WITHOUT torturing your plants like that.

shotrocker said:

This theory comes from more than one experienced grower. They suggest that this helps trigger hormones to flower. I wish I knew who the smartest growers were when seeking advice.

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I would recommend anyone wanting the basics look for "The Marijuana Growers Handbook by Ed Rosenthal".

I purchased that book some 15-20 years ago, and found not only in-depth information on Cannabis, but methods and techniques that apply to ALL annual plants. Thanks to that book, I've not once mixed a 'bad' soil mix, and very, very rarely have any unhealthy plants in my garden - generally. There have been many advances in horticulture since then, but the book has also been expanded and updated since those days too, and the basics of plant synthetic processes haven't changed: Only thing that's really changed, is how in-depth our knowledge such processes has become.

Honestly, if you study that book like a textbook, you'll have an 'overall' grasp of every aspect of caring for and maintaining healthy plants.

There are lots of books out there, but this'd be the first one I would recommend on anyone's shelf: It's so well written, and worded, that you never have to sit there thinking, "Wtf does that mean?" .. Everything's explained: From the correct way to plant a seed, through to explanations of the different kinds of hydro setups: As well as Hydro vs Organic, lighting types, plant processes (Osmosis right through to Photomorphogenesis, Phototropism and all the details of how such things actually work on a cellular level).

I would love to order it again myself, having lost my last copy somewhere in the past, but then, I also read and re-read the book till it's spine fell apart and pages started falling out.

Recommended reading Muh man! Get yourself copy.

Once you've got all that shit in your head (and you'll find yourself more interested, the more you read and understand), you have a base of knowledge to build-on, as well as a basic understanding of HOW plants really work, which will allow YOU to call 'bullshit' or 'BUNK!' on gimmicky, silly shit that some quack-growers will try to convince you really works.

You can then transfer the knowledge you've gained directly over to other plants in your garden: Tomatoes, Basil, cannabis, they ALL have the same basic Limiting Factors, and they all (annual flowering plants at least) share the same likes and dislikes.

On top of this, you will discover that a LOT of general horticultural knowledge applying to other crops, can be directly applied to the Cannabis Species.

Edit: I had to stop, cos the A-Team is on