Going dark before harvest..

Hey RIU,

My female is ready to rock and roll. I know most of you shut down the lights and go into total darkness for a few days. How long should I go dark? 48 hours?

Also, what are the benefits behind this? This is my first harvest so I'm learning as I go. This is one topic I overlooked.

Thanks!

I'd like to hear more on this as well, never done it and I have a lady ready for scissors.

IME, a dark period makes a marginal difference, if any at all. If you guys want to try it, it won't hurt anything. Just watch out for mold. Good luck.

Simon

Do you typically keep the fans on or off? Or does it not matter?

on and watch humidity for mold reasons

All that putting your plant in the dark will do is make a lil more resin production like maybe 5% if that, iv done it a few times and barely noticed a difference from the ones i ddnt put in the dark, and yes keep the fans on.

Thanks guys! Will be chopping down on Wednesday.. Wish me luck!

It's a final push. Plants collect energy while the lights are on. And expend/grow while the lights are off. So... you're kinda pushing them into a three-day grow period. Shouldn't hurt your plants, might help; I did it in '08 and I didn't notice any difference; but it sounds theoretically-solid.

I do it back wards and run em for 36 with the light on. To me plants stretch in the dark. Really not much diffrence

Try putting in your MH light for the last 3 days , keep fans on like normal and keep the lights on... Apparently the MH light can pull out lots of resin from the buds ,, much more than the reg ole dark days before....

diet coke said:

I do it back wards and run em for 36 with the light on. To me plants stretch in the dark. Really not much diffrence

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You're a madman. I suppose an extended ON period could be helpful if cannabis continues to expend Stored Energy after being chopped.

lykarckstar420 said:

Try putting in your MH light for the last 3 days , keep fans on like normal and keep the lights on... Apparently the MH light can pull out lots of resin from the buds ,, much more than the reg ole dark days before....

Click to expand...

MH lamps have a slightly higher UVB Spectrum than HPS lamps; and Cannabis will produce additional resin to protect their foliage from the UVB rays. Weed-Sunscreen = Delicious.

my understanding of the dark period was to achieve maximum potency since thc degrades under intense light, or light in general.

I did the lights on for the last week once.
too much cabbage and taste suffered I believe.