reducing lumens at end of flowering?

So I got to thinking, wouldn't it make sense to reduce the watts the last week or so of flowering? Assuming you have an adjustable digital ballast that is. my logic is that we are trying to tell the plant that winter is coming so finish up, right? We do this with shorter light period, different color bulbs, and my thinking is that as autumn rolls through the sun's intensity diminishes. Wouldn't the lower temps of reduced wattage as well as the reduced amount of light really trigger a "finish now" response? Or am I off base here? I would love to hear your opinions on my theory.

No just the change from mh (blue) to hps (red) is enough. Cuttin back the watts will reduce energy to the plant. If a plant flowering outside has to endure cloudy cool days in autumn, this to will reduce weight at harvest.

Good point and thanks for chiming in. I suppose the idea behind indoor growing is attempting to improve on nature

It's a question that also popped into my mind when I read the grow guide by Jorge Cervantes. In one paragraph he suggests leaving girls in 24hrs of darkness before harvest. He also later mentions that THC levels in a plant are highest in the morning, so harvest should take place then...which made me think. Is that perhaps why he suggested the 24hr dark period? To increase THC levels that apparently accumulate in darkness and reduce during the day?

He doesn't really go into enough detail on the subject to know. I then wondered if a greatly reduced light intensity for the final 12hr period wouldn't be better than total darkness...

My guess is that he's talking about very marginal improvements here anyway, so it's not something that keeps me awake at night!

Jorge refers to the relationship trichomes have witb defending the plant. Trichs are the plants defense against uv rays (to the best of my understanding) so they get burned away by day a d re-built by night. The 24 hours of darkness is the plant continuing the rebuilding process while waiting for the next onslaught. This can continue for 24-72 houra after the last beams of light depending on who you ask. I was just thinking the reduced light would trigger a "fi al phase" type of response

From what I have experienced the more u torture ur baby in those last 2 days the higher thc level u will hav for example lower the temp or humidity or lowing co2 or all of the above are all ways to increase thc in those last 2 days sounds like a good idea I would try it on one plant n compare it to the ones u didn't do that to

*BUDS said:

No just the change from mh (blue) to hps (red) is enough. Cuttin back the watts will reduce energy to the plant. If a plant flowering outside has to endure cloudy cool days in autumn, this to will reduce weight at harvest.

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Agreed. Cutting down the wattage will only slow down the growth of the plant as it won't get as much energy.

Also, when you dim a digital ballast it can mess up the bulbs, they actually recommend you change the bulb anyways.

I leave my plants in darkness for at least 48 hours. I don't have a good microscope, but the theory makes sense so I practice it.

I've heard that if you turn your lights down to 10 hours for a few days and then down to 9 for a few days and then 8 for a few days the plant will finish sooner, but I don't know if there is any truth to that at all as I've never tried it.