Extended Dark Period During Flowering?

[crimsonecho]

What do you guys think about giving an extended dark period in the middle of flowering? Like you would just before harvest to increase trichome production (if this even works) and giving the plant adequate time to ripen after the increased production of trichomes (giving enough time for those newly formed trichomes to turn milky) (in most videos i found people say extended dark period before harvest increases trichomes but they are clear, so not much potency, as for me i haven’t done the dark period because i think giving the plant all it can absorb ‘till the end is the way for me just because my OCD). I am new to this so i don’t know if this question has been answered in the past or if it makes any sense [if it’s a dumb question to anyone sorry (although, i don’t believe there is such a thing)] but if you have any useful input on the subject please do share.

 

[CaliRooted]

No

 

[DemonTrich]

No
The wheel is already round and perfect. Why change something that' been tested and works?

 

[xavier7995]

I don't think it would be a very good idea. Plants need light to stay alive. It is fine to put them in the dark at the end of flower as they are at the end of their lifecycle so can just die and then be cut down. If you were to do this mid flower your plant would potentially die, at a minimum it would be really stressed and possibly herm out. It would likely hurt yield/quality due to that stress.

The dark period is what triggers flowering. If you give it a long dark period mid flower the plant is going to freak out and think it is the apocalypse and try to do whatever it can to make seed, ie complete it's biological imperative to continue the species.

 

[crimsonecho]

Thanks for the input people i was just brain storming. Stress to some degree is what makes a good bud i think (and i keep reading that everywhere) but you think this practice would be too much stress for the plant to handle. If anyone has ever done something like this as an experiment or as a mistake of some sorts, i would love to hear about your experiences just out of curiosty.

 

[Scolymia7]

I bumped my power outlet once with 2 weeks of flower left. I think lights were off for 2 or 3 days. They didn't die, nor did they appear any better than before I noticed lights were off. I don't have alot of grows under my belt so I can't definitively say it makes or doesn't make better pot. All I can say is I turned the lights back on and they went another 2 two weeks with no ill effects.

 

[NGA]

It has happened many times over the years power disruption,breakers,you name it ,never any problems ,actually I've never seen in person a hermie ,only pics been growing many years from clone only ,I think hermie is from unstable genetics,just my two cents

 

[crimsonecho]

Yeah that was my assumption too about hermies coming from genetic traits and also wouldn’t think that just darkness could induce such a thing. But did anyone notice any increase or decrease in trichome production or bud count, size and density? Thanks to everyone who has contributed.

 

[Scolymia7]

When I did my first few runs all I wanted to do was anything and everything to ensure the best buds. My results were bleh and I learned the basics do more then reading something and giving it a try.

On my current run, after vegging and training all I've done is maintain Temps, humidity, ppms, ph, keep things clean and 2 sessions of excess fan leaf removals. My girls are at week 6 and beautiful. No fox tailing, no airy nugs, and smell amazing. All I've done is stick to the basics, no fancy stuff.

Our heads are in the right place wanting to make our girls amazing, but understanding the basics is the first step :). Hope that helps

 

[crimsonecho]

When I did my first few runs all I wanted to do was anything and everything to ensure the best buds. My results were bleh and I learned the basics do more then reading something and giving it a try.

On my current run, after vegging and training all I've done is maintain Temps, humidity, ppms, ph, keep things clean and 2 sessions of excess fan leaf removals. My girls are at week 6 and beautiful. No fox tailing, no airy nugs, and smell amazing. All I've done is stick to the basics, no fancy stuff.

Our heads are in the right place wanting to make our girls amazing, but understanding the basics is the first step :). Hope that helps

Totally agree with you on this my questions is just as i said, a what if type scenario, purely hypothetical. Just wanted to know everyones experiences on the subject.

 

[Scolymia7]

Makes sense, mybad misinterpreted thought you were wanting to try it. On the subject of light schedule manipulation I did try the 12 on 5.5 off 1 on 5.5 off, GLR is what is was called I think. It worked for 1 of the 3 strains I had at the time. It was a was a gorgeous plant..... then I tripped while moving it, she didn't survive lol :D. The other 2 strains went into flower mode. So maybe what you are talking about could benifit some strains. Would be worth experimenting if you have that kind of space/time :).

 

[crimsonecho]

Makes sense, mybad misinterpreted thought you were wanting to try it. On the subject of light schedule manipulation I did try the 12 on 5.5 off 1 on 5.5 off, GLR is what is was called I think. It worked for 1 of the 3 strains I had at the time. It was a was a gorgeous plant..... then I tripped while moving it, she didn't survive lol :D. The other 2 strains went into flower mode. So maybe what you are talking about could benifit some strains. Would be worth experimenting if you have that kind of space/time :).

Hahaha :D too bad she didn’t survive :crying2: yeah i think it is worth experimenting too but i would love to hear if anyone has experimented with it before, so i don’t ruin my harvest ;). Seriously though i will probably try this with just one lady next time unless anyone could empirically prove that it doesn’t work. I think it is worth experimenting (i mean it makes sense for a human but botany is a different beast) and i am sure i am not the first one who had this idea so if anyone have tried this (or something similar) please chime in. Also what was the strain that flourished under that GLR, do you remember? Was it a sativa or an indica that thrived under that schedule, i mean was there any distinctive behaviour based on that?

 

[Scolymia7]

The strain was a cross between c-99 and a mystery. Buddy of mine had it in his personal seed bank, a seed got loose, and had no idea what it was, but crossed it with Cinderella 99. Most likely she was a saliva dominte strain, especially how it grew but it's a tough call with male gentics being a mystery.
Plant was a power house though, buddy averaged 25+ gram tops dried. The structure was stalky, the base of the stem was half dollar size usually.
Under the GLR it was always happy, and grew at a good pace. Just looked at old pictures, the nodes looked to be far apart, I didn't do any training. Couldnt say if it was the light cycle or just letting it grow freely. Once I got cool tubes went right to 16/8. Only tried GLR to help with temperatures.

Come to think of it the fall pry saved it from an even worse fate. Thought I'd be fancy and tried flushing with molasses in a dwc bucket with air stones........ 2 days in, snd it looked like a jellyfish ate my roots.

 

[Enforcer]

Mine just spent about 24 hours in the dark on day 24 of flower. Not on purpose! On day 27 now and I don’t see any effect good or bad yet. Which is a good thing as I was a little freaked out there for a sec. lol

 

[GT21]

What do you guys think about giving an extended dark period in the middle of flowering? Like you would just before harvest to increase trichome production (if this even works) and giving the plant adequate time to ripen after the increased production of trichomes (giving enough time for those newly formed trichomes to turn milky) (in most videos i found people say extended dark period before harvest increases trichomes but they are clear, so not much potency, as for me i haven’t done the dark period because i think giving the plant all it can absorb ‘till the end is the way for me just because my OCD). I am new to this so i don’t know if this question has been answered in the past or if it makes any sense [if it’s a dumb question to anyone sorry (although, i don’t believe there is such a thing)] but if you have any useful input on the subject please do share.

If youre looking for more potency or trich you should look at new lights

 

[crimsonecho]

If youre looking for more potency or trich you should look at new lights

Of course switching to, or supplementing with a mh could give more trichs, i know that. But isn’t it interesting to experiment with something new? I know there are ways to get more trichs just curious about this.

 

[xavier7995]

I think it is always worth experimenting and trying new things.

 

[crimsonecho]

Mine just spent about 24 hours in the dark on day 24 of flower. Not on purpose! On day 27 now and I don’t see any effect good or bad yet. Which is a good thing as I was a little freaked out there for a sec. lol

Probably you are going to be fine and not going to see any positive or negative effects because, 24 hours is not that long for anything to really happen to the plant. Don’t freak out ;)

 

[lukem5]

No
The wheel is already round and perfect. Why change something that' been tested and works?

Don't listen to a guy with demon in his name.

Yeah the wheel as it is perfectly spins people in circles getting nowhere.

I have thought about expirimenting with flowering times - there may be an added benefit. I know some people like to keep their girls in the dark a few days before chopping.

For veg, I am pretty sure at this point that I can simply add a few hours with a weak light after sundown only one time every 2-3 nights and it will keep the plant vegging.

 

[crimsonecho]

I think it is always worth experimenting and trying new things.

Yeah thats my argument here too, just trying to get some answers if it’s already out there and if it’s not let’s find an answer. In the end what can we lose, maybe one or two ladies (which is always sad) but what we gain might surpass what we may lose.