it has more to do with harvesting at the right time - at the end of the "dark" cycle or right at lights on is the best time because during the day the plant is creating sugars which it will convert into many different things (including resins) at night. During the day the more sensitive resins can be destroyed by heat, uv, and intense light.

I have yet to see any difference between three days in the dark and not, but I defnitely see a difference harvesting later in the light cycle versus before lights on.

Thanks for your opinion. This is the 1st time I'm gonna try it

Med man calls it "shock ripening" and it totally works, nice colors and the flavors def peak.

I don't think you've been a member here long enough to know nMeeks but he is a botanist and a very knowledgeable grower. When asked this question:
"Thanks for your questions Soser, they are always welcome no worries about that! I know there is a lot of debate on this subject, so I don't expect everyone is going to like my answer here, but I am going to post anyways. The idea behind a 24 hour or i have heard of 48 or even 72 hours of darkness, is that during the dark period, the plants are cooler and less stressed by the light and heat from the light so they put there energy into trichomes rather than general growth. Some people even think you are tricking the plant into thinking there is some weird blackout phenomenon and it goes into overdrive THC/trichome production. . . . . In my opinion, none of this is based in plant science. Sure there will be less heat in the dark cycle, so that might help there seem to be more trichomes after 24 hours of darkness, but only if your bulb is too close to your plants and literally melting your trichomes when it is on. . . . The rest of it is just non-sense from what I can tell, if anything sugar content of the plant will be less after extended dark periods.

The plant has two main processes, photosynthesis and respiration. Both occur during the lights on cycle, but only respiration is occurring during the lights off cycle (obviously) because there is no light. The reason an extended dark cycle makes no sense, is because only photosynthesis can generate new sugar in the plant. . . respiration is the process of converting sugar into energy for the plant, while photosynthesis is the process of converting light energy into sugar for storage or immediate use. . . . more photosynthesis and less respiration = more sugar to be stored in the plant = higher sugar content. . . . . contrary to more dark time before harvest = more respiration and no photosynthesis = plant consumes all its stored sugar = less sugar content in the plant at harvest! I hope that all makes sense, I am sure there are plenty of people that will discount that explanation and say that somehow the extra dark time makes the plant convert the sugar into more THC than normal, but I have not seen any proof of this."

I've tried this and the only thing I would advise is make sure your plants are saturated because a dark period could bring rot.

Hope this helps!

I do 48 hours, so 36 on top of the final 12 hours of last cycle. Then chop!

Just harvest them. Harvesting at the end of the dark cycle. Dried herb 3 days faster.
You will notice do difference. Promise.

Only thing I noticed was bright colors in the leaf

d420dool said:

Med man calls it "shock ripening" and it totally works, nice colors and the flavors def peak.

Click to expand...

I Concur

w.wonka

d420dool said:

Med man calls it "shock ripening" and it totally works, nice colors and the flavors def peak.

Click to expand...

wonka said:

I Concur

w.wonka

Click to expand...

Both of you can say, without a doubt, you did 2 EXACT grows (nutrients, lighting, temps, humidity, pH, PPM etc etc etc) and the one with a final dark period made a noticeable difference?

I did it with goji og by bodhi, same pheno each time, colors and flavors were more present we noticed, i also get it cold jn the tent too, lime 55- 60 degrees, the extra dark and cold in the end seems to do suttin extra for me, o and the buds come out like juicier.

I'll try it again and I'll leave two in dark and take 2 out and see what happens. But I didn't notice anything from the other I picked before