length of darkness at end of harvest

[pliscan]

I have 4 indicas that will soon be ready to chop. I've heard the last day or two before i chop should be in total darkness. Should it be 24 or 48 hours?

 

[halfdef]

I have done this before, I think that I did 48.

 

[sedate]

I've heard the last day or two before i chop should be in total darkness. Should it be 24 or 48 hours

I've never heard a very credible explanation for why someone would want to do this. I'm sort of reminded of the 3 day dark cycle to "shock" the plant when you go into flowering.

I think it's just internet whispers bordering on superstition.

 

[Rolln J]

lol this theory was around way longer then the internet - generally the plant will pack on a bunch of new white pistils and not much else...

so I guess it may put on some added weight - but is it really any more or better then if you just ran the lights an extra 2 days?

Id have to say no...

 

[sedate]

but is it really any more or better then if you just ran the lights an extra 2 days?

Id have to say no...

Yea the only thing I can think is that it would arrest the maturation process in some smallish way.

 

[Rolln J]

some claim it ripens the crystals faster...

when i turn off the lights its because everything is harvested and its harvested because its ready not because a calendar says its ready - so i just dont see what 2 days in the dark is gonna do since buds need light to grow.

 

[GreenShadows]

According to the Medical Grower's Bible by Jorge Cervantes:
"You may want to give plants 24 hours of total darkness before harvest. Many growers do this and say the buds are a little more resinous afterward. ...Harvest in the morning when THC content is at its peak."

If not in the morning, then wait until there has been, I believe, at least 2 hours of complete darkness. The reason for that is that during the day the nutrients and such are in the body of the plant, where at night things return to being stored in the roots. It helps with smoothness.

 

[Rolln J]

Cervantes prolly never grew a plant in his life - he thinks photosynthesis stops at 90 degrees - lmao

his bible is a good point of reference - but its just that - make your own observations...

 

[w00dy]

I also never dug the night cycle before harvest theory.
I myself would much rather keep em under the lights.

 

[altitudefarmer]

dropping the temp during the dark cycle the last 3 days or so can bring out some color in your leaves, and sometimes to the buds, but the light cycle shock theory does not make any difference whatsoever in my experience. I have tried it on a few crops.

 

[homebrew420]

The was a Dutch study that I read about this subject. What it found was that as the plants rproduce the resin at night and thc levels in the plant detected, were higher before lights on. THe concluded, if i remeber correctly, the a maximum of 72 will get you the highest levels of cannabaniods. Don't quote me on that. But that what i remember. I tried it with some Master Kush.. twice now that I think about it. Didn't notice much difference in the high that I can recall.

Peace

 

[sedate]

The was a Dutch study that I read about this subject. What it found was that as the plants rproduce the resin at night and thc levels in the plant detected, were higher before lights on. THe concluded, if i remeber correctly, the a maximum of 72 will get you the highest levels of cannabaniods. Don't quote me on that

See - I'd like to read that study myself - like who did it, what kind of control/test groups were setup, what strains and when was the study done - ya got a link dude?

According to the Medical Grower's Bible by Jorge Cervantes:
"You may want to give plants 24 hours of total darkness before harvest. Many growers do this and say the buds are a little more resinous afterward. ...Harvest in the morning when THC content is at its peak."

Cervantes prolly never grew a plant in his life - he thinks photosynthesis stops at 90 degrees - lmao

his bible is a good point of reference - but its just that - make your own observations...

I agree with Rolln J here - Cervantes might be well known to growers, I've read his articles lots times - but the guy isn't really science based - and limp qualifiers like "may" and "many growers do this" isn't really quality growing advice by any objective standard.

Indeed, from a certain objective persepective, this kind of qualified statement amounts to my original observation of "wispers and superstition."

Furthermore, the idea that THC is produced primarily at night is dubious at best - since all the chemical precursors - ATP and sugar - are produced during the day.

It's very possible that THC resin production is light-independent, since several subsidiary co2 reactions in the calvin cycle are - but light-independent doesn't mean that it doesn't work just as well with light - and we know the calvin cycle functions just fine with 24 hour light, since most of us veg that way.

The 12/12 split encourages flowering via the hormal response it produces in the subject plant - not because "resin flows into buds at night."

 

[Jalisco Kid]

It is produced at night and is measurable Just not by philonius using a joint. JK

 

[cheef]

i smoke my dutches at night.. i be high as hell:boogie:

 

[splakow]

yea same here
complete nonsense

 

[kushpheen]

Every bible has it stories lol

 

[LA Woman]

some claim it ripens the crystals faster...

when i turn off the lights its because everything is harvested and its harvested because its ready not because a calendar says its ready - so i just dont see what 2 days in the dark is gonna do since buds need light to grow.

Isn't funny how theres so much misinformation out there? Like people say "hang your freshly cut buds upside down to dry so the thc rolls down into the buds". I am on my first grow after reading about 1000 threads....literally, and even I laugh at these statements. Meagan :)

 

[Rolln J]

I love it when they say it helps the thc come out of the stems

 

[Sway]

oh damn J it doesnt? SHIT. back to the drawing boards. :)

 

[mrdizzle]

I once had a plant fall off the back of my 4x8 table when I was cutting the room down and didnt notice it had fallen back there until i cleaned the room 5 days later. the plant was freaking ridicoulous. I am talkin retard crystals, looked rolled in keif, it smelled soooo intense.

I hadnt thought much about this supper plant until some clown on IC stated that he cuts his lights for 5days without letting the medium dry out and gets 20% more weight due to the fact that the resin triples, and resin is heavy. It got me thinking that maybe those 5days without light cause that plant to shit crystals outta crystals. I havent re-tested this theory due to my urge to transplant my new batch but I think im going to make try it out this round with a plant.

it also makes me think about "whole plant" drying, meaning no fan leaf pluck, just hang the whole plant and dry, I think its djshort that does it or maybe kamara (sp) their theory is the plant continues to finish on the vine. tomoates do it so why not herb? im gonna try it out with a plant this round see how it goes ill holler the report