Here's the "before" pics from a few days earlier. Keep in mind these plants have not been in any lights since these photo's have been taken.



Please feel free to post any thoughts, if you think the plant "benefited" from staying in the dark another few days, and if it appears to have helped the overall results.

If you think this is worthwhile, try doing it to one clone and treat a clone from the same plant in the normal way. See if it increases potency, or changes some effect of the plant.

i put one part of my batch under 24 hours darkness before their harvest, while the rest of the harvest got 36 hours of darkness. i shrug my shoulders, this darkness didn't do the plants any harm.

it makes sense to give the plants this darkness period before harvest - its to encourage the plants to 'finalise' their flowering by drawing energy towards their buds - its the same argument behind watering plants at the start of their 'nights', rather than watering them first thing in the 'morning'.

while i couldn't see the benefits, i couldn't see any detriments to giving it this longer period of darkness just before its harvest. i will take words of others on this, and I haven't seen anything contrary.

nice buds - they look real ripe.

so many myths in marijuana growing, that have became basic practice.
mostly followed by newbies, as experienced growers wouldn’t give it the time of day.
how fast do you think a trichome grows/develops? in 2-3 days darkness?
more comments than anything,
peace and love..

GNick55 said:

so many myths in marijuana growing, that have became basic practice.
mostly followed by newbies, as experienced growers wouldn’t give it the time of day.
how fast do you think a trichome grows/develops? in 2-3 days darkness?
more comments than anything,
peace and love..

Click to expand...

I have no idea what you are trying to say. Would you care to articulate?

redshift75 said:

I have no idea what you are trying to say. Would you care to articulate?

Click to expand...

nope, no need to start differences in opinion, just a comment as mentioned.
this is Franksters thread anyways.
maybe we should a new thread “Marijuana Myths”..,

GNick55 said:

nope, no need to start differences in opinion, just a comment as mentioned.
this is Franksters thread anyways.
maybe we should a new thread “Marijuana Myths”..,

Click to expand...

I seriously did not even realize you gave an opinion. Thought you were just posting random off topic philosophy.
The only sentence i understood was "maybe we should a new thread marijuana myths" and i think i get what you are saying now.

GNick55 said:

so many myths in marijuana growing, that have became basic practice.
mostly followed by newbies, as experienced growers wouldn’t give it the time of day.
how fast do you think a trichome grows/develops? in 2-3 days darkness?
more comments than anything,
peace and love..

Click to expand...

Well the guy who swears by it has been a friend of mine for over 40 years and had features in Hightimes back in the 80's and 90's for best in the midwest, he's owned and operated several hydroponics stores in the Chicago/Milwaukee area for decades, so obviously not a noob. He's only been doing it the last few years but swears by it, so there ya go.

Personally, I trust anything the man says about cannabis, because he's grown it far longer and better than anyone I've ever personally known. Also, he was a really close friend when we were young kids, so I trust him alot. So definitely not a noob, but what he says it does is "enhance" flavor and overall cure, more than anything. He's always (easily) sold his pounds for over $5K each for a long time now, so everything he grows is top notch.

Personally, I don't see much difference either, and what he states is generally true, so I get it. The only thing I can think is that it gives it a little more time to add some overall oils, as most of that comes late in the flower, not in the beginning, especially the last few weeks. It certainly can't hurt, so here I am, I've just kept it fairly dry (<50% humidity) to try and stimulate oils and inhibit any problems.

I'm real big on flavor and trying to enhance the cure as much as possible anyhow, so if this works, great. It certainly has changed it's scent in the last few days, that's for sure. It's breaking though better, or seems more concentrated, perhaps.

I'll probably leave them in there pots the whole time, (in closet) till I put them in containers.

GNick, I think if you said "religion/cult followers" instead of myths it might be more reflective of the state of "our thing". Some people say water in AM some in PM. Some don't follow the darkness at flip some do -- ditto at the end of grow. Some add honey or molasses and some don't. Hydro/coco/moondust/belly button lint -- there are no limits to growing medium to give your grow the 'edge'. All the chemicals/lights/teas/supplements that people are using on their plants and then there are folks on here that just use mild teas or water once a week. Yet we all know that what we are growing is cool and will do the job. I grew up on South of the Border seed and stem weed. When we got some Jamaican or Columbo for $20 an ounce we were in heaven. On an interpersonal level I have really enjoyed banter with folks on this site and learned a lot of heresay evidence supporting darkness just like I believe in total darkness in my own sleeping room. Well, thats all I know standing on one foot firmly with bananna peel slippers. Long live the farm.

For me, the experience has a lot to do with flavors and capturing that "perfect" blend of taste/scent. Your not going to change anything that's not already in the plant from harvest, but perhaps I think it has the potential for enhance overall taste.

I enjoy many of the the woodzy, earthy flavors darker tones associated with many different Indicas, those skunky, earthy, peppery, pine, herbal, blueberry hints and tones, not overwhelmingly sweet. But they are difficult to tease out these more delecate tones. All kinds of Kushes, I just really love a good Kush, I love everything about them really, they are among my very favorite strains.

Dialing in that cure is a critical part for me, as I've done it ok, (with potent weed that doesn't smell much) and I've done it really well a few times, and there's a big difference. A fantastic cure will enhance even low THC weed, I suppose.

Yeah i have a mate that swears by this technique. I have tried it with clones a few years back and took pics just like you have but i couldn't tell the difference in my pics just like i can't tell the difference in yours above.

sambapati said:

GNick, I think if you said "religion/cult followers" instead of myths it might be more reflective of the state of "our thing". Some people say water in AM some in PM. Some don't follow the darkness at flip some do -- ditto at the end of grow. Some add honey or molasses and some don't. Hydro/coco/moondust/belly button lint -- there are no limits to growing medium to give your grow the 'edge'. All the chemicals/lights/teas/supplements that people are using on their plants and then there are folks on here that just use mild teas or water once a week. Yet we all know that what we are growing is cool and will do the job. I grew up on South of the Border seed and stem weed. When we got some Jamaican or Columbo for $20 an ounce we were in heaven. On an interpersonal level I have really enjoyed banter with folks on this site and learned a lot of heresay evidence supporting darkness just like I believe in total darkness in my own sleeping room. Well, thats all I know standing on one foot firmly with bananna peel slippers. Long live the farm.

Click to expand...

I like exactly how you phrase it. But for me none of that is myth. Its all preference. id argue most people never see the benefits from the majority of 'edge' products because they just want to think they have the edge, not actually understand what it takes to get the edge. Which is why you can bottle anything say its for cannabis pay a bunch of people to call it the best, buy ads on every forum.

Well almost everything in cannabis is personal preference or opinion with the caveat that if its not... The data is largely there. Or there isnt enough observational data to support more indepth research. Some things are just opposite ends of the same spectrum's taking a different route to the same destination. Thats the beauty of science. The reason most will argue opinion is simply they will never take the time to put the money where their mouth is. Or even at the most basic level ever even attempt a controlled grow for observational data. Such as what frankster has done here.

Taking a look at just the past 15 years how many things that people shoved down peoples throats was the greatest thing since the discovery of cannabis. only to find no one could replicate the claimed results. only to have those people disappear forever. I wont name names or give those people the courtesy of even acknowledging they exist in history. Looking at you hydro guys mostly....

All you have to do is take the right photo and make the right claim and you will see hypes in the cannabis game flock to it like pidgeons and claim they knew it all along. Then when its bunk they will also claim how they were always skeptical. Some of those experts that will never share their secrets or acknowledge these beginner techniques dont... Because more often then not they get caught up in the hype and ruin their credibility glomming on to it. Instead of trying to remain on some level credible they jump on buzzwords. You see lots of 'influencers' take that approach. They cant be wrong if they never comment on it.

Hence my recommendations skip the myths its all people perpetuating misinformation by choice. Thus its opinion.

Maybe the problem is people just take everything at face value from the first response.

to the point of this topic. You can find lots of people who put their money where their mouth is.

link to a video

but largely - As far as I can tell, there is no publicly available peer reviewed research that specifically tests this outright.

The reason for the extended dark time is to give the starches time to go back down to the roots which results in better tasting smoke sooner.

I dont see why time without light would improve canabanoid content unless there was a lot of energy left from the last days photosynthesis.

MIMedGrower said:

The reason for the extended dark time is to give the starches time to go back down to the roots which results in better tasting smoke sooner.

I dont see why time without light would improve canabanoid content unless there was a lot of energy left from the last days photosynthesis.

Click to expand...

right, and my I add there maybe (may-be) and it would probably take some testing of some sort. that the late comer "cloudy" trichomes might have a chance to ripen in that short period without causing a bunch of unnecessary "over-ripening" of the amber kinds, creating a more uniform "ripening", much like any fruit ripens, and that's going to continue along at least until the end of the first part of the cure. It's just a transitional time for the cannabis, terpens because there changing on a chemical level, especially the starches and sugars.

Here's some of these coming in from the flowering room, it's been a mixed batch, I know some of them look a little rough, but oh well, that's life.
The first one is especially nice, I've got them all seeded with my frankenstein auto

the first one's some sort of thai variety, called VC Charlie. Whoo! it smells awesome!

Frankster said:

Well the guy who swears by it has been a friend of mine for over 40 years and had features in Hightimes back in the 80's and 90's for best in the midwest, he's owned and operated several hydroponics stores in the Chicago/Milwaukee area for decades, so obviously not a noob. He's only been doing it the last few years but swears by it, so there ya go.

Personally, I trust anything the man says about cannabis, because he's grown it far longer and better than anyone I've ever personally known. Also, he was a really close friend when we were young kids, so I trust him alot. So definitely not a noob, but what he says it does is "enhance" flavor and overall cure, more than anything. He's always (easily) sold his pounds for over $5K each for a long time now, so everything he grows is top notch.

Click to expand...

Frankster said:

Well the guy who swears by it has been a friend of mine for over 40 years and had features in Hightimes back in the 80's and 90's for best in the midwest, he's owned and operated several hydroponics stores in the Chicago/Milwaukee area for decades, so obviously not a noob. He's only been doing it the last few years but swears by it, so there ya go.

Personally, I trust anything the man says about cannabis, because he's grown it far longer and better than anyone I've ever personally known. Also, he was a really close friend when we were young kids, so I trust him alot. So definitely not a noob, but what he says it does is "enhance" flavor and overall cure, more than anything. He's always (easily) sold his pounds for over $5K each for a long time now, so everything he grows is top notch.

Click to expand...

does he flush?

Frankster said:

For me, the experience has a lot to do with flavors and capturing that "perfect" blend of taste/scent. Your not going to change anything that's not already in the plant from harvest, but perhaps I think it has the potential for enhance overall taste.

I enjoy many of the the woodzy, earthy flavors darker tones associated with many different Indicas, those skunky, earthy, peppery, pine, herbal, blueberry hints and tones, not overwhelmingly sweet. But they are difficult to tease out these more delecate tones. All kinds of Kushes, I just really love a good Kush, I love everything about them really, they are among my very favorite strains.

Dialing in that cure is a critical part for me, as I've done it ok, (with potent weed that doesn't smell much) and I've done it really well a few times, and there's a big difference. A fantastic cure will enhance even low THC weed, I suppose.

Click to expand...

a fact, adding in blue light with hps at the last week (ish) before harvest can increase terpene flavour up to 50%!..

Purple Hindu