KillingTime said:

Also the plant is using up all its stored energy more or less dieing out but who cares your harvesting right
There was a study done by the stitching institute where they tested plants left in the dark for periods it appears that some strains THC increased with 36 hrs of darkness which appears to be the magic number any longer it started to degrade ,,
Also note some strains did not do nothing if we look at how the plant actually works during dark cycle it refurbishes the the resin that was depleted during light cycle to protect plant one could say 24 hrs of darkness allowing plants to replenish what was lost and chop any longer is wasting time IMO ..
And why best times to chop a plants out door is in morning rather then end of the day same thing applies for indoor harvst 12 hrs after darkness

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You nailed it - great information !!!!!!, not many know to harvest in the morning - also just like feeding in the morning is the best (up-take)

So 24 t0 36 hours is the magic time ???

Iv heard of the ice water technique as well. I'm going to give it a roll one of these grows

Just imagine ice water on your nuts, might not be good, never tried. I have gone on a 5 day vacation before and put a plant in the attic that was just about ripe. Got home went straight to her and it was completely finished. Buds had swelled perfect. Orange hairs. Frosty sticky. This shit works

[QUOTE="KillingTime, post: 1700296, member: 7453]boiling roots to ice water , To 5 weeks in the dark lol ,, Its no wonder why Actual Horticulturalists laugh at canna growers[/QUOTE]
Weeks in dark??? You must have read that wrong. Im damn sure anyone who smokes this weed here would be laughing. From being stoned, laugh at my organic crop. Fine with me. The root shit to me is fuckin stupid, but to each his own.

Like mentioned hard of ice water feeding near harvest - never heard of boiling root. The whole thing comes down to stressing the plant or tricking the plant into thinking it's going to die, there fore it produces more thc. One needs to try a dark time to see if this really affects plant.
It all comes down to the plants Genetic's in relation to "tic" development

geologic said:

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geologic said:

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Interesting graph - it's says 24 hr's dark time - if one want to

It says 24hr duration.. Not dark time..
STR8

My last harvest I tired the dark time before cutting. I left them in the tent in the dark for 2 days, when I went to harvest. The buds were the stickiest I had ever seen of any harvest. They were sticky before the lights went out, but it was like the tricks doubled and made the buds ooze with even more goodness. I will be doing this on every harvest from now on.

KillingTime said:

Also the plant is using up all its stored energy more or less dieing out but who cares your harvesting right
There was a study done by the stitching institute where they tested plants left in the dark for periods it appears that some strains THC increased with 36 hrs of darkness which appears to be the magic number any longer it started to degrade ,,
Also note some strains did not do nothing if we look at how the plant actually works during dark cycle it refurbishes the the resin that was depleted during light cycle to protect plant one could say 24 hrs of darkness allowing plants to replenish what was lost and chop any longer is wasting time IMO ..
And why best times to chop a plants out door is in morning rather then end of the day same thing applies for indoor harvst 12 hrs after darkness

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you answered the question asked by many cultivators - some say yes - some say no to dark periods. SO than anything less of more is ineffective ? Thanks for information !!!! All ways harvest in the morning = strongest thc time. The hole concept is putting "stress" on plant so it will product more trichome "color" developement - this topic has been talked about many, many times

Smerb said:

This girl sat in the dark for 3 days.

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Im seeing alot f fresh pistils on there.you think the 3 days of dark gave em an extra wee spurt to push out some more flowers?

Mr Bee said:

Im seeing alot f fresh pistils on there.you think the 3 days of dark gave em an extra wee spurt to push out some more flowers?

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No, the dark finished the plant, It was all fresh white pistils when put away. It was real close to the plants harvest. I knew leaving it in the dark it would finish. I had a few days before family came from out of state. Had to do it. Love it

Smerb said:

No, the dark finished the plant, It was all fresh white pistils when put away. It was real close to the plants harvest. I knew leaving it in the dark it would finish. I had a few days before family came from out of state. Had to do it. Love it

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Right gotcha.

You took some time on that message. To each his own, right? Whatever happens to your plants is you. I choose when she's done, early or late harvest. Simple, well there it is. Stress causes problems, I don't stress, neither do my gals. Good stuff here

I usually keep them in the dark for weeks. After I chop them at the base and hang them up side down, which doesn't immediately makes them stop. I see no point in leaving them in the dark and in the pots. Watering them in that dark period would be a bad idea anyway for me unless I'm testing for bud rot.

As for the brix theory, it's actually during the day, during photosynthesis, that brix levels are build up, highest in afternoon. Putting them in the dark depletes it and actually makes it susceptible to diseases.

I have never watered when my bitches sleep. I'll say it again if you can take one plant that's a few days from harvest, make sure its medium/soil is dry , than throw it in a closet for a few days. You will see a dif. Its up 2 you. Put her to sleep, then go under her skirt, snap her back, than trim her flowers. Love ladies, all of em.....

There's no reason for peeps to argue these points. Whenever I want to discover if something is true or not. I usually do it myself.
There is something quite different between reading (explanations/concepts/theories/experiments). And actually experiencing the results. Much more profound feeling to discover these results personally.

For my 1st time doing it on my first plant/grow. I was quite pleased.

I noted the planned harvest date. Then I counted the last 3 days as dark days.

Approaching dark time the soil had been drying out for 4 days already. I figured being in the dark and no heat being produced. That she would live a few more days without water. Plus weed likes to produce trichomes as a defense against low humidity. So the drying during the days leading up to harvest was planned.

I had been working with a diminishing light schedule. The theory behind it is to give the plants signals via daylight lengths. Letting it know how far along the seasons are.

As you progress the light schedule. The plant seems as if to slightly alter it's maturation speed to match it's estimated remaining season until winter hits.

We control when we harvest or deem the plants ready. Ideally we would harvest when she says she is ready.
But a middle ground would be for us to manipulate her maturation to match our planned harvest date.

So towards the last week she was getting 9hrs of light per day. And the 3 days of darkness was my way to really finish her off by saying winter has come. I was giving her 1 last chance to push before it hit.

Man when I opened up that tent after the elapsed dark days. The smell wreaked (in a great way). First thing I noticed was that many of the pistils had matured or started pulling inwards. Next was how crystally she had gotten.

Trichomes are used as a method of uv protection. Out of all the plants in the world cannabis produces the best form of uv protection. In the form of trichomes.
As the sunny day passes some of the resin/trichomes/terpenes etc get used up protecting the plant. During the night phase the plant replenishes what was lost during the day.

So essentially the dark days are giving the plant the ability/final chance to replenish it's trichomes until it runs out of food/stored nutrients during the dark days. Without any extra uv exposure. This means there will be an abundance.

I was quite pleased with results and it will become part of every grow regimen in the future.

4 days drying and the crystals are really starting to show now. Here are a few pics of the smallest flower that I could find on the lowest part of the plant (if that is any indicator of quality)







This little nugget will just keep getting better and better as she dries.

Please excuse the few cat hairs in the pics lol

Oh shit. My one buddy just got a reputation for cat hairs! I don't mind the cats are cool and its 100% organic. I am using a lunar calendar with the regular calendar for peak times of planting, pruning, watering, harvesting, by chance have you seen this????? It fuckin works great! At the moment plant growth is grrrreeat. We r on the same page with this dark dankness. Nice

is it possible to expose them to a 24-36 hour darkness before flipping to 12-12 flowering cycle also? or will doing it create a bunch of shemales?