darkness before harvest bullshit?

noxzious

Well-Known Member
sounds like you have the right information, even if the explanations aren't...well... exactly right.

Yes, the 48 hours of darkness is a good thing. Yes chopping in the morning is a good thing. Yes, a MH bulb will help increase trich. production.

The reason isn't that the plant "thinks".. anything. It has to do with the chemistry of THC and how it breaks down. Light, heat, and gland disruption are the causes of thc breakdown.

So, If you throw your plant in the dark 2 days before you harvest, light doesn't breakdown the THC that is present in the trichomes. Plants don't immediately react to ANYTHING. leave a plant without water for a day in hydro and water it.. and ta-da.. it's fine in 10 minutes. Over nutes, takes 3 days to show... So the same holds true with production of THC in the gland heads.
The trichomes are believed to exist on the plant to act as a natural sunscreen holder for the plant. It's a natural defense for the plant to it's environment. The plant constantly produces THC to act as this "sunscreen" as light will break it down and degrade it.

You put your plant in the dark 2 days before you harvest and the THC present in the trichomes won't break down from receiving the last 2 days of light. Your plant keeps producing THC as it's not "aware" of the environmental factors immediately and takes a few days to adjust to it's situation. So, to put it simply, you have an extra day's worth of THC in your plant. The problem with pushing it into anything longer than 2-3 days is your plant is going to start stretching out again as there's no light.. so your buds will get fluffier the longer they sit and the plant having no light to facilitate celluler function.. it will actually start to die.. the leaves and stems lose their turgor pressure and seem to be sloppy trying to manicure... personal opinion I'm sure, as I've not seen it mentioned before, but, I find it makes a difference.

chopping in the AM is the same thing.. before your lights go on ... so you don't lose any of the THC that the plant has built over the last dark period.

MH bulbs have more UVB light in their spectrum than HPS, so if you use it at the end of flower it makes the plant produce more trichomes to protect itself and the UVB itself makes the plant produce THC to protect itself. The other side of the coin, is using MH bulbs make the bud a little fluffier than under HPS.. it's noticeable. Trust me. I grew my first 2 crops under MH and a week and a half away from my first harvest under HPS, and the nugs are bigger and tighter than the same plant (all are clones) under MH in the same conditions.

Hope it helps.

Throw them in the dark for a few days,
if you can't, chop them in the morning before lights on.
Flush your plant.. Yes it does make a difference. I do it for 3 days before I pull and it's night and day difference in taste.

You have the right answers, it just sounds like you want more people to back up the answers already provided.. and it seems to be all good bro!
Hmm if thats what it does couldnt you do 24hours Dark, Then 12 hours light then 24hours dark then 12 hours light etc untill harvest? Has this even been tested? If they extra darkness is supposed to build up more thc couldnt you do that for like a week or more up to harvest to make the thc levels go crazy?

I dont understand why if THCs job is to act as a sunscreen wouldnt it be more logical to give more light than dark towards the end? Makes more sense but i doubt its the case... After thousands of years of marijuana cultivation im sure theyve got it mainly down to a T

Anyone ever tryed any of these theories?
 

skunkushybrid01

Well-Known Member
tried it and it's just as good potency-wise as stressing the plant out in other ways. for example, instead of placing the plants in the dark and losing growth time just let the medium dry right out before harvest. this induces the plant's drought response. One of the ways a flowering plant will stop itself from losing water is to produce more trichomes. It will also produce trichomes in any other type of stressful situation.

Extended dark periods are stressful and will induce extra trichome development, is it as much as any other stressful situation? that is still to be determined. However, stressing a plant out using the dark, means it has no light to build extra energy and the plant may compensate for this by not producing as much so as to conserve energy.

The best way to produce extra trich's at the end of the grow in my opinion is to simply allow the medium to dry right out, starve the plant of water. Or you could always slap them around a bit too, simulate an animal that may possibly want to graze from the plant. Or you could even try hiding behind something until the lights come on and then jump out at your plants screaming wildly, that might shock them a little...
 

sirwolf

Active Member
tried it and it's just as good potency-wise as stressing the plant out in other ways. for example, instead of placing the plants in the dark and losing growth time just let the medium dry right out before harvest. this induces the plant's drought response. One of the ways a flowering plant will stop itself from losing water is to produce more trichomes. It will also produce trichomes in any other type of stressful situation.

Extended dark periods are stressful and will induce extra trichome development, is it as much as any other stressful situation? that is still to be determined. However, stressing a plant out using the dark, means it has no light to build extra energy and the plant may compensate for this by not producing as much so as to conserve energy.

The best way to produce extra trich's at the end of the grow in my opinion is to simply allow the medium to dry right out, starve the plant of water. Or you could always slap them around a bit too, simulate an animal that may possibly want to graze from the plant. Or you could even try hiding behind something until the lights come on and then jump out at your plants screaming wildly, that might shock them a little...

hahaha. good bit. i would like to hear or read how the ice bath effects the plats potency or colour. also, if one choose to use a uvb bulb when would be ideal to start it? more wattage better?
 

noxzious

Well-Known Member
tried it and it's just as good potency-wise as stressing the plant out in other ways. for example, instead of placing the plants in the dark and losing growth time just let the medium dry right out before harvest. this induces the plant's drought response. One of the ways a flowering plant will stop itself from losing water is to produce more trichomes. It will also produce trichomes in any other type of stressful situation.

Extended dark periods are stressful and will induce extra trichome development, is it as much as any other stressful situation? that is still to be determined. However, stressing a plant out using the dark, means it has no light to build extra energy and the plant may compensate for this by not producing as much so as to conserve energy.

The best way to produce extra trich's at the end of the grow in my opinion is to simply allow the medium to dry right out, starve the plant of water. Or you could always slap them around a bit too, simulate an animal that may possibly want to graze from the plant. Or you could even try hiding behind something until the lights come on and then jump out at your plants screaming wildly, that might shock them a little...
lmao. Slap them senseless.

Would 24hours light or more stress a flowering plant out?
 

StaySmokin206

Active Member
hahaha. good bit. i would like to hear or read how the ice bath effects the plats potency or colour. also, if one choose to use a uvb bulb when would be ideal to start it? more wattage better?
I understand all the stressing and everything and I have heard of people getting purple color (Only from strains that carry the purple trait) but I just don't see how it is good to be subjecting your roots to that cold of water.
 

Brick Top

New Member
"The Stichting Institute of Medical marijuana (SIMM), the first company to sell marijuana through the pharmacies of Holland, has been investigating the medical possibilities of cannabis, together with TNO laboratories and the University of Leiden. One of their discoveries has been that to keep the ripe plants in the dark before harvesting could increase their potency.

SIMM’s growers separated a crop of mature plants, harvested half of them and kept the other half in absolute darkness for 72 hours before cutting and drying. Analysis of the resulting dried buds showed that some varieties had seen an increase of THC of up to 30%, while CBD and CBN remained the same."
 

noxzious

Well-Known Member
See now 72 hours is a different story, i heard a guy went over 48 and his plants started to die...

BrickTop Define Volatile Terpenoids please?
 

BCBuddy420

Well-Known Member
"The Stichting Institute of Medical marijuana (SIMM), the first company to sell marijuana through the pharmacies of Holland, has been investigating the medical possibilities of cannabis, together with TNO laboratories and the University of Leiden. One of their discoveries has been that to keep the ripe plants in the dark before harvesting could increase their potency.

SIMM’s growers separated a crop of mature plants, harvested half of them and kept the other half in absolute darkness for 72 hours before cutting and drying. Analysis of the resulting dried buds showed that some varieties had seen an increase of THC of up to 30%, while CBD and CBN remained the same."
Mr. Top,

Again thank you for confirming things around here, I knew it was a real method not a hoax. You wrapped things up...again. I will be doing the 3 days dark now not just 2. Not only will they ripen further but they will increase in potency. It's this factual shit that you provide that really helps us out you ' orrible cunt ;) jkn, thx again Brick, I'm gonna watch Snatch tonight in thanks for your info lol
 

BCBuddy420

Well-Known Member
See now 72 hours is a different story, i heard a guy went over 48 and his plants started to die...

BrickTop Define Volatile Terpenoids please?
Die??? lol isn't that what we want my man? yes it is... Bricktop is the best member of this entire community for valid info. Listen to him homie :)
 

greenpeace31

Well-Known Member
well i just put a couple of mine in the dark 42 hours(first time i ever done this) then hung them up tested one yesterday out on a drive my findings was TUNNEL VISION ;) high as hell!! almost to high!! this plant had a lot of foxtailing A LOT OF IT! it was a bag seed plant didnt think it would be THAT GOOD but it was!! it had a very deep dark taste but shit it kicked my ass!! i do think it helps!!
 

noxzious

Well-Known Member
Die??? lol isn't that what we want my man? yes it is... Bricktop is the best member of this entire community for valid info. Listen to him homie :)
oh... Word!

lol i dont doubt that for a sec

I jus wanted to know what volatile terpenoids were lol
 

skunkushybrid01

Well-Known Member
"The Stichting Institute of Medical marijuana (SIMM), the first company to sell marijuana through the pharmacies of Holland, has been investigating the medical possibilities of cannabis, together with TNO laboratories and the University of Leiden. One of their discoveries has been that to keep the ripe plants in the dark before harvesting could increase their potency.

SIMM’s growers separated a crop of mature plants, harvested half of them and kept the other half in absolute darkness for 72 hours before cutting and drying. Analysis of the resulting dried buds showed that some varieties had seen an increase of THC of up to 30%, while CBD and CBN remained the same."
I remember now what happened on this test.

they harvested the first half of the plants three days earlier than the others. So the test is flawed. extremely flawed. I forgot about this as i read about it so long ago. If you read it you'll find that the plants left in the dark for three days were not left in the dark for 3 days while the other plants were in the light.

nope. they harvested half the plants and then gave the other half an extra 3 days growth time, albeit in the dark. A plant still grows during the dark as it uses energy stored from the light. Why give the test plants an extra 3 days?

Why not simply give half the plants 3 days dark while the other plants get light?

the whole thing is a bunch of bullshit. they need to do the test again.
 

noxzious

Well-Known Member
I remember now what happened on this test.

they harvested the first half of the plants three days earlier than the others. So the test is flawed. extremely flawed. I forgot about this as i read about it so long ago. If you read it you'll find that the plants left in the dark for three days were not left in the dark for 3 days while the other plants were in the light.

nope. they harvested half the plants and then gave the other half an extra 3 days growth time, albeit in the dark. A plant still grows during the dark as it uses energy stored from the light. Why give the test plants an extra 3 days?

Why not simply give half the plants 3 days dark while the other plants get light?

the whole thing is a bunch of bullshit. they need to do the test again.
If what your sayings true then its not an accurate experiment at all and they would have full well known that before taking it out. Kinda makes you question why when its so inaccurate?

<BAFFED
 

skunkushybrid01

Well-Known Member
yeah inaccurate and misleading.

this is why guys like brick top shouldn't go around just cut n pasting without fully understanding what they're reading. if he fully understood it he wouldn't need to cut n paste.
 

meathook666

Well-Known Member
My personal opinion on dark b\harvest is: grow your plants properly throughout their ENTIRE growth and you shouldn't be worried about any 48/72 hours of darkness. People are always looking for shortcuts.
 

diowk

Active Member
yeah, this theory is bullshit. I tested it and it doesnt have any effect whatsoever. If ANYTHING AT ALL, I actually thought they looked less potent after the dark period. Either way, the difference is SOOO INSIGNIFICANT, that it deems this technique pointless!
 

Brick Top

New Member
See now 72 hours is a different story, i heard a guy went over 48 and his plants started to die...

BrickTop Define Volatile Terpenoids please?
In short ... Cannabis ususally contains a significant amount of a terpene called beta-caryophyllene (BCP), which contributes to the aroma and flavor of cannabis. Research shows that this terpene, also found in other legal herbs, spices and food plants, activates the CB2 receptor and acts as a non-psychoactive anti-inflammatory. It binds to a cannabinoid receptor, it is considered a cannabinoid.

Many plant terpenes act synergistically with other terpenes and some serve to either catalyze or inhibit formation of other compounds within a plant. Terpenoids are polymers composed of repeating units of isoprene, the monoterpenoids, sesquiterpenoids, diterpenoids and triterpenoids. Terpenoids can be acyclic, monocylic or polycylic hydrocarbons. There are over 120 terpenoids that fall into what most people simply call essential oil or volatile oil.
 

Brick Top

New Member
yeah, this theory is bullshit. I tested it and it doesnt have any effect whatsoever. If ANYTHING AT ALL, I actually thought they looked less potent after the dark period. Either way, the difference is SOOO INSIGNIFICANT, that it deems this technique pointless!
What sort of testing equipment did you use? If you know for a fact that any increase will only be "SOOO INSIGNIFICANT" at best evidently you performed gas chromatography - mass spectrometry tests, right? And you also tested a large number of plants so you would have some sort of baseline or average to go by as to if any possible increase might be rather significant, as in the results of the tests I posted that saw increased levels of THC as high as 30%, or not, right?

Oh ... .... no ...... wait ... you said you only "looked"at them and then decided they "looked less potent." Well, with such a vast amount of empirical data as you had to rely on for your conclusion I can only say that you just have to be correct. Right?
 

skunkushybrid01

Well-Known Member
prick top has me on ignore so he can never see me talking sense to him. He'd rather live in ignorance. just leave him to it ;)
 
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