7 days of dark. The final flush.

[5000joints]

This is for organic and semi-organic soils only.
I flush my girls for the last 14 days with 3x the volume of semi-cold water per pot. EXAMPLE: 3 gal. pots get 9 gal. of semi-cold pure unPH'ed water.
(If its a 10 week strain, start the flush at week 8. Then the dark/ice cold water technique at week 10 to bring it to 11 weeks before harvesting.)
Then put them in complete darkness for 7 days and begin to flush with ICE COLD WATER. This will shock the plants root system which triggers the plant to protect itself by pushing out as many trichomes as it possibly can.
Flush with ICE COLD WATER on day 1, 4, and 6.
On the 6th day, flush 1 more time in the morning and take off any fan leaves or little leaves by hand or with scissors. But they should just snap right off pulling downwards. This just helps make it easier the next morning.
The next morning, HARVEST. Just chop the girls at the base of the main stalk near the soil line. Hang upside down and trim away. I like to use my shower curtain rod to hang my freshly harvested girls on with trash bags in the tub and floor to catch the suger leaf trim. (I hate hairs in my trim. This helps).
PIC 1 - Great White Shark. Bottom bud. After the dark/cold water technique.

 

[tripboufe]

i doint get it very well so for 10 week "flowering" plant
-Flush at 8 week
-flush again with cold water at wekk 10? wait 1 week to put under dark period
-flush the plant the 1,4 and 6 of dark period and on the 7th day harvest??

if its lyk this.. so the plant gets flushed 5 times on its life cycle have u had any side effects on this? or u just tryed with one plant? and what strain was it.. i have ak47 and bigbud

 

[ManGrow]

Hey this is a great thread and really informative, thanks for posting. Rep+
buds look amazing by the way.

 

[skunkd0c]

hey m8 she looks very nice, great picture

 

[justadude420]

Damn that looks sweet, I'd do her......lol

 

[BullwinkleOG]

they mention this in the cannabible. he says dutch growers do this to their white widows to get them to be covered in white trichomes

 

[5000joints]

i doint get it very well so for 10 week "flowering" plant
-Flush at 8 week
-flush again with cold water at wekk 10? wait 1 week to put under dark period
-flush the plant the 1,4 and 6 of dark period and on the 7th day harvest??

if its lyk this.. so the plant gets flushed 5 times on its life cycle have u had any side effects on this? or u just tryed with one plant? and what strain was it.. i have ak47 and bigbud

Start flush 2 weeks before harvest date.
Flush every 3-4 days with semi-cold water.
After 14 days, begin the dark period for 7 days.
Flush with ice-cold water for 7 days in the dark. Days 1,4,&6.
Harvest.

 

[8milekush]

What does this 7 day dark period do?

 

[ManGrow]

What does this 7 day dark period do?

that's what this whole thread is about, but it makes the crystals all crazy snowy and icy like a blizzard came out or something

 

[althor]

I just want to ask this question. How would we know that if he had left that plant under lights for that last WEEK it wouldnt have been just as triched up?

I have done this darkness thing for almost every batch. I have yet to see it make ANY DIFFERENCE at all.

 

[dudeomg1]

I just want to ask this question. How would we know that if he had left that plant under lights for that last WEEK it wouldnt have been just as triched up?

I have done this darkness thing for almost every batch. I have yet to see it make ANY DIFFERENCE at all.

If you leave the lights on for the last week the trichs will start to degrade because the trichs are like suncreen for the bud.

 

[Rumple]

I was thinking that if it makes lots of trichomes being in the dark for a week, why not leave them in the dark for two and a half to three weeks?

 

[dudeomg1]

I was thinking that if it makes lots of trichomes being in the dark for a week, why not leave them in the dark for two and a half to three weeks?

that would be to long without light and they would start to die I personally am only goning to do a 72 hour dark period after my bud is already ready

 

[Rumple]

So what percent of trichomes on a plant are made in that 72 hours of darkness? Did your plant have no trichomes before you did that dark trick?

 

[loophole68]

So what percent of trichomes on a plant are made in that 72 hours of darkness? Did your plant have no trichomes before you did that dark trick?

it does have trichs mate, but it enlarges it or extends it from what I have read....

something like the stipe cell the red elongating and the disc cell and cutile the sherical area enlarging in an effort save itself in a final effort like mentioned before...

 

[Rumple]

it does have trichs mate, but it enlarges it or extends it from what I have read....

Thats cool. Can you show me the place you read that?

 

[Harrekin]

So what percent of trichomes on a plant are made in that 72 hours of darkness? Did your plant have no trichomes before you did that dark trick?

It produces more THC within the already existing trichomes, not more overall trichomes. I believe it was a company who worked with testing marijuana in the Netherlands...cant remember the name but Brick Top used to post the link to the study.

Basically the already existant trichomes can produce up to 30% more THC (30% more in the sense that 30% of 10% is 3%, not 10+30%) if you leave them in the dark for 72 hours prior to harvest.

Also OP, flushing your roots with cold water inhibits the uptake of phosphorous so you're really killing your weight if you do this in the days prior to chop...the last two weeks of the cycle produces up to 20% of the final weight...why deny them food on the last week?

 

[Brick Top]

"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."

 

[AWnox]

IMO this technique can be strain dependent; some may react different than others. I've used this technique in several grows and with some I see a difference with some I don't. This is NOT recommended for hydro applications; starving a plant for 2 weeks in hydro can cause it to even herm because of the prolonged high stress.

 

[Harrekin]

"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."

Cheers for that dude, I knew I'd the basics