24 hour dark before 12/12?

Just wondering what everyone's thoughts are about leaving the plant in the dark for a full day before switching to 12/12? I have heard that this helps to increase the hormone in the plant and jumpstart it into the streching / budding phase. Any advice from our esteemed growers out there?

dont know about that might stress them i know lots of people go 18-6 couple of days before 12-12 BUT 24hrs dark when ready to harvest will increase thc levels

I like to give them 24hrs of darkness when switching from 18/6 to 12/12. The plants tend to stretch some, as they are looking for light. I think it does help jumstart the flowering process IMO. I also do 72 hours of darkness once the last 12/12 cycle is complete.........I dont know if it does increase thc or trichome production, but it doesnt seem to hurt anything so I do it. I think the most important thing is proper drying and curing if you want your smoke to be all that in can be.

stlmatt

/\ /\ /\ this is what i do, i also believes i induces flower,

I did to my lastest plant... no dark period..just straight fro 20/4 to 12/12 took exactly 10 days to show flowering.

So far there are seven No votes and four Yes.... anyone else want to chime in??

I've experimented with it alot. as of yet i have seen absolutely no benefit. if anything it makes them take longer to really kick into flowering mode. thats my experience and my opinion. I think the best way to really know something is to have firsthand experience, so feel free to experiment with it if you want, you dont have to try it with all of the plants you have.(you could if you wanted to of course).

I went from 18/6 to 12/12 on my latest 4 plants and it took 5 days for the first to show signs of flowering and 8 for the last.

A NO vote from me....if you have any technical info supporting this wives tale, please link me to it. "I think" and "I do" is not proof enough to make me change anything I do.....

i took my plant straight to 1212 from 24 and they showed flowers in a week

Never heard of that! but anywhere from 2 days to a week at end of bud cycle ,but iam am with dark 420.experiment t there will be no harm then post us the results that would be sweet!!!!!!!!!!!peace

Well, so far it looks like the "No"s have it with 2/3 of the people saying not to do the day of darkness. The girls get flipped to 12/12 today, so I am going to go with the majority and they will not be in the dark for a day!
Thanks for the opinions, folks!

I'm with Oldreefer. Plants don't really get a full 24 hours of darkness before going into flowering in nature, I don't see why I should have the audacity to try and challenge nature's design. Next I'll be trying to prove that we landed on the moon in 1969...

NightbirdX said:

I'm with Oldreefer. Plants don't really get a full 24 hours of darkness before going into flowering in nature, I don't see why I should have the audacity to try and challenge nature's design. Next I'll be trying to prove that we landed on the moon in 1969...

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To be technical then wouldnt growing seedless bud be challenging nature and its designs? no offense meant or nothing, i just noticed that and had to say something.

Good point actually... There is very little natural left in the way that we raise these plants.

mushroom man said:

i took my plant straight to 1212 from 24 and they showed flowers in a week

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same here always go from 24 to 12/12 show in a wk after 4 to 6 wk veg

I personally grow as organically/veganically as possible and if it were okay here to do outdoor crops, I would be doing outdoor crops and using natural sunlight. I don't think we are doing things totally unnaturally. We are mimicking the environment of nature, granted we try to keep the conditions as optimal as possible, but I don't really think there is anything unnatural about it. The basics are still there, but just tweaked and refined with experience and science.

To me, I think it is kinda like the normally aspirated engine vs. a supercharged one... There is nothing fair or natural about the way we do indoor grows, other than the fact that we use light and nutrients to grow them. Everything else is manufactured in some way or another. That makes it better for us of course, but it still isn't what nature intended I am sure.

If we look at this from a scientific standpoint it seems logical to use a 24+ hour dark cycle to initiate flowering.

The plant uses a number of protein pigments to, more or less, tell time. These pigments absorb photons (light) and take on an excited state, where they do a number of things. During a day period the pigments will remain in this excited state. During the dark cycle, the pigments are able to relax from their excited states. They now can interact with proteins involved in flowering and stimulate the production of flowering hormones.

So, breaking it down a little further, these pigments are like a key. A key that only works in the dark. The key unlocks flowering. The longer the key is around, the longer the door to flowering is open.

So, if you hit the plant with an excess of dark it will build up large concentrations of proteins and hormones necessary for flowering. This should kick-start the flowering process, which is cool.

I honestly believe that there must be some way to flower in absolute dark.