darkness before harvest bullshit?

hey, if your about to chop em down, does it really make a difference if you leave them in dark for 2 days, or just chop them in the middle of the day?

Why not try it? I did it on my last harvest and they seemed to me to look a little better, the hairs receded and turned more orange. And, they might have even smelled a little bit better. BUT, Im not saying anything happened scientifically and Im also no saying that they got more potent because they "thought the end of the world was coming" Im just saying that from now on I will probably put them in darkness and the cold for 2 days on the rest of my harvests.

Its makes the plants feel as if death is around the corner when you turn out the lights 48 hrs. before you harvest.

It makes the plant go into complete survival mode.

Because of this, the plant increases resin output, and thc.

I always give my plants 48 hrs. of darkness before I chop.. and it does work.

Ive been experimenting for over 10 years.

Believe what you want...

Its the way I do things, and proven to be a winning concept

so 48 hours is the key eh? anyone else take advantage of this secret?

and chop in the morning when the day begins so the THC is strongest

i believe it is the white strains that use the darkness to frost up like crazy i dont think its used for any other reason than on white strains

Yeah man i would just try it out and see what you think, Im about 98% sure there are no disadvantages to this, other than you have to wait another 48 hours. But, youve waited this long so I say give it a try. I think I benefitted from it.

IM curious as well about this. I am growing hydro and i have heard to put like 3 bags of ice in the res to drop the res temps down really low and then do the darkness thing as well. Do the res temps do the same thing as the darkness? Also i heard if you put the ice in the res to get super low temps it will turn the bud purple, is this true??

sheesh.im too curious i think im gonna have to try this on my girls in 4weeks haha seems like itll help this along with usin a metal halide bulb for the last 2 weeks of harvest

What is this about using a mh the last 2 weeks? Is a mh bulb better then an hps for the last 2 weeks? What is it suppose to do and why is it better?

bump bump whats up anyone have any more info on the darkness or lowering res temps with ice at the end?

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!

llop1103 said:

What is this about using a mh the last 2 weeks? Is a mh bulb better then an hps for the last 2 weeks? What is it suppose to do and why is it better?

Click to expand...

MH and CMH both contain a large portion of UVB rays in their spectrum, and in the last few weeks of life the plants react to UV by upping resin production to protect themselves. Just a note, if you do this and have a glass lens in front of the bulb, you want to remove it: the glass blocks UV.

cowelll - so wouldn't the best of both worlds be to grow them primarily under HPS for the packed nugs then switch to MH during the last week or two for extra trichs?

is this 4 outdoors????????/

Ian Singerdale said:

MH and CMH both contain a large portion of UVB rays in their spectrum, and in the last few weeks of life the plants react to UV by upping resin production to protect themselves. Just a note, if you do this and have a glass lens in front of the bulb, you want to remove it: the glass blocks UV.

cowelll - so wouldn't the best of both worlds be to grow them primarily under HPS for the packed nugs then switch to MH during the last week or two for extra trichs?

Click to expand...

I would think that adding UVB bulbs to a HPS set up would give you the best results. You won't compromise the tight hard buds from the HPS, and you'll get some nice frosting from the UVB bulbs.
There's a fair bit of discussion about UVB light in the "advanced growing" section.. worth the effort reading.

I don't know what changing the light out for the last 2 weeks would do... It may work great, I haven't tried it, so I am hesitant on saying one thing or another. But I would THINK that you would pick up some extra trich's and you may have a little bit fluffier bud.. I have a perpetual harvest going, so my first 2 harvests were really fluffy, but super fantastic smoke.. I had a ballast issue about 13 weeks after starting flowering.. and discovered I had the MH bulb that came with my light kit in the fixture.. so I switched it to HPS.. so I had my first harvest, fluffy...second harvest had only a few 7weeks of HPS.. still fluffy.. last harvest had 3 weeks of MH.. and are kinda fluffy.. but heavier than the last 2 harvests.. so I have some plants that are 2 weeks from harvest now, and have had HPS the whole time and are HARD, same size, but way denser. So I would think that even a few weeks of MH could loosen the buds. But maybe someone has tried it and could tell you how that worked for them?

peace

Well, from what I've read, plants store certian chemicals (salts, sugars) in the roots at night, and when photosynisith begins in the morning, these chemicals move up into the tissue of the plant. When night comes on again, these chemicals are sent back to the roots to be stored.

So when you chop down before first light, these chemicals won't be in your product.

(As to giving extra dark time, I've also read and tried something called 'shock curing' where you place the the plant in darkness for 3-5 days, and give it cold, ice water. Seemed to really make the plant extra sticky.)

CLOSETGROWTH said:

Its makes the plants feel as if death is around the corner when you turn out the lights 48 hrs. before you harvest.

It makes the plant go into complete survival mode.

Because of this, the plant increases resin output, and thc.

I always give my plants 48 hrs. of darkness before I chop.. and it does work.

Ive been experimenting for over 10 years.

Believe what you want...

Its the way I do things, and proven to be a winning concept

Click to expand...

I'm with you all the way on this. I'm new at growing but it makes so much biological sense and the cold snap will retract pistils, change color of pistils as well as possibly change the tinge on the leaves making pretty colors come out, making your harvest JUST THAT MUCH SWEETER

Ok so all signs point to putting it in the dark for 48 hours. I am going to leave them under my hps and not put under the mh for the last 2 weeks. Also what about putting the ice bags in the res and making the water super cold. Any input on that? I have heard the cold water will make the plant purple is this true?

I haven't tried it personally.. give it a shot and let us know.
I think it's cold air temperatures that trigger the color change, but maybe with res'es too, can't remember ever hearing that before though.