Ice Water Flush & Darkness Before Harvest

[CA215]

In reply to this thread again

I feel that ice water flushes probably aren't the best idea, this thread was more of a first time grower experimenting thing im sure others have went through the same thing lol, can't keep your hands off your plants etc..
Prolonged darkness for a day or two is something I continue to do as it seems to give the flowers an extra kick to the trich swelling.
I also try to let soil dry out pretty well before harvest, after multiple 0ppm flushes.

 

[PlanetJ]

Thanks for documenting it .. this saves me some research and probably angry females Nice pictures too!

 

[CA215]

No problem PlanetJ & thank you for the rep

I also forgot to mention..
Colder air/temps during the last bit of the plants life will help bring out any colors on your flowers.
Also, if you plan on growing sativas keep in mind the longer flowering time and think about GLR (general light reduction) towards mid flower, with this you will be able to closer mimic a shortening day which in return should help finish up the plant a little quicker.

I was quite toasted last night and seems I forgot that

 

[WildRosebud]

Results for cold finish was very minimal in my situation , portions of the plant that got cold air responded by turning a lot of trics amber (Aged them quicker? Fermented maybe?) the portions unaffected were all cloudy.... My outdoor plants were clear cloudy last year and were harvested in hot summer before the plants really matured. Next summer I will follow through , do a natural cold finish by allowing some plants to endure a frost or two and harvesting them accordingly. One thing I do from time to time is use the freezer to freeze fresh cut buds , it dries and cures much faster and is great for quick samples/meds but in my experience doing so it tends to deflate rock hard buds as they dry and cure and keeps them a bit greener. Not entirely sure how I feel bout that method I use but I managed to keep a batch of frozen cured bud for a few weeks in to cure and it is actually quite an amazing smoke and tastes AWESOME!

More you and I and we experiment the more interesting methods to dry/cure or finish plants the more options we will have to experiment in the future and perhaps some of these methods slightly alter our meds , for good or worse lets find out! The hard ways hahaha

 

[Calyx Hunter]

Look on amazon for a grow tent. I had mine in just a spare room but now with two tents i can go n my room! I have the window opened! I even have the green party light so when my.friends i trust come over all i gotta do.is drape down the plastic over the window and bam! Complete darkness till the green light is on! The tents are as cheap as $89 bux. I got two for $240 bux! And feel its the best Investment i made. Before i had built a 48'x48'x72' wood box! That costed 140 bux! The tent was way cheaper and better! Cheers!

Amazon is awesome for some things. I recently got a 2X4 tent for $88! Seriously you cannot DIY something better for cheaper than that.

Results for cold finish was very minimal in my situation , portions of the plant that got cold air responded by turning a lot of trics amber (Aged them quicker? Fermented maybe?) the portions unaffected were all cloudy.... My outdoor plants were clear cloudy last year and were harvested in hot summer before the plants really matured. Next summer I will follow through , do a natural cold finish by allowing some plants to endure a frost or two and harvesting them accordingly. One thing I do from time to time is use the freezer to freeze fresh cut buds , it dries and cures much faster and is great for quick samples/meds but in my experience doing so it tends to deflate rock hard buds as they dry and cure and keeps them a bit greener. Not entirely sure how I feel bout that method I use but I managed to keep a batch of frozen cured bud for a few weeks in to cure and it is actually quite an amazing smoke and tastes AWESOME!

More you and I and we experiment the more interesting methods to dry/cure or finish plants the more options we will have to experiment in the future and perhaps some of these methods slightly alter our meds , for good or worse lets find out! The hard ways hahaha

I enjoy seeing everyones experiments on 420mag. It helps us all understand her a little better each time. I'm real close to harvest and I let my room temp drop to about 58 degrees last night. I'm giving my girls a little cold shock treatment. I'll do it again tonight and harvest on saturday. I may try your advice on strains for an outddor grow soon. It'd be cool to time it right and let the first natural frost ripen a plant perfectly for harvest. That would be some skill.

 

[David Bowman]

Throughout this entire grow, the lights off temperatures have dropped to 60° F or lower and I've yet to see any changes in the appearance/coloring of the flowers/leaves. The ladies have also regularly experienced daily temperature swings of 30°+ with no noticeable/visible impact upon them.

 

[Buddy Ebsen]

I've been watching this thread with great interest. I'm not going to do the ice water flush though as it appears that it doesn't assist all that much. What I will be doing is opening up the window next to my tent at night and let the cold air in for the next 3 to 4 weeks and expose the plants to the temperature changes. At night we are still in the low 40's and they day time temp is approx a constant 75 degrees.

The last week before harvest, they plants are going outside on the enclosed porch with a reduced lighting schedule. I am curious as to how this affects the bud development.

I will update in my journal as to the results.

 

[estee420]

No problem PlanetJ & thank you for the rep

I also forgot to mention..
Colder air/temps during the last bit of the plants life will help bring out any colors on your flowers.
Also, if you plan on growing sativas keep in mind the longer flowering time and think about GLR (general light reduction) towards mid flower, with this you will be able to closer mimic a shortening day which in return should help finish up the plant a little quicker.

I was quite toasted last night and seems I forgot that

Thank you for showing us your experiment, it was very helpful, mine is still flowering but I'll keep your experiment in mind when it's time to harvest, but no ice water, I don't think she would like it very much, I wouldn't want ice water poured on me either lol

 

[CA215]

Thank you for showing us your experiment, it was very helpful, mine is still flowering but I'll keep your experiment in mind when it's time to harvest, but no ice water, I don't think she would like it very much, I wouldn't want ice water poured on me either lol

This was an exterument I had attempted when I first started growing my own medicine.
I now know that the ice water flushes are okay when being used towards the end of flowering, cooling of the root zone could help produce more colors. Something to try if you are one who likes attempting different things.

The added darkness at the end of harvest is something I believe in. Giving a finished plant 2-3 days of complete darkness before harvesting produces more trichomes and allows them to plump.

This is my .02, take it with a grain of salt CA215

 

[WhyBuyAPlant]

Thanks so much for all of the info here (i know its an old thread) i just joined and im checking out all kinds of techniques i never did before. This little golden nug of info is a keeper for sure!

 

[LEDBud]

The extended Dark Period certainly did not cause a reduction in the Trichomes presence !

Can Imagine what it would do to my current plants that are already thick in Crystals, I must / will it out

I like the results it gave CA215's Bud

Couldn't find the info for cleaning buds their journals are lengthy I tired my hardest but the ganj got the best of me. Been smoking the rascal for about a week now. Jarred the girl up on 5-9 after a quick 3 day dry, due to temperature issues this process went a little too quick for my taste but, issues arise. Speaking of TASTE rascal OG kush is quite appetizing, very crisp lemony citrus on the way in, watch out this girl expands your lungs so be cautious, exhale is smooth gooey doobage, very earthy. It is missing that skunky after tone that I've tried before with this strain, hoping a few weeks curing will help them nuglets out.

For the , renamed "prolonged darkness experiment" due too actually leaving rascal in darkness for almost 5 days instead of 48 hours, in my opinion and for further grows, I will conclude that I do see significant "changes" in the trichomes.. I'm not sure exactly what is happening through the whole botany aspect but I saw the trichomes actually bulk up in length & width, with a few (not too significant) turning yellow/amber in color. I would really like to keep testing this experiment in my grows, on and off, too see what will actually give me my better meds.

For the ice water flush, I have a feeling this really didn't do much but shock my plants, in my opinion, I really didn't like this. Will stick to room temp from now on up all the way to my girls final flushes.

Some micros;

This will conclude this experiment. When I compare more results I will share on this thread

Thanks for stopping by, CA215

 

[420Heisenburg]

Hello 420Mag community.

My first post here though I have been creeping the site for a few years now. I normally leave my crops in 36 hrs of darkness before harvesting and I just completed a harvest. Essential oils and Tric's are always increased with this trick. Today I decided to see if there is anything else that I could try. Have never used ice water but I do use cold water to flush as well as reduced temps at night. I do try to keep the night temp within 10 degrees of daytime temps to avoid over stressing.
I believe that all crops will benefit from darkness before harvest with one exception. Smell. I had a haze that I grew a few years back that had a huge smell. When left in darkness before harvest the smell got so strong that the carbon filters could not cope, so I avoided this step with this species.

Great thread thanks

 

[Bearbunny]

Iv just read this, and im still trying my Idea, Im putting ice cubes around the base for its final 24hrs darkness

 

[coralman]

Just having a quick scan through. Iv always done 2 days darkness before harvest. I have about 2 weeks left on my current grow and really tempted too go 11 hours on 13 off... were always taught that light = more bud so reducing it at a time when cannabis puts on most of its weight seems crazy but still makes sense in a way regarding more frost so it's hard to decide decisions decisions. Haha

Brilliant thread by the way.

 

[HigherTheHigh]

Do you think the ice water will work or just cause problems? im starting a 7 day flush tomorrow.