Yes? No? Maybe? a Week of Darkness Then Harvest?

[trichomes]

I would appreciate all opinions on this quote I read, it suggests the final WEEK in darkness, (when your trichomes are about where you like them) here's the quote: "it really does make the plant think it is nearing the end of life, so it will stop any new growth on the tops and concentrate on producing crystals in one last ditch effort to catch a pollen spore before it dies" thanks to the very few that respond!! & Happy Holidays!

 

[HybridKGB]

my USB trichs, some strains NEVER turn amber, don't wait too long, I concur with 72 hours in the dark, them harvest!!

 

[JJ Bones]

We've tried the darkness methods a good amount of times. The one were you use darkness for 24-36 hours before flowering in order to 'trigger' quicker flowering.

Giving it good darkness before harvesting + using ice to get purp.

Honestly I think it may help a bit, but nothing drastic. I've never left it in a week of darkness, that seems like too much. I feel like if you have a solid strain, great environment, feed it well all these little 'tactics' are worthless.

Another important thing to remember, if you left it in the darkness for a week the plant would have NO energy left because no photosynthesis would be occurring.

No energy means no power to hold up it's leaves or branches. This would leave you with a bitch of a trim job. I find it's best to trim when it's fresh off the branch, because there's energy left so the leaves stand up and stick out, making it easier to trim as opposed to leaves being weak and flat against buds.

 

[GigaGrew]

the plants flowering is trigered by the increasing amount of dark period. it seems far more natural to me to follow a diminishing light schedule. when you get down to an hour a day of sunlight, i say 24 hours of dark then chop.

the closer you get to chop, the cooler you want it , and really try to suck out the humidity.

i believe that this method not only encourages flowering and sets a pace for the grow to follow, it also provides all the right natural cues to trigger optimum 'last chance upgrade' scenario.

we should have this myth dealt with already, the victorians were forcing flowering hundreds of years ago.

ill try to test it whem i have enough plants flowing through my grows.

 

[WizHigh]

I haven't got to my first harvest but using 24hrs dark period for quicker flowering I haven't used either. My plants started to flower in the first week of flipping the lights. I go with JJ on this one. Its all about genetics and how you care for your plants. Genetics is 70%

 

[Cultivator]

lots of things affect every grow. but in general sense (after growing thousands of plants) i find a dark period before flower does help kick start flower and 3 days darkness at end can give that extra ripening but i cut my plants without doing that as they get to the ripeness i like without it. a week in darkness is prob a bit too long but as ive only gone 5 days max i cant say for sure. just to be clear, i have near 200 plants growing right now in diff locations and set ups so i do have experience of this.

 

[GigaGrew]

it does seem an awful lot of effort for only minor gains. much easier to have simple on off times for many plants.

a lot of these fine tuning methods are ok, but nothing 1 extra line of plants couldnt solve in terms of retail quality produce

 

[CheifSosa]

I also am about to embark on my first harvest in a little over a week... I guess this is more of an opinionated subject but i believe (24-48hrs) would be adequate IMO.. Best of luck...


#Sosa

 

[gittergreen]

Hey JJ have you ever gave them a few hrs of light each day to keep the leaves from drooping. seems like this might work in theory.
I'm getting ready to try this to get things purpled up because I can't 100% control my environment yet. I def don't want to make it any harder to trim! Heck I might even put a single florescent in there at reg 12hrs to lower the heat to next to nothing but still give them some light. Any thoughts?

 

[elious]

We've tried the darkness methods a good amount of times. The one were you use darkness for 24-36 hours before flowering in order to 'trigger' quicker flowering.

Giving it good darkness before harvesting + using ice to get purp.

Honestly I think it may help a bit, but nothing drastic. I've never left it in a week of darkness, that seems like too much. I feel like if you have a solid strain, great environment, feed it well all these little 'tactics' are worthless.

Another important thing to remember, if you left it in the darkness for a week the plant would have NO energy left because no photosynthesis would be occurring.

No energy means no power to hold up it's leaves or branches. This would leave you with a bitch of a trim job. I find it's best to trim when it's fresh off the branch, because there's energy left so the leaves stand up and stick out, making it easier to trim as opposed to leaves being weak and flat against buds.

Amen to that man. I've trimmed for cash many many times and have turned down work because the plants had been cut days prior and the trim job would have been hell. When you get paid by the pound it doesn't .are much money cleaning up a lazy grower's mistakes.

 

[JJ Bones]

Hey JJ have you ever gave them a few hrs of light each day to keep the leaves from drooping. seems like this might work in theory.
I'm getting ready to try this to get things purpled up because I can't 100% control my environment yet. I def don't want to make it any harder to trim! Heck I might even put a single florescent in there at reg 12hrs to lower the heat to next to nothing but still give them some light. Any thoughts?

You could do that however the plant usually will take energy via photosynthesis and store it first then begin using it. It will store it so it has things to do during the darkness.

I just would never recommend a week of darkness, at all. Most I'd go is 48 hours darkness, nothing more.

 

[trichomes]

You could do that however the plant usually will take energy via photosynthesis and store it first then begin using it. It will store it so it has things to do during the darkness.

I just would never recommend a week of darkness, at all. Most I'd go is 48 hours darkness, nothing more.

lol, my bad & thank you, I never look at my old threads, thank you visiting my new journal!