hello I'm harvesting my Bubblegum plants on Monday. I've heard conflicting opinions on leaving off the lights for 2-4 days before the chop. Anyone tried this? Cant see it hurting anything and actually would reduce electricity. Was planning on leaving the lights off Friday morning till Tuesday morning, with my dehumidifier running the whole time. Would be a total of 96 hours of darkness. Any thoughts? Thanks
I always heard your supposed to chop your plants in night time mode w no lights visible. Im not a expert on this but I heard that all the sugars n starches or sumthin like that go down to the roots during night time mode and come back up when theres light visible. Its supposed to make the bud less harsh and smoother. Your literally supposed to chop it in complete darkness, right before dawn or when plants are expecting the lights to turn on.......and ive heard n read something even in high times regarding this............and also about what your talking about for doing it for 96 hours of darkness, ive heard like 2 days max tho. I duno if id go that long cuz they could get droopy lookin w no light for a while, i want them when they're there strongest you know..... You should experiment w a few if you can, im kinda curious about it TBH.
I was wondering if i should do this, Im growing outdoors and was thinking before harvest maybe putting a large black bin over my plant, any thoughts? The theory being that plants store startch as back up energy source for when it is night time. If you put it in the dark for a long period before harvest it will force the plant to use the extra starch/glucose and produce larger sums of THC. Do you think this will work if i put the plant is 24hour darkness?
if you put those outdoor plants in a black bin durning the day, your heat and humiddity would be extreme, the darkness for 2 or 3 days is going to give you all this extra big bud, i havnt read anything on where the darkness make a big difference in the trichs, but, you wont know enless you you try!
i usually do 24-48 hrs of darkness period before harvest , but only on mainly sativa's this seems to work , on mostly indica strains ive noticed it doesnt matter . I tried both ways (dark period before harvest and not ) and it seems that the buds get a bit more resin on them if u do that, like the plants is trying its best to complete the flowering process once its been in dark that long , not sure of the science be hide it but yeah , 2-3 days of complete darkness before harvest on any Sativa strain is a good idea .
I say harvest half the plant as normal and then do the other half with an extended dark period and notice the difference for yourself. Everyone has their opinions on what's best, then you have those that have never tried the extended dark period claiming its the worst idea ever, advicing others to not do what they have never tried. But for me, I do a two week extended dark period. Matter of fact, I'll chop it, put it in a vase of spring or RO water for about 72 hours and then turn the lights out for a little less than 2 weeks. It makes a big difference in the smoothness, taste, and overall tric production.