2 days of darkness before harvest - True or False?

Discussion in 'Growing Marijuana Indoors' started by Spazik, Apr 25, 2011.

  1. Hey all, so I've heard a number of people recommend leaving the plants in darkness for a few days before harvesting? A lot of people say that it bumps out extra resin production, and of course other people say it's bullshit. Is there anyone out there with an intelligent logical/scientific explanation one way or the other?
     
  2. I dunno man, I've seen this same question posted multiple times, and i have yet to see some LEGIT scientific evidence. That being said it would take so many harvests to extrapolate some reliable data, so asking for scientific evidence might be too much to ask.
    I have read that the general idea is that the plant thinks it's going into winter, and as a result it puts resin production at a maximum. To me this seems to make logical sense. Plants react to environmental changes (such as longer periods of darkness), and react accordingly. In the end the mystery lies with the fundamental purpose of THC. There must be a logical reason for the plant to produce more THC when its death is in sight. Perhaps its to attract more animals for a higher chance of pollination, however this close to "winter"it seems like that would be futile anyways....
    I have yet to have a successful grow, but I know when I do, i'll be rockin a couple day of darkness before i harvest (I've heard using a cold water flush right before (although this might just be to bring out fall colors) helps as well).
     
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  3. Yea I figure leaving it in the dark for a couple days wouldn't kill it or destroy the THC so it's not going to hurt anything. The only potential problem would be mold but that's easily counteracted with dryness.
     
  4. ive always given them 2 -3 days of darkness.
     

  5. It's a *maybe* at best and one of those things you're going to have to decide for yourself.

    Try it, or don't.

    Wet
     
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  6. @kanadiankush try using technaflora's reciepe for success it's so easy a caveman can do it! Use bubble buckets they are easy to use and great results.
     
  7. After flowering for 8-10 weeks do you really think three days of light or dark will make any difference in the total resin count? Not very realistic. This will not hurt the plant, so if you want to harvest three days later try it and see. You would probably gain as much by using an extra three days of normal day/night cycles. There is no proof this works other than anecdotal evidence.
     
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  8. Just cut them down. No need to sit them in the dark for two days.
     
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  9. I say why not. 1.) It's coming down in 2-3 days anyway, 2.) placebo effect, maybe you think it helps, and it does, haha, and 3.) Sure wouldn't hurt the electric bill.
     
  10. If (3) days of darkness supposedly increases the resin production before cutting why not go 6 or 7 days, hell maybe even 10, lol! But really, no photosynthesis, means no chemical energy is being made, which means there will be no fuel for organism active which is what actually creates the resin.
     
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  11. False. The amount of resin won't increase but the amount of resin relative to other stuff, will increase. It will increase because during the night all of the production 'equipment' (ie chemicals and juices) the plant uses to make buds goes back to the leaves and roots, so harvesting at the end of a night cycle leaves you with cleaner bud that gram for gram might have slightly more potency than bud harvested during the day.. But 12 hours will do this, there is no need to go dark for 48. This is my understanding anyway.
     
  12. Yeah - I don't know what this means.

    J
     
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  13. If you have a pot with 10 blue marbles and 10 red, then remove 3 blue marbles, the amount of red marbles as a % of the amount of marbles in the pot increases.. but you aren't getting more red marbles in total.
     
  14. Stoner science followed by a more than likely stoned explanation. I see a couple loose marbles Rollin around...lol

    Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk
     
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  15. I read this. ...went and got baked, read it again. ....
    I still don't get it.

    Sent from my SM-G900V using Grasscity Forum mobile app
     
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  16. Ain't no cure for dumb.
     
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  17. How does the bud end up cleaner if I'm flushing since it's chop down time and all that is in the res is ph'd rainwater for days? Is a little more water going to water down the resin content when the bud is being dried anyway?

    I'm not a fan of this night time multiple days of dark harvest theory. My plants are too large to harvest by myself all at once. When a plant is close to a pound and you can't just trim all day it can take 4-5 days to finish trimming it. I'm not going to hang the whole plant during that time. I've done that it makes the trimming more difficult. Plus there is always a gradient of maturity level to a plant. I'll start with the most ripe buds then the lower ones get another 4-5 days to ripen a bit more.

    Cutting the plants down all at once after some ritualistic 3 day dark period sounds a bit kooky to me.
     
  18. Id rather put the light at 11/13 for 10-14 days at the end vs 2 days of darkness. Especially with hardcore sativas.

    If I only ran 1 hardcore long flowering sativa strain, I would start this process after mid bloom. But if running a few different strains, starting so early may hinder production on some strains though.
     
  19. I've been flowering at 13 on 11 off for a while after I read about people getting away with up to 14hr on in flower. 12/12 is just what always works. You can push more light on a budding plant and growth is directly tied to how much light it gets. An extra hour a day is 8% more light.
     
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  20. i read a lot . if this helps . there are breeders that suggest leaving your plants in total darkens for 2 days before harvest to increase cbd . so will you notice a difference ? idk . will it hurt anything ? no . just dont water the plant . and it will have a jump on drying . let the fans keep running 24/7 as usual . ive done it and to me it was the same as having the lights on for 2 extra days . it did form extra crystals .
     

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