36 Hours Of Darkness Before Flower?

Redoctober

Redoctober

Well-Known Member
During the course of my research I came across several independant threads where people discussed giving their plants 36 hours of darkness when transitioning from 18/4 into 12/12 for flowering. It was said to reduce stretch as the plants go into flower and just make the plants take off more robustly. I was thinking of giving this a try but thought I'd ask for all of your opinions first.

Is this tactic worthwhile?
Are there any negative or harmful effects or risks involved (hermie and stuff like that)?
 
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mjkiller

Member
The only thing 36 hrs of darkness would do is transition the plant into flowering quicker than normal. Ive never tried it but i suppose the idea would be to boost the flower into flowering.But the longer u keep your plants in flowering the danker your weed will be. You can make your harvests faster and quicker by making it flower quicker but your weed wont be as dank!! If you are patient and let your plant flower slower your plant will love you and will have more potency and higher thc. I like to go from 18/6 to 12/12. Then once it is in flowering for a week, i put the lights back on 13/11 and finish it on 13/11 untill the last 2 weeks i put it on 12/12 i even go10on/14off the last 2 days before i harvest. I think i might try giving it 36hrs of darkness before flowering we'll see how well it works
 
woodydude

woodydude

Active Member
I dont like the 36hr dark before flower. I veg 24/7 with light and just go straight to 12/12. I usually get preflowers after 4 days and with seeded plants can tell the sex after 5 days usually. I dont think quicker than this is gaining much! The 36 hours dark is meant to speed things up, I tried it once but didnt see the benefit. Likewise, towars the end of flowering, I dont like dropping the lighting hours but I do raise lights a little. This seems to improve resin production in the plant. JMO W
 
Redoctober

Redoctober

Well-Known Member
18/4 what did they do the other 2 hrs lol 36 hrs drkness is ok some do some dnt up to u wont heart a thing i dont.
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Haha! I meant to write 18/6, I guess 18/4 would be if you lived on Mercury where the days are shorter lol! Imagine the weed you could grow there being so much closer to the sun!

Ok so it seems like 36 hours darkness doesn't really have enough merit to make it worth trying. Maybe I'll do it as an experiment some time though.

Interesting mjkiller, what does the 13/11 do for the plants?

Woody, how high are your lights before and after you raise them? And why does it increase resin production? I'd like to try that method.
 
jondamon

jondamon

Well-Known Member
36hours darkness is a pointless excercise and you have to disrupt the darkness to check temps unless you have a climate controller as you dont want night time temps to drop too far.

To reduce stretching you need to keep lights as close to plants as you can and keep day/night temps closer together along with making sure you give plenty of veg nutes during the first 2 weeks to make your plants nice and green.

I have done both 36hours darkness and flipping straight to 12/12, i have seen quicker flowering responses on plants not given the 36hour dark.

I recently (11days ago) switched my latest grow straight to 12/12 and had pistils appear after 4-5days of 12/12 and i only veg'd for 3weeks.




J
 
R

r1tony

New Member
Veg for me is 18/6 then 11/13 for flower. Always did 11/13 for flower so I stuck with it, works great for me.
 
Redoctober

Redoctober

Well-Known Member
To reduce stretching you need to keep lights as close to plants as you can and keep day/night temps closer together along with making sure you give plenty of veg nutes during the first 2 weeks to make your plants nice and green.
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Yes I remember Heath Robinson saying in one of his threads that he keeps the plants on veg nutrients for the first 2 weeks of flower which he said prevents yellowing and dying leaves towards the end of flower.

I'm actually going half LED half HPS, and since the LED's give off virtually no heat, I can almost touch the plants with em without burning. That happened by accident last time where I left for a few days and the plants had grown right up to the light and were pressed right up against the face plate for a day or 2. They were a bit frazzled bit really no ill effects and they recovered in a day.
 
jondamon

jondamon

Well-Known Member
Redoctober said:
Yes I remember Heath Robinson saying in one of his threads that he keeps the plants on veg nutrients for the first 2 weeks of flower which he said prevents yellowing and dying leaves towards the end of flower.

I'm actually going half LED half HPS, and since the LED's give off virtually no heat, I can almost touch the plants with em without burning. That happened by accident last time where I left for a few days and the plants had grown right up to the light and were pressed right up against the face plate for a day or 2. They were a bit frazzled bit really no ill effects and they recovered in a day.
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lol with LED lol, my 600w is around 3inches away from my tops and no problems, i am aircool though.




J
 
Nusky

Nusky

New Member
36 hours of darkness for transition to flowering wouldn't hurt. I doubt it would do anything though.

I heard that 24 hours of darkness before you harvest will give you more oil and bud. Because they grow during their sleep period. Sounds like a good theory to me but can a plant wake up during the dark period like a person?
 
Puffin The Herb

Puffin The Herb

Member
Nusky said:
I heard that 24 hours of darkness before you harvest will give you more oil and bud. Because they grow during their sleep period. Sounds like a good theory to me but can a plant wake up during the dark period like a person?
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Sorry but i actually laughed out loud at the comparison to a humans sleeping system.....they will only wake if exposed to light....a person can be exposed to light but cannot wake but the plant cant.....its the light and dark that determines whether the plant is 'sleeping or awake'
 
whodatnation

whodatnation

Well-Known Member
Iv done 24 hr dark before flower and IMO think it boosts the plant into flower but wont change much honestly. I do like doing a 48 hr dark period before harvest too along with letting the root zone get nice and dry :-) I honestly think it increases trich production noticeably.
 
DrFever

DrFever

New Member
just flip it to 12 /12 forget the 36 hrs of darkness lol and for the stretch period what i do is lower lights like 5 " so like 1000 waters are like 13" above plants get no stretch just big buds
 

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jondamon

jondamon

Well-Known Member
Puffin The Herb said:
Newbie on my 1st grow but i picked something up there from you....aircool that allows you 3" from the tops?.....could you enlighten me in what you mean please
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link https://www.rollitup.org/grow-journals/444034-600w-closet-dinafem-power-kush.html

thats my journal link. i run 2 fans , 1 for my aircooled hood with its own cool air intake NO GROW ROOM AIR PASSES THROUGH THE LIGHT SYSTEM , and 1 fan to filter and exchange the air.



lots of pics in my journal link so you can see for yourself.




J
 
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