The 'ol "dump a bucket of ice in your dirt days before harvest" trick

[ThorGanjason]

Okay, so I've heard that you can dump a bucket of ice on your soil 2 days before you harvest, and that it helps the plant mature and really bring out natural purples. I have 2 strains that have purple showing up in their tops and top leaves, but none of the smaller/lower buds have the color (literally just like the top inch). I'm wanting to bring the color out (for commercial purposes) and give them that final frosting, so I was going to put them in a dark closet for 2 or 3 days, and a grower buddy in Colorado told me once that dumping ice on the soil when you do this brings the purple out.

I haven't seen it mentioned on here too many times (if at all), so I'm just wondering if anyone has tried it.

 

[RIKNSTEIN]

I usually just lower my temps in my flower room to between 55F and 65F and I get some beautiful blue spots on my Blue Rhino...not too mention my nugs are dense and heavy because of the colder temps imitating fall...g/l bro

 

[ThorGanjason]

Sweet, awesome man, so you take them that low? I've been taking mine to around 65 at nigh (lowest I've hit is 63) for a week or so, and its helping but not fast enough. I'm wanting to harvest in a few days so I'm hoping I can accelerate it.

But I am gonna run in here quick and turn my grow room ac lower lol. BTW, I have a hybrid in there that's gonna need another week or twowill the cold temps fuck it up? Or help it flower faster? I'm okay if the ssize doesn't increase much, the hybrid is huge and I'm hoping for 2-3 o's on it.

 

[DemonTrich]

mine are 73-75* lights off and lights on (gotta love A/C) consistently. never heard of the ice trick.

 

[Huel Perkins]

Don't waste your time with stupid tricks, just focus on keeping your plants happy/healthy from start to finish...

 

[Cobnobuler]

I flush all of my plants with ice water before I put them in dark for a day or 2, then I chop 'em.
Does it do anything..? I honestly dont know. But I do know I always like the finished product so I continue to do it every time.

 

[Trousers]

If you want to invite powdery mildew, let your temps drop to between 60 and 70 for a while.

 

[ThorGanjason]

How long does it take for the pm to form at those temps? I've had mine like that for about a week now, but I'm taking the ready plants out and putting them in a dark closet for a couple days so I'm back to cutting my ac off again tonight.

And Huel--my entire indoor grow is nothing but one big trick and a bunch of little tricks. Fans to simulate wind. Light bulb to trick the plant into thinking its the sun. Flipping to 12/12 to trick the plant into thinking its fall. Everything I do is trying to trick the plant into thinking its actually outside, in actual seasons (insert 60's song about seasons of change here). BC when the seasons change, the plants change.

Calling it a trick doesn't mean its a useless gimmick

 

[Trousers]

If your temps are in that range and powdery mildew is introduced some how, you will get it.
If my temps stayed in the 60s for a few days I would most likely get PM.
My zuchinni, squash and some bushes outside have pm. So I can't mess with low temps.

Cold slows growth, I do not see the point of trying to make your grow room cold.

 

[jondamon]

Cold temps will slow/stop the uptake of P causing a P deficiency.

P deficiency causes colour changes in plants, namely purples.

Strains that are supposed to have some purple to them should come out without dropping temps below 65f.


Growing a plant indoors is not tricking the plant. Its simulating the environment.


Ice water, nails in stems, excessive cold temps blah blah are what I consider to be bullshit tricks.

If you grow a strain that's supposed to have a certain characteristic then it will either show that characteristic or it won't.
If it doesn't it generally means you've been unlucky finding the pheno that carries that trait.



J

 

[potroastV2]

Dumping a load of ice around your plants is an excellent way to slowly water your plants. It's a temporary drip irrigation system!

That just gives the ground a good slow soaking. However, the water temp when it melts is just cool, and it doesn't chill the roots so as to produce any colors in the bud. Cooler night air temps can cause some colors to appear in ripening buds in some strains, it's ideal to have the night temps 20 degrees less than the daytime high temp.

 

[RIKNSTEIN]

Sweet, awesome man, so you take them that low? I've been taking mine to around 65 at nigh (lowest I've hit is 63) for a week or so, and its helping but not fast enough. I'm wanting to harvest in a few days so I'm hoping I can accelerate it.

But I am gonna run in here quick and turn my grow room ac lower lol. BTW, I have a hybrid in there that's gonna need another week or twowill the cold temps fuck it up? Or help it flower faster? I'm okay if the ssize doesn't increase much, the hybrid is huge and I'm hoping for 2-3 o's on it.

Ya man, should be good...my timer on the AC quit working and left the AC running all night (for a week) and it got to 49F and they didn't seem to mind....I got a new timer though and I try to stay steady in there...55F light off and no more than 65 with lights on..peace..

 

[RIKNSTEIN]

If you want to invite powdery mildew, let your temps drop to between 60 and 70 for a while.

Ya everyone has "their way"...I haven't had a prob with PM..yet..but I do know it gets colder than 60 at night in the fall (around here) and my buddy that grows outside has never had PM...or so he says and I believe him...here's my OG at 55F to 65F for 2 months or better...


EDIT: Not sayin you're wrong, and I'm still learning but the colder temps have worked for me...so far...I try to keep my babies as healthy as possible so they don't get stuff like that...

 

[skunkd0c]

During the winter months i do not provide any indoor heating i notice more reds and purples on plants that would not show this during summer crops
temps will go below 60f when the lights are off

the winter air coming into the grow room is very cold i notice the plants that catch this air directly show the most colour
not sure how ice would work, worth a try i guess
with plenty of air movement PM should't be an issue
high humidity, crowded grow space and lack of air movement are conditions more likely to cause PM

peace

 

[ThorGanjason]

Thanks a lot guys, a lot of good info. Especially the lack of phosphorous (or it being locked out from the cold) that causes the purple.. I was wondering if it had something to do with chloroplasts dying out or something.

Anyways, my buddy is a caretaker and he definitely knows what he's doing, so I'm sure his info has some type of truth to it. I guess I'll take some before shots and report back in a few days, I'm getting my closet ready for their 3 day pre-harvest quarantine now.

 

[Shivaskunk]

Literally the only thing that you need to become a medical provider is to buy a prescription. That doesn't make anyone an expert.