48 hours of dark before 12-12

joker152

Well-Known Member
i am not a big pic kinda guy so i dont have any to really back this up but try it for yourself. i think i originally heard this from mygirls but im not sure. i had two plants in veg, both had been topped and pruned since an early age. they both were vegged under 52w of mixed cfl lighting both of them in my minifridge downstairs. when they both outgrew the fridge i left one under complete darkness for 48 hours and put the other one directly under 12-12. within two days the one that was under 48 darkness doubled in size while the other one had grown a measly two inches. also five days after putting the one that was under 48 of dark in 12-12 has already shown its sex and before i cut it down due to being a male had almost tripled in size in the five day period. when i cut it down it was about twice the size of the plant went directly into 12-12 and that one still shows absolutely no signs of sex yet. not only does this work, it works really well.
 

bob+marley

Active Member
IM FUCKING TRYING IT WHEN THE TIME COMES. My TWO LADIES, and for some reason sexless possible male, ARE MEASLY LITTLE STRINGY BASTARD CHILDREN.
 

joker152

Well-Known Member
sounds like you need more light man, the 48 hours of dark dont actually make the plant grow any more per say but it speeds the flowering process up real nice. anyone with experience doing this alot? it would be nice to see some experimentation done to see what the optimal dark period is when switching the lights over. i have heard 24-72 hours so since this was my first time i went right in the middle
 

mjmaupin

Well-Known Member
i'm interested in other peoples thoughts on this. i've heard of going 48 hours of darkness right before harvest but not before going 12/12.
 

Drgreenz

Well-Known Member
Greenhouse seed co does this too, they place in 72 hours of dark before 12/12 and they say it really stimulates the plants flowering hormones. i am trying it this friday through sunday so ill see what happens this weekend.
 

Drgreenz

Well-Known Member
Also yes keep it dark for 24-48 hours before harvest, this will sap alot of the starches in the buds down to the roots which will provide a much much smoother smoke and burn after the cure.
 

LiEBE420

Well-Known Member
sounds like you need more light man, the 48 hours of dark dont actually make the plant grow any more per say but it speeds the flowering process up real nice. anyone with experience doing this alot? it would be nice to see some experimentation done to see what the optimal dark period is when switching the lights over. i have heard 24-72 hours so since this was my first time i went right in the middle
whats up joker

i've got 3 plants outside right now and in about a month or 2 im going to bring them inside to flower them.

so your saying when i put them in the grow box dont turn on any lights for 48 hours straight then put it on 12/12?

i'm always down for trying anything once :peace::joint::hump:
 

LiEBE420

Well-Known Member
oh i forgot to say check out my grow journal in my signature and let me know what you think. +rep to you my friend:peace:
 

Nocturn3

Well-Known Member
Extended darkness at the beginning of 12/12 can shave several days off your total flowering time, but can cause strains with weak genetics to herm on you.

If you are growing bagseed, or an easily stressed strain, I wouldn't take the risk.
 

303

Well-Known Member
I've read almost every book sold on marijuana horticulture. And have never heard of this. I'm very interested, and would love to see photos of before and after. I do notice when I'm doing 18/6. When the light turns back on, HOLY SHIT, they get so big. So this doesn't sound completely insane.
 

Furthur

Active Member
Your one plant probably grew faster than the other because it was a male, not because of the 48 hour dark. I've read that a period of darkness before starting flowering is to stress the plants and increase res production but never heard anything about stimulating growth.
 

Drgreenz

Well-Known Member
it just speeds up the flowering process really, instead of the plants taking 2 weeks to start really producing the flowering hormones it makes them start during those 48 hours of darkness. so it may look like a big jump in growth but normally the big jump happens during the following week. it also is to shave of 2 weeks of total time.
 

mjmaupin

Well-Known Member
well, i'm giving it a shot. i'll end my 48 hours of darkness this evening and have other plants to compare 2 weeks from now. *hope its a girl*.
i'll definately keep posting on this thread because if it helps give the sex earlier (that's awesome), if it helps cut down on flowering time (that's awesome) and if it causes larger buds during initial flowering (well, that's awesome too).
happy wednesday.
nootch
 

rasclot

Well-Known Member
well, i'm giving it a shot. i'll end my 48 hours of darkness this evening and have other plants to compare 2 weeks from now. *hope its a girl*.
i'll definately keep posting on this thread because if it helps give the sex earlier (that's awesome), if it helps cut down on flowering time (that's awesome) and if it causes larger buds during initial flowering (well, that's awesome too).
happy wednesday.
nootch
ive just tryed this method but i put them in 36hours darkness n i can honestly say that it definitly done the trick pistils were growin wen i put the light back on i couldnt belive it!! this is my second grow n on my first grow i put them straight into 12/12 it took bout a week before the pitils started growin so it definitly gets the the flowerin process started check out my journal in my sig :joint:ras:joint:
 

sempre verde

Active Member
Hey everybody, Ive tried this and had success. My latest grow, my Califonia six under 1000w w/ soil and 48 hrs of dark transitioning into 12/12 and sow very little pause in the growth. My WW and quinzel (which are small but f'in awesome ) never skipped a beat. BUT, I also left my 1000w mh bulb in for 4 days of 12/12 and then supplimented the 1000wHPS with a 400w mh when I finally flipped the bulbs out.

(PS This might be another story but Ive had my new round of clones growing in 24/0 under flourecents and at about 30 days they just began to flower. 720 hrs of light and they began to flip on their own. Probably another thread but thought Id throw it in.)

So in my opinion it works great. puff tuff.
 

LiEBE420

Well-Known Member
ive just tryed this method but i put them in 36hours darkness n i can honestly say that it definitly done the trick pistils were growin wen i put the light back on i couldnt belive it!! this is my second grow n on my first grow i put them straight into 12/12 it took bout a week before the pitils started growin so it definitly gets the the flowerin process started check out my journal in my sig :joint:ras:joint:

cool cool cant wait to do it :joint::joint::peace:
 

303

Well-Known Member
Call me old school, I'll pass on this... I think this will stress them, hence hermie... Although I want to see what happens for you LieBe..
 
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