Why extend dark periods improve potency
- Thread starter Crypnotic
- Start date
Twistedfunk
Active Member
I don't have the link, its hard to find but I've seen a few of the major posters cite it. If one of them sees this, they may be able to provide it for you. I found it while googling stuff. You could too probably. I do not recall which strains, if any, were specified.
420God
Well-Known Member
Not quite sure what your asking. Are you trying to make it flower or speed up one that is flowering? If it's not flowered yet you need to put it under 12/12 and it has to be pitch black. If your trying to speed up flowering then reducing the hours to around 10 will speed this up but reduce yield. Hope that helps.
Total Head
Well-Known Member
a while back i made the mistake of planting a straight up sativa in with my indicas, and because i was using floro i got extremely discouraged around week 14 of flower. the buds were tiny, airy and weeks from finishing. i said fuck it, turned off the light and left the plant there for 2 months and basically forgot about it. when i got around to my next grow i took out the plant. it sure was dead, but still looked greenish. it was totally dry and ready to smoke, so i took these immature buds that i could see through and smoked them and low and behold i got wrecked. the sample i took before giving up was gross and i didn't get high, but 2 months later the same plant fucked me up. i'm not suggesting that this automatically proves the op's theory, but something happened to that plant after i abandoned it that improved the smoke.
Crypnotic
Active Member
Well what I would suggest to you is that if your going to come onto a board and dispute science, that you have science to dispute it. You FAILED.
Crypnotic
Active Member
I find this very interesting. I've heard of many people curing their bud that was picked too early and it improved it slightly. Chances are, if you would have just cut and cured the plant, it would not have turned out as well. Also, since it was a sativa, they benefit the most from long dark periods. The fact that plant remained green means that it was still very much alive before running out of energy to breath. Also, since you left it standing, many of the cannabinoid in the roots, leaves and stems where converted into THC. I suspect that actually curing on the vine is far more benefical than cutting the plant and jarring it. I find it strange that we put them in glass jars (where light can get to the bud to create CBD) and close off the oxygen (limits THCA from turning into THC).
sharpshoota
Active Member
"Also, since it was a sativa, they benefit the most from long dark periods."
i was about to oder some dutch passion whte widow. its a 60 indica/40 sativa. WW is the exception your saying to that? since the WW they have is indica dominant. or should find a sativa dominant WW?
and what are the signs the plant has stopped 'breathing'? if wilting and dying of leaves isnt the sign...
i was about to oder some dutch passion whte widow. its a 60 indica/40 sativa. WW is the exception your saying to that? since the WW they have is indica dominant. or should find a sativa dominant WW?
and what are the signs the plant has stopped 'breathing'? if wilting and dying of leaves isnt the sign...
sharpshoota
Active Member
24 hours or darkness doesnt do anything or just not 2 weeks...
Medi 1
Well-Known Member
none of it. only thing that dark at the end does is signal end of season and natural responce is to reproduce, so it tries to hermie and self pollenate.
light = growth for processing. dark time runs on stored energy. so the longer or more dark the less enegery to make potency or anything else and the longer it sits in dark attached to the roots the more the potency degrades. she still looks for food, so no food, it starves itself.
light = growth for processing. dark time runs on stored energy. so the longer or more dark the less enegery to make potency or anything else and the longer it sits in dark attached to the roots the more the potency degrades. she still looks for food, so no food, it starves itself.
The sim's Bob Newbie
Well-Known Member
Bloody hell, a sticky recommendation at post 10? - interesting guys...
Crypnotic
Active Member
Best way is to monitor it. Place a plastic bag over one of the large fan leaves and check it every morning for condensation. If there is water, its still breathing.
Sativa do best b/c the more THC the better for sativas. Indicas, you may not want more than a cetain percentage of thc to cbd to get the proper effect your looking for. WW works so well do to several reasons, but in short due to its genetics that promote such large thc production.
Crypnotic
Active Member
Question: how does thc degraded faster, in the dark, with its roots attacahced, than not?
Medi 1
Well-Known Member
because the roots want to feed the plant. with no food it takes away thew stored energy. when we start to water we loose about 5% thc and thats each time we water between foods so if no food there will be more loss. and in dark they live on this stored energy so nothing supplying the energy anymore degrades it.
i used to believe the (simms institute i believe it was) test they did way back in the 50`s of this makin claims of up to 30% increase in THC or potency but since ive had axcess to test this myself with the correct machines its false.
i used to believe the (simms institute i believe it was) test they did way back in the 50`s of this makin claims of up to 30% increase in THC or potency but since ive had axcess to test this myself with the correct machines its false.
Crypnotic
Active Member
Thanks for the reply. I appreciate ppl that try and add some science to what I'm trying to figure out. As far as the watering goes, when the lights are cut off, that reduces heat and growth, so I would assume that the plant needs far less watering. The average plant needs to be watered about every 3 to 4 days. I assume with lights off, its prob once a week or so. The majority of the strains are Indica/sativia hybids, and most would not benefit more than week or so of a dark period. Indica, less, maybe three days max. Sativas would depend on the strain, but the longer the better. There a maybe a handful of strains that could make a two week dark period. Let me be clear about that. Everyone seems to focus on the two max as the whole point of this thread, and its not. Now, for most stains, a final watering before sending into the dark period seems like a small price to pay. 5% less thc on one day would not eliminate the the 10% increase for the following six days. And by 10% increase I mean some of that would come from EXCISTING thc not degrading into another cannabiod, and the rest being new thc. In short, you maintain what you have while adding more.
I am cetain the plant will continue to produce thc while it breathes. The obstacle is how can you increase/add energy to plant to allow for this breathing over a week plus. I believe this may be achieved in three ways. First is over lumening the plant before going into the dark period. This cause breathing and energy making to go into hyper mode. After a cetain point, the plant wont grow any faster but it will start to store the extra glucose as starch, as well as releasing glucose in the breathing. Second, it maybe possible to add sugar by foliar feeding thru the leaves. Not sure if the plant will take it, but it maybe worth a try. Third, by adding a low watt light, not strong enough to promote growth, but enough to produce a small amount of energy. I think a 10 to 12 hr exposure may do the trick. The first and third will indeed help the plant to continue to produce thc, not cetain of the the second.
Medi 1
Well-Known Member
well tests have proven id dont work...we went up to 10 day in dark and multi strains and about every angle we could think off for it. all was weeker, some molded or went to rot.
no more light, no more photosynthesis, no more sugar processing, no more potency = weeker bud...............think other way...add light at end.................
no more light, no more photosynthesis, no more sugar processing, no more potency = weeker bud...............think other way...add light at end.................
Crypnotic
Active Member
What did you try? Did you attempt to "fatten" the plant for energy? Research has showed that thc will increase with as little as a 60 watt incandesant bulb introduced to the dark period. Did you try that?
Here what I'm thinking based on my research: prep plant for dark period with lumen overload for starch storage. Introduce a 10 hr low watt cfl for small energy production at the start of the dark period, hung at least 6 inches above canapy. Last two days, go total dark or until plant stops breathing. Introducing light at the end would only induce the re-veg process and primary metabolic growth, that doing the most damage of the dark period.