trippingballs
Active Member
I have heard about shutting the lights off a few days before harvest. Anyone done this and how many days before the chop?
The DARK: How many days of dark before crop
- Thread starter trippingballs
- Start date
trippingballs
Active Member
I heard it increases resin production. Like 48 hrs before or something. Never tried it.
a mongo frog
Well-Known Member
Ive done 24 hours and I've done 48 hours. Either one will give way better dank than not doing a dark period. Way more resinous buds.
trippingballs
Active Member
Thanks for helping a brother out. I am gonna do 48hrs this time and try it out. Makes sense to me. My room exhaust always smells waaay more dank at night.
OldMedUser
Well-Known Member
Another urban pot grow legend that needs to be stuffed away like most fairy tales.
You want huge colas with dripping resin then pound a rusty 3" spike into the mainstem a week before harvest! Or rip the whole plant out by it's roots and hang it upside down so the resin flows down into the buds!
You want huge colas with dripping resin then pound a rusty 3" spike into the mainstem a week before harvest! Or rip the whole plant out by it's roots and hang it upside down so the resin flows down into the buds!
oh man....that sounds awesome . I gotta try that one eh
OldMedUser
Well-Known Member
Oh man they work great! 2lbs a plant under 50W incandescent lights easy! Mirical Grow potting soil and my own piss for flowering nutes. Smokes like old Covered Wagon cigars but rocks my socks off every time! No one ever comes over to bogart my bud so I got lots for me!oh man....that sounds awesome . I gotta try that one eh
Life is great when you finally figure out how to grow such great bud!
Farmer.J
Well-Known Member
The med~man Meth~od:
I agree with @OldMedUser . I tried this one. I was told to turn lights out for 72 hours and add a bag of ice to the reservoir each day. Well the grow had been going flawlessly so I said "fuck it, I'll try it." No noticeable increase in resin production. (was warned it might only work with certain strains)
I did notice that largest, most colorful buds all got a webby white mold inside of the buds. Ended up giving a 5gal pail of big, colorful, beautiful, wet, mouldy buds to my pigs and only was able to keep 12/oz of medium-small sized buds that were not infected.
Moral of the story, if you decide to try this, keep an eye on humidity and really have a careful look at the buds with a green light every day. I only used the green bulb when I was quickly adding ice. I'm not going to try it again, but a lot of people swear by it.
I agree with @OldMedUser . I tried this one. I was told to turn lights out for 72 hours and add a bag of ice to the reservoir each day. Well the grow had been going flawlessly so I said "fuck it, I'll try it." No noticeable increase in resin production. (was warned it might only work with certain strains)
I did notice that largest, most colorful buds all got a webby white mold inside of the buds. Ended up giving a 5gal pail of big, colorful, beautiful, wet, mouldy buds to my pigs and only was able to keep 12/oz of medium-small sized buds that were not infected.
Moral of the story, if you decide to try this, keep an eye on humidity and really have a careful look at the buds with a green light every day. I only used the green bulb when I was quickly adding ice. I'm not going to try it again, but a lot of people swear by it.
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CalyxCrusher
Well-Known Member
To be fair, MedMan isnt the sharpest tool in the shed
ya learn somtin every day eh
Farmer.J
Well-Known Member
Yeah, this method seems to be an invitation for problems to surface.
OldMedUser
Well-Known Member
Thanx for that. LuvU2! lol
MichiganMedGrower
Well-Known Member
Darkness for 24 hrs has been shown to allow all the carbohydrates present in the plant to go back down to the roots. It is also a reason cutting in the dark or early as possible in the day is recommended.
That is where the plant stores them at night. It is supposed to make the buds taste better and smoother. It is in Ed Rosenthals book. Along with many other documented lab level experiments proving or disproving most of the arguments on the internet many years before it existed.
He proved uvb promotes more thc. He proved far red light speeds flowering. He also proved watts or intensity increases potency as well as yield. But that one would be argued even more now that we have weaker but more full spectrum lighting leading the market.
My switching back to hps only from cmh has shown he is right from my results.
The myth about darkness is that it increases resin gland production or potency. No reason it would.
I have not tried it personally as I have a perpetually running flower room. But I would for a full room or tent grow. I bet the smoke is smoother sooner.
Sorry for the brief rant. I have only been here for 16 months and have read the same questions and misinformation almost every day.
Doesn't anyone read books anymore?
That is where the plant stores them at night. It is supposed to make the buds taste better and smoother. It is in Ed Rosenthals book. Along with many other documented lab level experiments proving or disproving most of the arguments on the internet many years before it existed.
He proved uvb promotes more thc. He proved far red light speeds flowering. He also proved watts or intensity increases potency as well as yield. But that one would be argued even more now that we have weaker but more full spectrum lighting leading the market.
My switching back to hps only from cmh has shown he is right from my results.
The myth about darkness is that it increases resin gland production or potency. No reason it would.
I have not tried it personally as I have a perpetually running flower room. But I would for a full room or tent grow. I bet the smoke is smoother sooner.
Sorry for the brief rant. I have only been here for 16 months and have read the same questions and misinformation almost every day.
Doesn't anyone read books anymore?
trippingballs
Active Member
Great info. 24 hours it is.
I have always noticed though that the exhaust is way more potent smelling when the ladies are asleep.
I have always noticed though that the exhaust is way more potent smelling when the ladies are asleep.
MichiganMedGrower
Well-Known Member
I notice that later in the dark cycle closer to lights on.
I thought I could get away without a carbon filter as I am using a second story chimney for exhaust in summer but a couple hours before lights on we could smell the buds outside on the property.
Farmer.J
Well-Known Member
If you are switching from cmh back to hps which one does it prove?
You are changing 3 variables: UVB intensity, light spectrum and wattage/intensity.
I'm guessing that you mean flowering time? Are your results from sister clones or individual seeds?
MichiganMedGrower
Well-Known Member
I compared the Hortilux 600w super hps, 400 and 600w Hortilux blue mh and a Phillips 315w 3100k cmh. All in good sun system direct down intensity reflectors. I did this all last year. I grew a new plant / clone every week and harvested about the same in my perpetual running garden. Makes it easy to compare. I did flushing, fading and feeding to the end the previous year. I also compared different ratios and organic nutes to mineral based and that is why I only use a base hydro organic Grow nute and taper my fertilizer dose off during ripening but keep giving the plants what they need.
I did this with 3 different cuttIngs 3 times each at least for all tests.
I also compared different combinations of lamps and also finishing the last 2-4 weeks under the cmh and Hortilux blue.
I don't work with dispensaries anymore so I don't have lab results to prove anything. Just us and other patients blind testing.
I don't know what you mean about flowering time? I grow different strains or crosses each planting. They finish when they finish. No schedules are used except with the known clones. And they don't all grow the same each time depending on many variables too.
The cmh and Hortilux blue both finished some strains a few days to a week faster though.
But the results were not repeatable each time.
The 315 is an awesome low power lamp. That's about it though. I would want all 3100k and need 3-4 to replace every 2 600's.
I think it equals about 450 watts of hps for growth.
I do really like it between 2 600hps bulbs for supplemental spectrum and to make it all look more natural. It helps keep the leaves green like regular mh because it adds some needed blue light to the hps spectrum. But too much blue kills yield and makes overly leafy too compact plants for me.
The only things I think it proves is that 315 watts of cmh cannot match 600 watts of hps (Hortilux) in growth, yield, potency, coverage area or lower plant development.
I was convinced they were frostier and had a special high last year for a minute. Probably from excitement and the natural lighting that makes trichs pop. I posted a lot in the 315 cmh thread from December of last year after I got the LEC remote reflector set up.
Farmer.J
Well-Known Member
"The only things I think it proves is that 315 watts of cmh cannot match 600 watts of hps (Hortilux) in growth, yield, potency, coverage area or lower plant development. "
That makes sense. Would a 600w MH would out perform a 400w HPS? Not by a lot but still higher yield/potency? My guess is the 600w HPS should beat a 400w MH and the difference would be greater than the other way around. I just think more watts will promote stronger growth. Watt for watt, the more appropriate spectrum will have better results than anything inferior.
That makes sense. Would a 600w MH would out perform a 400w HPS? Not by a lot but still higher yield/potency? My guess is the 600w HPS should beat a 400w MH and the difference would be greater than the other way around. I just think more watts will promote stronger growth. Watt for watt, the more appropriate spectrum will have better results than anything inferior.
MichiganMedGrower
Well-Known Member
I had high hopes for the Hortilux 600 blue. But it promoted too loose and leafy buds in my set up even with the blockbuster reflector.
But like you say compared to the 600 hps which has nearly 3x the lumen output. (Not that I am saying 3x the growth of course)
But the 600 mh is not really a metal halide spec bulb. It runs inefeciently in an hps circuit as there is no such thing in the lighting industry as a 600w mh ballast.
The 400 has a better spectrum when compared in Hortilux charts. It is full across the spectrum and has tinted my uv sensitive glasses and sunburned my skin. The 600 does not do much of either. And it has a spikey spectrum like the other hps conversion sunlight lamps.
In my next flower room I will use 4' x 8' areas with 2 hps 600's and a 315 right in between with as much overlap as possible.
I think for my low ceilings that will be the best for quality and yield.
Of course I will have to test the 4200k bulb once it is all going. Lol.
