11/13 lights off last 2 days?

I believe it was Sannie on opengrow that was saying many varieties will do better on a 11/13 instead of 12/12, and I also read somewhere that certain varieties need more than 12 of darkness, and some need less. Does anyone experiment with these times? Also, many places tell u to turn the lights down to like 10/14, then 8/16, then off for the last few days before harvest. Even Barneys farm i think said to do that for one or more of their strains. Please post your experiences with this!

Equatorial sativa strains or crosses that are highly predominantly made up of equatorial sativa strains do better when flowered using an 11/13 light cycle.

In general, when it comes to other types of strains, the idea is less THC lost to light degradation and increased levels of THC since most THC is produced and accumulated during hours of darkness. Another way to increase THC is to add UV-B lighting during flower. Lights like are used for reptile aquariums put off higher amounts of UV-B light rays. Plants have been grown and tested grown outdoors, using clones, and those grown in areas with increased amounts of UV-B light had higher percentages of THC. An example is plants were grown on a mountain and the plants grown at higher altitude, where there is more UV-B light, had higher levels of THC than the plants grown at lower altitudes. Adding UV-B lighting during flower lets you somewhat create the same sort of growing conditions indoors.

As for an extended period of darkness before harvesting:

"The Stichting Institute of Medical marijuana (SIMM), the first company to sell marijuana through the pharmacies of Holland, has been investigating the medical possibilities of cannabis, together with TNO laboratories and the University of Leiden.

One of their discoveries has been that to keep the ripe plants in the dark before harvesting could increase their potency.SIMM’s growers separated a crop of mature plants, harvested half of them and kept the other half in absolute darkness for 72 hours before cutting and drying. Analysis of the resulting dried buds showed that some varieties had seen an increase of THC of up to 30%, while CBD and CBN remained the same."

thanks Brick + reps your a library of knowledge. I will definitly be cutting lights off for the last three days then. So would you recommend going straight to 11/13 to flower if your not sure if the strain is equatorial?

bangthangonme said:

thanks Brick + reps your a library of knowledge. I will definitly be cutting lights off for the last three days then. So would you recommend going straight to 11/13 to flower if your not sure if the strain is equatorial?

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Are you growing mystery genetics or a sativa dominant cross but do not know the strain or do you know the strain but are just unsure of what region it's genetics or predominant genetics came from?

It is Sannies Jack and Blueberry sativa from his breeders choice, I think eskobar bred the bs, but I dont know whether either of them are equatorial, i know the bs is thai/ afghani skunk, so thats probably equatorial right?

personally i leave all my crops (no matter the strain) in complete darkness for 48hrs of darkness before the chop. i even go in the grow room with the lights off to make the cut in the dark. ive noticed it frosts up a bit more when left in the darkness. ive never had a bad side-effect from it being in the dark for 2 days before the chop...never been patient enough to leave it in the dark for 3 whole days. lol

personally id follow whatever the breeder says you should do to care for that specific strain. who else can you trust when they are the breeders of the strain?

bangthangonme said:

It is Sannies Jack and Blueberry sativa from his breeders choice, I think eskobar bred the bs, but I dont know whether either of them are equatorial, i know the bs is thai/ afghani skunk, so thats probably equatorial right?

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Partially anyway ... the call is yours on what to do.