I read somewhere in the forum, after the last watering , you leave the plants the last few days to harvest in darkness . So the last 3 days of the plants life will be total darkness. Can someone tell me if this is correct?
Lots of people do this. Some say it doesn’t do anything, others swear by it. Personally I cant see how it could hurt anything. I plan my waterings and harvest carefully, so I dont water for 7-10 days before I cut them down, 2-3 of those days are in the dark. I start my dry cure before I ever cut them down. After I cut them I hang the whole plant in the dark for a few more days before bucking them down and laying the buds on the screens.
6 Likes
It makes for a smoother smoke…and terps can explode CAN…not will
3 Likes
Thank You so much for the information Rye.
2 Likes
Here’s another one Mike. Why does preharvest darkness make smoother smoke? Does it help dump chlorophyll?
4 Likes
Exactly. Anything you do to speed up the break down of chlorophyll will make for a smoother smoke.
5 Likes
@sweetnsassy the 3 days of darkness is to let the plant respire and break down and exude the stored starches to help speed up the curing process. If done at the proper time it also has the potential to increase potency and trichomes as well as terpenes.
Another thing that helps similar to what @Rye mentioned is hanging the plants upside down in the dark. I do this as well but I pull them out by the roots before I hang them so they can continue to respire and exude until they finally die.
4 Likes
@DollarBill no I never have. I don’t want to hurt or kill the roots so they can do their job and keep exudating as the plant breaks down all the stored starches and nutrients.
3 Likes
To preserve the inside by creating a mucus barrier?
2 Likes
@DollarBill so I just read an article written in high times about boiling cannabis roots before harvest and it was pretty interesting. I did some research because I have never heard of that method before.
Growers used to think it would increase resin in the plant and shock the plant into releasing the resin into the flowers. This has been proven false.
What it does do though is it shocks the plant into wanting to survive and retain moisture. It closes its stomata to keep moisture in because of the root damage to try to keep itself hydrated and alive until it can breed. This forces the plant to only release water vapor through the flowers. So if you hang dry after with leaves still intact it allows for a slower drying and curing process which is useful in low humidity environments.
Doesn’t increase potency or resin but it is still useful none the less for growers in low humidity zones trying to slow dry and cure.
5 Likes
I have heard the last 48 hours and the buds would swell up! In trial now! Will update soon.
1 Like
@MDBuds Damn! Wish I read this post last week! Been drying mine in the tent with 30-35% rh, 6 days hanging and they are ready to take off the plant now, would have been nice to stretch a couple more days (don’t really want to work on them today, supposed to be working from home!). But…I guess I have to now!
Thinking of putting them in jars with a slice of apple and burping daily if they seem a little crispy when I snip them, we’ll see in a couple hours. Some of the leaves seem crispy, hoping it’s just the outer leaves, buds still smell nice tho!
2 Likes
All this information is wrong in terms of darkness before harvest. Any change that anyone thinks might of happened is entirely not true and a figment of their imagination. If by anything you are hurting your gains by placing it into darkness for any long period of time before harvest. I used to think the same thing and have recently changed my mind due to new studies. But by all means keep wasting your time. The man who changed my mind about this was Dr. Bruce Bugbee who is also a leading advisor to lighting and growth for NASA.
2 Likes
I think I heard the same podcast - Mr Grow It? That was an interesting discussion. There were a few points there I wish they would have went more in depth on.
Like with the silica (aka “sand”) - it’s literally one of the most abundant elements in the earth’s crust. Dr Bugbee tried to lead him to that watering hole when he mentioned how you don’t need it if you’re in “field soil”. But Chris’ conclusion was yeah, you should use that bottled nutrient too. Like get a little plant shovel and go out in your back yard and add that to your potting mix. It’s an abundant source of other trace minerals too. Anyways.
Yeah it’s good to know about the 48-72hr darkness. I was already planning to skip that this round, or at least I wasn’t going to allow my pots to dry out if I did. I’ve got live worms in them now. They’re going back to the farm after this grow.
1 Like
Yeah I really enjoy Mr Grow it’s podcasts. This one in particular was super informative and a great watch. I have been watching other videos the doctor has out there as well. I think he has a cannabis 101 video class on you tube as well. I am planning on skipping from now on as well just to see, because what he said made total sense to me.
1 Like