New Grower Preharvest Tips

[evol]

I have heard that and tried it but I didnt notice a difference. Now I just harvest when its convenient for me

 

[Chester]

There was a post here about 2 weeks ago that quoted High Times and was supposed to be a harvest and cure tutorial ... had a couple interesting points but I haven't been able to find the post again ... I have followed the tried and proven method here for years ... I'm just looking for the post due to the points about rh and darkness ... if any one knows what I'm talking about ... God knows I don't ... please post a link ...thanks

 

[Anthropolis]

Not for nothing lol, but I've done the ice water a couple times, just with 2 plants, here's the very initial and insignificant findings just for me I don't really flush since I'm organic, but I do just water on the last few waterings, maybe a dash of molasses still. I've only harvested 1 previously and now #2 is almost lined up for harvest. Strain is smurfberry auto, so lots of Indica and of course Rudy. I would put a couple (2 or 3) trays worth of ice cubes in my gallon of water and shake it up for a few minutes, getting it almost too cold to hold lol. Then I water the plant or plants with the ice cold water. Yeah it's probably a little shocking to the plant, but it's about to be chopped anyway lol. I do this for maybe the last two or three waterings, i.e. maybe a week or week and a half. Ok, the plant does appear to get somewhat tricked or shocked into thinking it's winter and/or dying time soon lol. The colors do change just a tiny bit. In the smurf, it seemed to brighten up the oranges, and altered very slightly the overall hue. With this and a few days of darkness, it appears to increase trichome count. I don't know but doubt that it changes the content. But perhaps these findings are just due to the natural progress of the life over the three days. I don't know and not going to pretend I know lol. Like most things I experiment with, maybe it's totally stupid lol, but I'll keep trying it for awhile hehe I have a strong hunch that the ice water and darkness will have much lesser to zero effects on strains closer to and pure Sativa. Just some thoughts I'd really like to have the space and resources to do a full proper test. At least 15 plants each group, preferably 100. Since we can't really clone autos, it'd have to be seed, so bigger sample sizes would lend to better significance. One group ice water last 1.5 weeks or 3 or so waterings, other group regular water, all else equal. I'd like it to be Indica or predisposed to nice colors. Then we might possibly have an idea

 

[kicks]

There is aways something to learn from any kind of plant, what works one grow is not forced to work for the next, esp with canna and the amount of new strains and crosses being created every year.

Isn't this what makes growing anything fun and a constant learning curve?

I think what most are trying to get at here Kicks, is that don't believe one thing and stick to it, be open to new methods and respect what has worked for one may not work for another. I haven't grown a photoperiod yet, but I know that I don't count on just trichs on when to harvest buddy, but that's just me.

We are hearing your advice and hey, I'm listening and thinking about how my last grow performed in colder temps towards the end than my current so that must be a good thing, thanks!

Cool thread,

Dazed..

:Sharing One:

Sure thing i totally agree, thats why debates are important peace and love ya'll :hug:

 

[kicks]

With this and a few days of darkness, it appears to increase trichome count. I don't know but doubt that it changes the content.

OFC it does, more trich. more THC content.

 

[Milky]

Many lols in this thread. Ok, so the experts here that I've read, all agree that autoflowering cannabis perfomed better for them with 20/4 at least of darkness. You're saying eveyone else is wrong huh? I have all those ollllld grow bibles, and I certainly don't recall them saying to run the life cycle of cannabis under 24 hours of light. All respect to Ed and Green, but modern autoflowering cannabis is just not what they wrote those books about either.

I´m definitively not saying people are wrong about 20/4. What I was pointing out is that the 3 day dark period before chopping is bogus IMO and that keeping the lights on as normal would produce slightly more resin, that is all. If you cut out 3 days out of 50 days of flowering you´d miss out on 6%. However since flushing has been going on for a while there would be less nutes to work with and also the plant would continue it´s processes in the dark even though no photosynthesis would occur and I don´t wanna guesstimate what percentage that ends up at. We have another thread here discussing if there´s any value in running the lights around the clock. Please join in. https://www.autoflower.org/f2/benefits-24-0-a-35832.html

Autos are photos crossed with ruderalis then crossed a few times more to get away from the dwarf-like stature and bring back yields and flavor. Even though light has nothing to do with autos flowering they get affected like photos and can herm from messing with lighting schedual and/or flashing them when they are napping. It seems that autos are much more like photos than ruderalis, especially super-autos which are crossed with photos some more.

I cannot find any science saying autos needs to sleep and I guess ruderalis far up north bloom and end their lifecycle when the sun is up around the clock. Meticolous side by side testing could show the difference but there are different phenos and cloning is out of the question. Or maybe not if we clone a topped super auto that has time to recover?

Anyhoo, I love science and knowledge, isn´t that why we´re all here for? That and dank bud!

 

[kicks]

I´m definitively not saying people are wrong about 20/4. What I was pointing out is that the 3 day dark period before chopping is bogus IMO and that keeping the lights on as normal would produce slightly more resin, that is all. If you cut out 3 days out of 50 days of flowering you´d miss out on 6%. However since flushing has been going on for a while there would be less nutes to work with and also the plant would continue it´s processes in the dark even though no photosynthesis would occur and I don´t wanna guesstimate what percentage that ends up at. We have another thread here discussing if there´s any value in running the lights around the clock. Please join in. Ihttps://www.autoflower.org/f2/benefits-24-0-a-35832.html

Autos are photos crossed with ruderalis then crossed a few times more to get away from the dwarf-like stature and bring back yields and flavor. Even though light has nothing to do with autos flowering they get affected like photos and can herm from messing with lighting schedual and/or flashing them when they are napping. It seems that autos are much more like photos than ruderalis, especially super-autos which are crossed with photos some more.

I cannot find any science saying autos needs to sleep and I guess ruderalis far up north bloom and end their lifecycle when the sun is up around the clock. Meticolous side by side testing could show the difference but there are different phenos and cloning is out of the question. Or maybe not if we clone a topped super auto that has time to recover?

Anyhoo, I love science and knowledge, isn´t that why we´re all here for? That and dank bud!

Ur not cutting its days of flowering, ur giving it 3 more EXTRA days of oblivion!

 

[Milky]

Ur not cutting its days of flowering, ur giving it 3 more EXTRA days of oblivion!

That is the theory, yes! Now let´s see some evidence!

 

[kicks]

Personally I´d not turn the lights off at all as C3 plants produce the most under light. If anything you´re gonna cripple the production during the last 3 days.

Read this: (It´s for photos, but autos are photos crossed with ruderalis to catch on it´s autoflowering traits, super-autos are then made by crossing that with more photos to be bigger, better yielding and taste better, but they still autoflower).


"This is a direct quote from Ed Rosenthal whom most of you know is a marijuana growing guru:

Marijuana plants photosynthesize as long as they receive light as well as water, air, nutrients and suitable temperature. Photosynthesis is the process in which plants use the energy from light (primarily in the blue and red spectrum's) to combine carbon dioxide (CO2) from the air and water (H2O) to make sugar while releasing oxygen to the air.

Plants use sugars continuously to fuel metabolic processes (living) as well as for tissue building. The plant combines nitrogen (N) with the sugar to make amino acids, the building blocks of proteins. They are the substance of plant tissue. When the light is off, the plant's metabolic processes, respiration and growth, continue.

The plant can photosynthesize continuously so it produces the most energy and growth when the light is on, continuously. Continuous light does not stress the plant, which reacts somewhat mechanistically to it.

Plants under an 18-6 light-dark regimen are producing sugar only three quarters of the time. They are thus growing at only 75% of their potential. Leaving the light on continuously will result in bigger plants, faster, which leads to higher yields."

-------------------------------------------------------------

"The following information is straight from Greg Green's "The Cannabis Grow Bible"

Cannabis is a light demanding plant. Professional growers keep the light on their plants using the 24/0 photoperiod for this reason. Plants that grow under 24/0 flourish and do not need a quantity of darkness in order to rest and perform photosynthesis properly. Plants that are grown in optimal conditions under 24/0 light regime grow vigorusly and the benefits of a 24/0 photoperiod can be seen actively in the results. More nodes are formed, more branches are created, leaf numbers increase, the plant is growing at its finest.

Some growers opt to use 18/6 as their photoperiod. This is 18 hours of light, six hours of darkness light regime. Under these conditions the plant will grow quite naturally but not as vigorously as the 24/0 photoperiod.

The 18/6 photoperiod expels 3/4 the amount of light that a 24/0 photoperiod does. Although this does not mean that a plant produces 1/4 less leaves,branches and nodes under the 18/6 photoperiod, it certainly does show the correlation between light and cannabis growth. As we have said already, cannabis is a light demanding plant. There are no problems associated with 24/0 and although some have attributed cannabis sexual dysfunction (the hermaphrodite conditon) to 18/6 photoperiod these problems are actually the result of heat stress.

A 24/0 photoperiod requires that your grow room temperature be kept well monitored. The 18/6 option is cheaper to run. You use a quarter less electricity and this will have an impact on your electricity bill. Also the 18/6 photoperiod will generally extend the bulb's lifespan. During the 6 hours of darkness the grow room is allowed to cool down for this period but a well maintained good grow room setup should not require a cooling down period.

24/0 and 18/6 both share the same problem though. Once you start the photoperiod you should keep that way especially when the plants near maturity (the preflowering stage). An irregular photoperiod can cause more males than females to develop. It can also cause sexual dysfunction to appear. Whether you choose 24/0 or 18/6 as your vegetative photoperiod try to keep that photoperiod unitl your plants are mature enough to express their sex."

Bro i agree but you're truly off topic, i haven't messed with light cycles in which the amount of light a plant receives.
Here's my whole point of leaving the plant in darkness for 3 days before harvest: Let's say your plant has been flourishing for 3months and it's time to harvest. Shes DONE! Leave her in darkness for 3 days in it's pot, so that it thinks that it's dieing thus overloading to produce more trichromes. (Theoretically proven) not sure if scientifically as well. But hey all them grow bibles been theoretical till now, no?

 

[Milky]

Bro i agree but you're truly off topic, i haven't messed with light cycles in which the amount of light a plant receives.
Here's my whole point of leaving the plant in darkness for 3 days before harvest: Let's say your plant has been flourishing for 3months and it's time to harvest. Shes DONE! Leave her in darkness for 3 days in it's pot, so that it thinks that it's dieing thus overloading to produce more trichromes. (Theoretically proven) not sure if scientifically as well. But hey all them grow bibles been theoretical till now, no?

I put the most relevant information in bold, the rest was just a good read. You don´t have to tell the plant it´s dying, when the leaves are yellow, crumpled and are falling off then I think it´s pretty much aware it doesn´t have much time left. So why not leave the lights to give it 3 more days? However I doubt that will produce more resin since it knows that it doesn´t have time to produce seeds, depending on how long it´s been flowering of course!

I have absolutely no science to back anything up and I live in a world where one sadly cannot even believe in what a scientist says.