When should I chop

NoWaistedSpace

PICK YOUR OWN
Wow you guys sure know your shit. I’m glad you guys gave me good advice, who knows how I’d fuck up my plants otherwise. But I just fed them their first water only and in 8 days I’ll throw em in dark for 2 days.🤩
Legend has it after 2 days raises THC and 3 days, terps begin to degrade. Something like that.
Best forum on the web! lol
Old Timer science. lol
 

DET—PDX

Insanely Active Member
The 2 days of dark is another myth that has yet to be proven that it actually makes a difference. I doubt there’s any negative issues caused from doing it but thought I’d bring it up. I personally just chop my plants when they are ready, strip them of fan leaves, and hang them to dry.
There are some case studies being documented by compliance Labs, 36 hours dark seems to be the sweet spot. It’s not yet proven in a controlled scientific study, but my lab tests showed 36 & 48 hour darkness increased THC-9 as others lab tests I’ve seen online have suggested.
Totally agree w you on flushing tho, I never do it even in coco. If people ask I don’t steer them away from it, but why deprive your plant of nutrients at all? Blind tests show people can’t tell the difference, plant biology tells us you can’t water free N/P/K/etc out of plant tissue, nor does the plant soak up every single salt like a sponge. There’s smart ways to stress the plant, if you ask me flushing isn’t one of them.
 

Not Given

Has chucked
80s ya I remember. I think they figured out magic of light deprevation for late flower. It's the land of the midnight sun or moon.
We could choose to get mowie wowie, ty sticks, ATF or diesel dope
 

H.A.F.

a.k.a. Rusty Nails
The theory is that it is just a safe stressor. You aren't gonna get nanners in the last 3 days, but if the plant knows it's dying it *should* try to produce more terps to try and attract pollenators, and more resin to catch it. Supposedly.
More on this theory, and how it meshes with the fact that it just keeps you from chopping it for 2-3 days. Most people chop too early. I'm one of them. I don't need weed, but sometimes the love affair with the plant can be just done. I'm tired of looking at you, I want to smoke you, whatever. Some plants I keep to the 20%-ish amber range but that's rare. Usually that's the fast finishers that sneak up on me.

So whether or not the dark period does any of the bro science stuff, I have done it many times and every time the leaves were still perky, the plant looked as healthy as it did before I put it in the dark. And it was THREE DAYS RIPER :)
 

Not Given

Has chucked
I'm of the opinion you will get most colors with flushing. I'm in hydro and can get colors dropping ppm easily. I was in a 7 day power outage and the leaves barely yellowed
 

treefarmercharlie

🍆
Admin
There are some case studies being documented by compliance Labs, 36 hours dark seems to be the sweet spot. It’s not yet proven in a controlled scientific study, but my lab tests showed 36 & 48 hour darkness increased THC-9 as others lab tests I’ve seen online have suggested.
Do you have a link to their study or at least the testing they are doing. I’m all for learning more about this.
 

treefarmercharlie

🍆
Admin
The theory is that it is just a safe stressor. You aren't gonna get nanners in the last 3 days, but if the plant knows it's dying it *should* try to produce more terps to try and attract pollenators, and more resin to catch it. Supposedly.
This is one of the explanations I’ve heard before that just doesn’t make any sense to me. Cannabis doesn’t have any pollinators to attract, because it uses the wind to pollinate, and the trichomes are for defense not for catching pollen.
 

wierdly

Fungas Gnat
Do you have a link to their study or at least the testing they are doing. I’m all for learning more about this.
I started a thread a long time ago about the daek period and there was a video on you tube that was in the thread. ITs been awhile since i watched it. It has some lab results that showed some increase in terps and thc 1st 48 hrs and then still some terps increase and some degrade after 48hrs. IDK I cant tell a difference. I did have my 1st unflushed plant from living soil this past grow and it burns as clean as my flushed Dyna Grow plants.
 

treefarmercharlie

🍆
Admin
I started a thread a long time ago about the daek period and there was a video on you tube that was in the thread. ITs been awhile since i watched it. It has some lab results that showed some increase in terps and thc 1st 48 hrs and then still some terps increase and some degrade after 48hrs. IDK I cant tell a difference. I did have my 1st unflushed plant from living soil this past grow and it burns as clean as my flushed Dyna Grow plants.
I’ll see if I can find it. I’m curious about what kind of controls they used and if they used clones for the testing. If they just compared a plant that was chopped, to one that was left another 48hrs in darkness, and didn’t leave a third in the flower cycle for that additional 48hrs, then I would be very skeptical about their findings.
 

wierdly

Fungas Gnat
I’ll see if I can find it. I’m curious about what kind of controls they used and if they used clones for the testing. If they just compared a plant that was chopped, to one that was left another 48hrs in darkness, and didn’t leave a third in the flower cycle for that additional 48hrs, then I would be very skeptical about their findings.
He used one plant chopped at different times. the spread sheet at the end sums it up. I am curious if different parts of the plant will show different levels of what not depinding on how much light/air and all the other variables. Not all nugs are created equal.
 

treefarmercharlie

🍆
Admin
youtube.com/watch?v=C-Ns7j0WIJM&t=335s
Ok, so this is one of the reasons why growers should not be doing these tests and actual scientists should, and I will explain why below.

Issue #1 was that he didn't use clones, he did a staged harvest from one plant, so the changes in the THC/Terpenes could have been caused by the stress of the multiple harvests rather than the darkness, or just a difference between colas.​
Issue #2 was that he only tested the top of each cola and I'd be willing to bet he would get varied results from multipile colas if he chopped and tested those same colas on the same day. What he should've done was tested multiple colas and averaged the results between them from each stage.​

Also, if you look at his results, they don't support 48 hours of darkness like he says they do. The THC% bounces up and down between each stage. If THC production increased from this practice then it wouldn't rise after 12 hours and then drop at 24 hours and rise again at 48. Terpene loss was also dropping at a pretty steady rate of about 0.1% per day.

All in all he supposedly gained 2% in THC over the course of the test but there's no way to know if that is just a variable between the colas he tested or a result of the light deprivation.
 

H.A.F.

a.k.a. Rusty Nails
Ok, so this is one of the reasons why growers should not be doing these tests and actual scientists should, and I will explain why below.

Issue #1 was that he didn't use clones, he did a staged harvest from one plant, so the changes in the THC/Terpenes could have been caused by the stress of the multiple harvests rather than the darkness, or just a difference between colas.​
Issue #2 was that he only tested the top of each cola and I'd be willing to bet he would get varied results from multipile colas if he chopped and tested those same colas on the same day. What he should've done was tested multiple colas and averaged the results between them from each stage.​

Also, if you look at his results, they don't support 48 hours of darkness like he says they do. The THC% bounces up and down between each stage. If THC production increased from this practice then it wouldn't rise after 12 hours and then drop at 24 hours and rise again at 48. Terpene loss was also dropping at a pretty steady rate of about 0.1% per day.

All in all he supposedly gained 2% in THC over the course of the test but there's no way to know if that is just a variable between the colas he tested or a result of the light deprivation.
This is why I posted that high school science thing. We all test stuff but you have to be able to interpret the data properly. Anything we test, if not done with clones, and simultaneously in the same tent is anecdotal at best.

The problem with his dark period test is you would need two clones, then harvest on the same day but with one getting 3 days of dark while the other got light until chop. He is operating under the assumption that the dark period is good - and trying to find the best harvest window within that dark period. He isn't comparing it to the plant that was in the light and had a 3% increase in THC over the same period - or not - who knows. It ain't science.
 
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