48 hours dark before harvest?

I read that it increases potentcy to give the flowering plant 48 hours of darkness right before harvest. Is there any truth to this?

I would say that it doesn't increase potency, so no. But I have nothing other than personal observations to go by, and I did no scientific testing.

While I tried it only once, it was with strains that I am very familiar with, and the personal testing that I did should have some significance.

What effect it did have was to possibly make the buds ripen up some, or at least appear to be more ripe. Nothing more.

Since then, I choose to give my plants as much light as possible daily right up until the Day of Joy.

HTH

Another legend. The answer is no.

ahh haa.... Thank you, both of you, for clearing that up...

Though our kind of Cannabis is for the most part a domesticated plant, it still retains many of its natural self-defense mechanisms. One of these is the extra release of trichome resin during dark periods. When it gets dark, the plant begins to produce potentially up to twice as much cannabinoids than during daylight hours as the result of this heightened resin production, and as the late growing season progresses, daylight hours begin to wane, extending the dark period by about two minutes every night. Theoretically, these waning hours of daylight are ideal for extra resin production. A gradual process is much better in my opinion than sticking the plant in the dark for three days, because all plants use the energy they've gathered during the day to perform their nighttime duties. A three-day exposure will definitely earn you some extra resin, but after the first day your plant will start to lose that energy it's using to make trichs. A gradual process of light reduction will likely ensure that your plant has plenty of stored energy to produce a whole lot of trichome in the dark. However, it may be that sticking the plant in the dark for an extended period causes such stress to the plant that it begins a much more rapid trichome production than usual (survival mode). Since we can't know for certain, the obvious solution is to do both. Reduce the lighting by 2 min every day and when the plant is fruited, mature, and ready for harvest, let the bitch sit in the dark for a few days. I bet it will work just fine... Hmm... I think I might test this hypothesis.

IT IS ESSENTIAL TO NOTE THAT GENETICS MAY PLAY A HUGE ROLE IN THIS!!!
While all strains do produce resin more vigorously in the dark, it may be so miniscule as to be entirely unnoticeable. It just depends on the plant. Either way, any increase in potency is a good thing, and light reduction saves you money!

Very interesting. I'm gonna give it a try before the next harvest. I do remember someone else saying this but was so stoned he didn't have any info to back his claim up with.

I read an article in High Times that talked about ancient cultures that would force-flower by putting giant clay pots over the plants to manipulate the photoperiod. They would also leave the plants under the clay pots for a week or two at the end of flowering. By doing this they were able to leach the chlorophyl out of the buds to the point of turning them completely white. I have not tried this myself but I would surely like to smoke this white weed. As far as loss in potentcy I have no idea. It's the same old story of yield vs quality.