Age/maturity of plant = potency?

It's been 25 years since I've grown until recently. A lot of commonly held beliefs at that time have been debunked as myths (boiling the roots in water to increase THC, the hotter the outdoor temp the more resin, stressing the plant before harvest for better quality etc)

There's one that may be fact but I've seen little about this searching the web. I do see a lot of folks on these forums going into flowering as soon as the plant will allow. I learned (I think from Ed Rosenthals' book) that the more mature the plant the better the yield and the more potent it will be. If I remember correctly, 3 months vegging was the minimum suggested before flowering for the product to reach it's full potential.

Is this true, or another myth?

2 months should be good but depends on the strain its either sativa or indica that takes longer

He is talking about vegging not flowering.

picard face-palm!
how many lights do you see?

i know hes talking about vegging
ive read most plants 2 months veg is prime but like i said it is strain dependent one will take little longer then the other

I dont buy into it. There are many 12/12 from seed grows on here that produce smaller yeilds of great bud.

Boiling the roots in water??!!!?!

Plants can only reach their full size and potential if left to grow to their full size right? So anything under that is going to affect 'potential' yield. It is not going to affect potency no.

They can be put into flowering very early if you want tiny yields, if it suited your own grow space, style, environment, you could throw 100 6 inch babies into flowering and have 100 tiny plants all producing a nice smoke. They need a few weeks to be able to support the weight of the flowers once growing. i.e have a little time to strengthen up.

You grow to your space. that is all it is about

letting it grow longer in veg can make it be a more potent.the larger the plant is the more resources it has to use when it goes into the flowering stage.if there isnt much leaf and stem growth...the plant has to get most of its nutes and oxygen from the roots and the soil.the more the plant has to work to take in light and nutes...the less energy is has to put into its flowering development.if a plant isnt mature before it flowers it will put a lot of energy into developing its stem and leaves.thats why when a plant goes into flowering it has a stretch period...thats the plant trying to make itself mature enough to finish its growth cycle...if the plant is fully mature before it flowers...it puts the energy into forming the buds instead of forming the buds and trying to finish its growth cycle

obijohn said:

It's been 25 years since I've grown until recently. A lot of commonly held beliefs at that time have been debunked as myths (boiling the roots in water to increase THC, the hotter the outdoor temp the more resin, stressing the plant before harvest for better quality etc)

There's one that may be fact but I've seen little about this searching the web. I do see a lot of folks on these forums going into flowering as soon as the plant will allow. I learned (I think from Ed Rosenthals' book) that the more mature the plant the better the yield and the more potent it will be. If I remember correctly, 3 months vegging was the minimum suggested before flowering for the product to reach it's full potential.

Is this true, or another myth?

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where exactly has it been "debunked" that minor stresses during late flowering causes slight increases in resin and yield? not quite convinced its a myth due to its logical basis. boiling roots and high temp yeah forget those, but watering with really cold water and keeping the lights off about 2 to 3 days before you chop them causes just enough stress that the plant thinks it is going to die, so in order to gather the pollen it needs to reproduce, it increases the amount of calyxs and resin production. obviously you dont want any hermies to form that why you do only minor stress and for a very short time before you cut.

djruiner said:

letting it grow longer in veg can make it be a more potent.the larger the plant is the more resources it has to use when it goes into the flowering stage.if there isnt much leaf and stem growth...the plant has to get most of its nutes and oxygen from the roots and the soil.the more the plant has to work to take in light and nutes...the less energy is has to put into its flowering development.if a plant isnt mature before it flowers it will put a lot of energy into developing its stem and leaves.thats why when a plant goes into flowering it has a stretch period...thats the plant trying to make itself mature enough to finish its growth cycle...if the plant is fully mature before it flowers...it puts the energy into forming the buds instead of forming the buds and trying to finish its growth cycle

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I do take your points certainly. In this case the difference in potency of bud in a small growspace which he can only grow to a certain predetermined size is going to be negligible. The important part being that he grows to that space as oppose to worrying if the plant is at full maturity.

djruiner said:

letting it grow longer in veg can make it be a more potent.the larger the plant is the more resources it has to use when it goes into the flowering stage.if there isnt much leaf and stem growth...the plant has to get most of its nutes and oxygen from the roots and the soil.the more the plant has to work to take in light and nutes...the less energy is has to put into its flowering development.if a plant isnt mature before it flowers it will put a lot of energy into developing its stem and leaves.thats why when a plant goes into flowering it has a stretch period...thats the plant trying to make itself mature enough to finish its growth cycle...if the plant is fully mature before it flowers...it puts the energy into forming the buds instead of forming the buds and trying to finish its growth cycle

Click to expand...

I do take your points certainly. In this case the difference in potency of bud in a small growspace which he can only grow to a certain predetermined size is going to be negligible. The important part being that he grows to that space as oppose to worrying if the plant is at full maturity.

(even when at full maturity and then onto fullsize potential, there is reported to be a point of diminished returns also)

mistaphuck said:

where exactly has it been "debunked" that minor stresses during late flowering causes slight increases in resin and yield? not quite convinced its a myth due to its logical basis. boiling roots and high temp yeah forget those, but watering with really cold water and keeping the lights off about 2 to 3 days before you chop them causes just enough stress that the plant thinks it is going to die, so in order to gather the pollen it needs to reproduce, it increases the amount of calyxs and resin production. obviously you dont want any hermies to form that why you do only minor stress and for a very short time before you cut.

Click to expand...

Agreed in the main, except the leaving them in the dark benefits seems to be quite strain dependant, in so much that some strains direct from the breeder will recommend me to give several days darkness before cut. That seems strange to me but how can you argue with the breeders themselves? others will say that there will be no benefit to it with that certain strain. I understand the logic for extra hours dark at the end but still haven't really seen it make a difference in our own grows generally so we only do it now when it specifically directs us to.

3lions said:

I do take your points certainly. In this case the difference in potency of bud in a small growspace which he can only grow to a certain predetermined size is going to be negligible. The important part being that he grows to that space as oppose to worrying if the plant is at full maturity.

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yeah..grow to the space you have...i get that..but he said nothing about the space he has...he asked about maturity and potency.all common sense says the bigger the plant the better the yeild and potency.which makes better apples and oranges....a bigger healthier plant...or a young plant thats not fully developed.....if grow space is an issue..yes grow to the point where you can take the plant growing 2-3 times in size during flowering...which is my point...if the plant is fully grown then it puts its energy into flowering...not growing...so it makes more potent weed.depending on the strain...you can have a 10 inch plant...or an 8 foot plant.long as its reached maturity it will produce more yeild and a higher thc content...if that wasnt true then people would grow 2 foot plants....ill put the potency of a 8 foot mature plant up against a 2 foot plant that was forced into flowering and i promise you the bigger plant will be more potent...of course thats if expert growers are growing in the same conditions with the same strain

3lions said:

Agreed in the main, except the leaving them in the dark benefits seems to be quite strain dependant, in so much that some strains direct from the breeder will recommend me to give several days darkness before cut. That seems strange to me but how can you argue with the breeders themselves? others will say that there will be no benefit to it with that certain strain. I understand the logic for extra hours dark at the end but still haven't really seen it make a difference in our own grows generally so we only do it now when it specifically directs us to.

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When the marijuana plants are ready to harvest,give them 24 hours of darkness to promote more resin.potency is lowest in the middle of the day period under full heat, the darkness lets the weed plant come to it's full potential. Some marijuana plants, especially the White family (Russian, Widow) really seem to like this, and I can't see it causing any damage either way; just another way to maximize the potential of the weed plant in some circumstances.more resin is produced in its dark period..kinda the same reason you put it in 12/12 to force it to flower...the dark period helps to stimulate resin development...also the less light it has makes the plant think its getting closer to the end of the season (time to reproduce or die) so it forms more resin to try to collect pollen before it dies

The problem with MJ forums is they are populated by naive kids who have never grown anything else, have no gardening and certainly no botanical knowledge, and just repeat all the BS they read, however ludicrous it may be.

djruiner said:

When the marijuana plants are ready to harvest,give them 24 hours of darkness to promote more resin.potency is lowest in the middle of the day period under full heat, the darkness lets the weed plant come to it's full potential. Some marijuana plants, especially the White family (Russian, Widow) really seem to like this, and I can't see it causing any damage either way; just another way to maximize the potential of the weed plant in some circumstances.more resin is produced in its dark period..kinda the same reason you put it in 12/12 to force it to flower...the dark period helps to stimulate resin development...also the less light it has makes the plant think its getting closer to the end of the season (time to reproduce or die) so it forms more resin to try to collect pollen before it dies

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Yeahh for sure, that is really our pattern as I say unless specifically told otherwise by the breeder. We will always take on board what they say but most is your own experiences, confidence and environment of course.

Thanks for the responses, guys. In this case it's outdoors and space isn't an issue. Obviously the bigger the plant the better the yield. If one was growing indoors in limited space, wouldn't topping/tying/SCROG'ing be the way to go to assure the plant can be mature enough for max potency while still staying within the confines of the available space?

Far as stressing the plant...based on what I have read recently (as opposed to decades ago), the common consensus seems to be the healthier the plant, the better the quality/amount

I think a lot of us grow to our conditions and target yields more than to every fine point of potency improvement. I personally weigh how much I think potency might be increased by how much trouble it takes to implement or how it might effect yields.

Mel Frank (who seems to be where rosenthal gets a lot of this sort of info) is a source for this. He has spent a decent amount of time testing THC/CBD levels throughout growing cycles, and certainly found some interesting things. He basically claims that final THC quantities in flowering will raise slightly with maturity up to 6-12 months at which time the final quantities will start to decline. The largest difference was between flowering an immature plant vs mature. Seemed to me that the difference (assuming you allow the plant to hit maturity which usually takes 6-8 weeks) was minimal, and not worth the 3-4 extra months you have to veg to hit that 6 month target...

obijohn said:

Thanks for the responses, guys. In this case it's outdoors and space isn't an issue. Obviously the bigger the plant the better the yield. If one was growing indoors in limited space, wouldn't topping/tying/SCROG'ing be the way to go to assure the plant can be mature enough for max potency while still staying within the confines of the available space?

Far as stressing the plant...based on what I have read recently (as opposed to decades ago), the common consensus seems to be the healthier the plant, the better the quality/amount

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ok your just going by "common consensus" so I wouldn't call that debunked just not a popular option.

I've had this discussion with some others who had failed to produce one shred of evidence other than they're word and insults that I am wrong in believing in this.

Spanishfly said:

The problem with MJ forums is they are populated by naive kids who have never grown anything else, have no gardening and certainly no botanical knowledge, and just repeat all the BS they read, however ludicrous it may be.

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ten years gardening the the harshest climate that allows it, the last three summers I've been volunteering at the municipality greenhouses for a few college credits and there's a lot of hot chicks that work there. and soon to be taking ethnobotany courses at uaa.<> green thumbs run in my family