Best flowering technique

prebs

prebs

Well-Known Member
Ok so Ive been reading and I'm about to flower my first grow. But there are different ways to flower. Ive read like go a whole day of darkness between veg (18/6) and flowering (12/12) and itll speed it up or something. And then before you're going to harvest, have a day or two of complete darkness so the plant takes all the excess sugars and THC basically from its stem or whatever and puts it in the buds. Also when's the best time to flush?

Basically, is all that right? and what's the best technique that you guys have seen or used?
 
BeefSupreme

BeefSupreme

Active Member
-12/12 activates flowering, its not because its better
-the extra darkness at the end of vegging to give a strong signal that the light is going to change for flowering
-the extra darkness at the end of flowering is to stress the plants, and when the plants are stressed they create more THC (basically what overdrive does)
-You want to flush 7-10 days before you are going to harvest. Flush them good, just straight water after
 
Dowd1

Dowd1

Well-Known Member
well i was always told and have read on this site you want to stress the planes as little as possible. Go straight from 18/6 to 12/12. By depriving the plant 24 hours with no light is alot of stress.granted going from 18/6 to 12/12 is stresful enough for them.When you stress them you cause photosynthesis to slow or even stop, and it usually takes 1 week or possibly more to allow the plant to recoup.so as far as beefsupremes overdrive theory remember stress = 0 growth and if we have no growth no photosynthesis,no photosynthesis no nutrient movement throughout the stems let alone thc so as for the lights off at the end, I wouldnt believe everything you read.I have heard of the "technique" ,but as i said before stress them as little as possible or you are possibly setting yourself up for failure.
I switch my light from 18/6 straight to 12/12 within 1 week i have flower pistols after two weeks i have blueberry size buds 2 weeks before harvest i flush with plain water and 12 hours of light all the way to the end ,and its the sweatest tasting buds around.
The plants genetics are what really determine the plants ability to produce alot or a little thc not darkness
 
DoeEyed

DoeEyed

Well-Known Member
Darkness before flowering or harvesting, is not necessary. I've tried both, and done it without both - neither one makes a bit of difference. Unless you seriously over nute your plants, flushing isn't necessary, either.
 
BeefSupreme

BeefSupreme

Active Member
Just a quote from the Medical Growers Bible
"Give plants 36 hours of total darkness just before inducing lowering with the 12/12 photoperiod. This heavy dose of darkness sends plants an unmistakable signal to flower sooner. Growers using this technique report that plants normally show signs of flowering, such as pistil formation within two weeks and develop pistils after a week of flowering."

In my experience it works, but theres lots of ways of growing these beautiful plants
 
riddleme

riddleme

Well-Known Member
BeefSupreme said:
Just a quote from the Medical Growers Bible
"Give plants 36 hours of total darkness just before inducing lowering with the 12/12 photoperiod. This heavy dose of darkness sends plants an unmistakable signal to flower sooner. Growers using this technique report that plants normally show signs of flowering, such as pistil formation within two weeks and develop pistils after a week of flowering."

In my experience it works, but theres lots of ways of growing these beautiful plants
Click to expand...
What is not being included here is that method is for inmature plants, if the plant is mature before you flip it it does not matter

if it is inmature before you flip it then yes the dark period does send the plant a message that it is running out of time and needs to catch up

Also studies have shown that 36 hours of darkness before harvest is irrelevant, a minimum of 72 hours is required to see any positive results in THC developement and one published study reported as much as 30% increase using the 72 hours of darkness before harvest
 
prebs

prebs

Well-Known Member
riddleme said:
Also studies have shown that 36 hours of darkness before harvest is irrelevant, a minimum of 72 hours is required to see any positive results in THC developement and one published study reported as much as 30% increase using the 72 hours of darkness before harvest
Click to expand...

Like 72 hours of darkness then chop them down?

And also, I just though of this last night and Im wondering if anyone has thought of this before or tried it. Since nature slowly depletes the amount of sun in the day time, why not every day slowly turn the lights off sooner, making the light cycle shorter. I think I may test this out and every night shorten the light cycle by an hour till I reach 12/12. What do you guys think?
 
BKCSG

BKCSG

Active Member
Dowd1 said:
well i was always told and have read on this site you want to stress the planes as little as possible. Go straight from 18/6 to 12/12. By depriving the plant 24 hours with no light is alot of stress.granted going from 18/6 to 12/12 is stresful enough for them.When you stress them you cause photosynthesis to slow or even stop, and it usually takes 1 week or possibly more to allow the plant to recoup.so as far as beefsupremes overdrive theory remember stress = 0 growth and if we have no growth no photosynthesis,no photosynthesis no nutrient movement throughout the stems let alone thc so as for the lights off at the end, I wouldnt believe everything you read.I have heard of the "technique" ,but as i said before stress them as little as possible or you are possibly setting yourself up for failure.
I switch my light from 18/6 straight to 12/12 within 1 week i have flower pistols after two weeks i have blueberry size buds 2 weeks before harvest i flush with plain water and 12 hours of light all the way to the end ,and its the sweatest tasting buds around.
The plants genetics are what really determine the plants ability to produce alot or a little thc not darkness
Click to expand...

I don't practice this technique, however, the amount of "stress" put on the plant from 24 hours of darkness before flowering is insignificant. In fact, it will speed up up the time it takes for the plant to show sex. The 24 hours of darkness allows for the plants internal clock to reset. You may only gain a day or to to how quickly it shows sex. I would still just say go from 18/6 to 12/12 b/c of what your gaining from the day of darkness doesn't make as big of a difference to risk ANY stress, even though it is minor. Instead of doing 24 hours of dark at the end, i would let your humidity drop into the low 20's or even teens for the last week to ten days as well as letting your night temp drop a little more as this will increase resin porduction as the plant protects itself from the eliments. I have done this every grow and it works great!
 
@jax1969

@jax1969

Active Member
I run my lights 20/4 during veg, on from 8:00pm till 4:00pm. I think they like a few hours of dark to rest, that's why I don't do 24/0. I don't know if that is scientifically true, but it feels right to me. When I switch to 12/12 I just do it, on from 8:00pm till 8:00am. Seems to work for me. This run they showed sex in 10-14 days after the flip. 2 girls out of 4 beans.
 
prebs

prebs

Well-Known Member
Not bad with the 2 girls. But yeah Ive noticed they really grow and fan out when they have some darkness. They need time to rest
 
growman09

growman09

Active Member
i do 24/0 for seedlings under floros for 1 week or so then switch to 18/6 for a few weeks then i switch to 16/8 for a couple weeks and then to 12/12 helps make the stretch not as bad
 
prebs

prebs

Well-Known Member
So you guys think cutting the light cycle back an hour or so each day till 12/12 would work well and not stress the plant so much?
 
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