Dark Periods BEFORE Flower

I am curious if anyone has ever done a side by side, putting one plant from 18/6 to 12/12 and giving another plant 24-36 hours of uninterrupted darkness before the swtich. The darkness between veg and flower should make the plants flower quicker. What I want to know is does this have an effect on the over-all yield. Do you get higher yields because the flowering starts quicker, or less because the plants might not stretch as much, or is the difference negligible.

Flowering in marijuana if regulated by phyotochromes, of which there are two isoforms (states), Pr and Pfr. In uninterrupted darkness Pfr is converted to Pr. In the presence of light in the red spectrum Pr is converted back into Pfr. Once a certain level of Pr is reached the plant begins flowering. The theory is if you give the plants 24-36 hours of uninterrupted darkness before flower you build the level of Pr above that certain level kick starting the flowering.

I am planning on doing a side by side test in the very near future (probably 5 weeks before my clones go into flower). I am just trying to get some preliminary information. I know there are some growers that already do this. If you are one of those growers please share your experiences.

Thank you the relevant parts of that were interesting (I didn't read the irrelevant parts). +Rep What a random study to have a link to. How did you come across that?

That's exactly the type of scientific data I like to see. Too bad their conclusion doesn't support my hoped for results. It would of been nice to see the beans with the shorter light period flower a bit quicker. But the experiment only had a 3 hour variable. Maybe 3 hours might not be enough to see a change in flower time. I am still going to give a side by side a go, but thanks for that reading.

i used to do it but I don't anymore, some strains liked it and would transition into flowering a little quicker, but some strains get really pissy when you fuck with their light and may go hermie on you! I eventually decided that the risks outweighed the benifits and stopped. I hope that helps

I tryed it and didnt notice a difference (not on purpose)..I tried this expiriment but by accident..lost power to the building for the flower room but the veg room kept going..so i had some plants that didnt have the extra dark and some that did.