Providing an artificial trigger for senescence

[xerb]

Protein phosphorylation is a reversible post-translational modification of proteins in which an amino acid residue is phosphorylated by a protein kinase by the addition of a covalently bound phosphate group.

Hey, I don't want any phosphorylating in my garden! Too many big words for us stoners to understand!
I am sure the crux of the matter is the apostrophe!

I feed the soil, not the plants. No N-P-K shenanigans. Ever. They get what they need from the soil. The plants are green and very happy.

Pure Burmese 4 weeks into 11/13 cycle, one smells just like strawberry sunburst candy, another is already white with trichomes.
What an incredibly delicious strain! Each plant is wonderfully different, some candied, some woodsy, some menthol, simply amazing.
Got to go rub a few stems.... XERB

 

[xerb]

I have decided to launch my attack. My plants are at 5 weeks into the 11/13 light cycle, really starting to
explode with buds, but I figure with any luck I am only about 5 weeks away from the harvest window
opening for some of the plants.

They are dark green and healthy, perhaps a little too healthy if I ever want them to finish.

I decided I will give them one more tea and then stop watering from the top. From this point on, I will only
water from the bottom, this will make it easier to control the water stress I intend to create in a week or two.

Last night, I turned off the heat and let the temperature drop to 53 degrees F in the grow room.
These plants have never seen temperatures below about 65 F, so I hope to see a response soon.
Within 3 hours of the lights coming back on it was up to 75 F.
After 1 night of cold temperatures no changes were visible to the naked eye.

Tonight I expect it will get a bit colder.
The forecast temps for the next week look great for continuing the cold treatments.

Stay tuned, don't touch that dial, Something's gonna happen.... Something very soon....

XERB

 

[xerb]

Trying to force a change into senescence, last night I took the grow room down to 57 F .
This is only the second night of cooler nighttime temps and

There is already a change! Several buds have started turning orange - not withering, but changing color.

Not to be confused with the pollinated ones:

I have been fertilizing a couple buds on each plant and started this a week ago.
After hitting them with pollen, it takes about 2 days for the pistils to wither.
There was no color change detected during this process, most withered stigmas remained white.
Many bracts have already split exposing the growing seeds inside.

XERB

 

[xerb]

Got the room down to 55 F last night. More orange stigmas this morning - none of which are withering.
I was hoping for colder temps, but a storm front has brought precipitation and warmer temps.
Forecast says 30 F tonight. Just what I have been waiting for! XERB

 

[xerb]

Alright! Got down to 50F in the grow room last night.
I see a definite color change on the bracts, they have taken on a pink or purplish tint.

Since this is day 40 in the flowering room, we are just past halfway thru the flowering cycle.
I would expect to be harvesting somewhere around 70 days.

Could this be the start of senescence?

If so, I caused it with just 4 nights of slightly cooler temperatures.
I am hoping for even colder temps tonight.

I will give it one more cold night, and then go back to my normal 65-80F daily climb.

Without the night time temperature drop, will senescence continue?
Or will it require continued or more extreme temps to make it want to finish quickly?

4 days ago, you could not see a single red hair, this morning every bud is showing them. Coincidence?

Will inducing senescence early like this shorten the flowering cycle?

Will the buds foxtail as much as normal? Only time will tell, XERB

 

[xerb]

Dang! Almost 7 weeks into flowering - and no signs of senescence.
I have been dropping the night time temps for a week, a typical morning temperature is about 50F.
They are still growing like crazy, with no sign of slowing down. Do I sound like I am complaining?
I have seen Burmese turn incredible blue, red and purple colors, maybe I need colder temps?

When senescence starts, the lower leaves should start yellowing and dropping, not seeing any of that yet

I started limiting the amount of water I am giving them, but I don't want to water stress them too early.
About 3 weeks to go? Maybe I will try the layer of hail on top of the soil trick...

 

[thailer]

i think you'll have better luck at your goal with drying out the soil than making it go cold myself. i have a rootbound plant that i didn't keep up on with watering and it yellowed out midway and while i think it is gonna taste great, i also think it could've been so much more. i'm interested though in replicating this a little later and planned out instead of a mistake, so subscribed.

 

[xerb]

Hey Thai-ler,

Welcome aboard. I agree with you on the water stress thing, but I don't want to do it too early.
They are getting bigger and therefore needing more water every day.
It's easy to accidentally let them dry out too much at this stage, and it could really affect the yield.

They are thirsty tight now, a few are starting to droop. I gave the pan below the plants a scant
1/4 inch of water this morning and they sucked it up in mere minutes.

Since they are exploding with new bud growth right now, It's probably wise wait a week or two
to start any additional torture tactics - like the water stress.

Maybe I should play them some horrid, awful sounding music from a horror flick. Any ideas?

XERB

PS. Anybody know where I can get a recording of a million locusts chowing down?

 

[xerb]

Viola! Finally !

Welcome to the jungle! This is called Mr Hightest, or VISC Burmese

The first picture is on a seeded branch

And welcome to the Burmese jungle

These gals popped out of the ground on Jan 15th, just 10 weeks ago ! 3 week veg. XERB

 

[xerb]

Well, I guess my experiment failed.
Nothing I did shortened the flower cycle or even got senescence to kick in.

I tried cold temps, decreasing light cycle, water stress (lack of).
Matter of fact for weeks now they have been on the edge of being too dry.

These gals aren't going to be giving up their ripe fruits before their time.

At 10 weeks, senescence is evident, older leaves are yellowing and being consumed, fan leaves are
turning red. If anything the whole crop seem to be running late, just to spite me I am sure.

One plant was ripe at 9 weeks - she started to REALLY throw out the nanners - so down she came.
I will not use these seeds unless the smoke is really great.

The next two are pretty much ripe, but not throwing nanners, so will be cut in a few days at the 11 weeks.

This one is still a week or two from harvest.

This is VISC Burmese. Most look like they will require 12 weeks or more of a 11/13 cycle to ripen.

It should all be down hill from here.
Thank the Goddess!
XERB

 

[Bud Chopper]

Noob question it may be
But with a seasoned grower like yourself wouldn't something a bit more constructive be helpful after all we all had to start somewhere
After all I want to be able to cultivate great plants but rely on advice and guidance from folks way ahead of me
But thanks for the input now I know I've asked a severe Noob question
But maybe a better more helpful grower Will answer a noob and help them on the way to enlightenment

tell em off in such a classic response, i like it..