Tha Dark Ages

[atticflowers]

Does the dark period of 3-10 days before harvest really work, what does it do for the plants an how long should i keep em like this an do I continue to flush or stop watering all together?
Northern Lights at about day 50 of 12/12

 

[Starmstr]

you've got a couple of weeks to go.

 

[Phaeton]

Flushing for the last couple weeks should be kept up. Some folks don't water the day before harvest hoping for quicker drying.
My opinion is one day's head start on drying does not make up for the lack of pressure in the plant during trimming. Being short on water makes limp leaves, and limp leaves lay against buds and stick to fingers, scissors while pulling off trichomes.
I do limited quantities of 'gourmet' bud, trim quality is important.

Plants store up extra food (minerals) during times of plenty. Flushing forces the plant to use these saved resources, resulting in less harshness in the smoke. Potency remains the same.

One of my trimmers dips the entire bud into a bucket of cold water and trims it wet. The rest of us just dip our hands and scissors. He outperforms us and his buds have more bag appeal. He has water running off his elbows and onto his lap continuously, the method is not catching on.

The daily dark period produces Florigen, which causes the plant to produce buds. It normally takes 12 hours of darkness daily to produce the Florigen levels necessary for flowering.
Florigen acts as a switch, turning the flowering system 'on' when a minimum concentration is reached. Once the system is activated more Florigen will not activate it twice, at this point light energy is needed to continue.

Keeping the plant in the dark during the actual trimming process will keep THC levels at the maximum, active growing causes storage of the precursor chemicals. It takes up to three days to finish a trim, long enough for keeping it dark to make a visible difference.