Morning 
Harvesting soon. Can someone explain the 48 hours of darkness to me? If doing a 10 day flush is this after that? Do you water during this time?
Thanks 
Te dark before harvest allows the plant to breakdown and flush out more chlorophyll. Itās supposed to help with taste and smoothness. Do your flush first. You would want to water prior to putting into dark you donāt want to interrupt this dark period if at all possible.
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Thanks @jc1979! Sounds rationalā¦ so no peaking for 2 days, will try my best! 
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The plant forces a lot of sugars and such down into the root system at night not only thatā¦ but thatās when the plant has the time to rebuild those super smelly terpenes for you so it really does improve quality, the only thing thatās gonna help with a harsh harvest is a proper dry and cureā¦ dark period boosts those terpenes right before for you cut well worth it
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One thing I did read is that it takes a very short time for the plant to draw the sugars back up when light hits them. So as with most things in my life I took harvest to the extreme. I bought a green light because the plants donāt react to it and cut them in the dark with a green light on. Not sure if it matters, I just like working in green light sometimes.
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You can also add in some other stressing those last two days that some swear by.
- You can drive a knife through the center of the stalk at the base. Induces a stress that makes the plant think it is being attacked and causes it to push one last boost of increase to the trichomes. Splitting stems is another method of this started earlier in growth.
- You can add ice to the base of the plant in an effort to mimic what the plant would go through outside when the weather changes. Used hand in hand with darkness an ice water flush is āsupposedā to increase bud size and trichs.
I have done the knife through on my autos and I dunno if there is any difference, what can it hurt when I am chopping within 48-60 hours, right? Now if you are revegging it I wouldnāt suggest the knife.
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What interesting ideas @jc1979! Forever learning new things and you are right - canāt hurtā¦ Iām def going to give that a try. It makes sense. Thanks heaps for the tips!
Do you leave the knife in or just give it a quick stab
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Split it carefully then stick some toothpicks between. Keeps the stalk from fusing back together. Look it up on YouTube bc it could end badly if done wrong
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Just watched a vid yea I have some bamboo skewers that would be perfect for this the moment I see amber on bud sites Iāll do this for 1 week and see the results thanks
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This was a good watchā¦ and Iāve still got time to do thisā¦
Looks like a great set up and canāt hurt. That and some iceā¦
Thanks for the info!
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Literally the exact same vid I watched lol
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Hahaha great mindsā¦ 
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Well the point is stress that makes the plant think itās attacked so the tent poles, pencils, scewers, and knives will all work. I only do it the day they go into dark. There are a couple differing opinions on it though. Mainly that the amount of time is not long enough to actually increase the trichome and bud size. Me, Iāve sat there and watched the plant grow from morning to night, they are in my office. I think that they grow fast enough that even 48 hours makes a difference. Think about the time it takes for nute burn to show, less than 48 hours in most severe cases 72 for light nute burn(soil) so to me it stands to reason that the plant will be able to exhibit changes in 2-3 days time from stress.
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I donāt think any study has shown an improvement. Remember the plant has been flushed and personally I only flush until I hit a target runoff TDS before going into darkness. My point is how much trichome production will you see in 48 hours? Not much. IMO you are better off producing finished flower that is a joy to smoke. Flushing to a low TDS, some period of darkness to move salts into the root mass, and a decent bud wash at harvest. These all are worthwhile.
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@Myfriendis410 I have only tried it. I think that the theory behind it is sound. Trichomes are produced to protect. Stress increases the production of trichomes as a natural reaction. Most of the suggested methods of splitting are done a couple weeks in advance which would provide a fair amount of time to induce and increase trichomes. Should it be done on autos? Eh prolly not given the overwhelming opinion to āleave autoās aloneā and only a few out there that want/can afford to test the limits. I am not brave enough to try it that far in advance and havenāt had the opportunity considering only having harvested a few plants. I know that your opinion is just that, and Iām not sharing my opinion except that
and
, other than that Iām only supplying options I have come across.
The bottom line is itās your plant and you can do anything you want with it. Paying attention to the plant throughout the grow and keeping everything more or less nominal will do more for you than any endgame tricks.
Trichome production while flushing for two weeks (literally removing the salts from the medium) has got to be minimal at best; particularly when the plant is so immune-compromised. Itās trying to finish and die. Drilling the stem was a āthingā a couple of years ago but most seasoned growers donāt bother.
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Hello-
This is my first season, I have the Grow Bible and it really helps. I had to deal with worms and mold. My last good plant has little bugs flying out of the bud and now the bud is turning brown and dry, I want to harvest but the last 2 plats I harvested turned dry and brittle (it is still good to smoke, I vacuum sealed it). I didnāt know about the 48 hours of darkness so, Thank you. What is the wash or flush and how do I do that?
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Yeah bugs suck haha thankfully I donāt have to deal with it much if I do itās spider mites, and fungus gnats thatās all Iāve fought since being indoorsā¦ if your buds are dry and brittle i would imagin itās from over drying and not being able to cure properly- because of that you will have super dry possibly harsh and it probably smells and taste like hay, but you can still smoke it and get stoned now if you had mold or bud rot any thing like that itās not good to smoke can cause all sorts of lung problems thatās why a bud wash is very important it will get most of the spores, pollens, and other debris that get on those sticky buds all the way through flower, and the darkness before harvest isnāt exactly necessary I know many growers who donāt do it but personally I will always do it becuase ive seen the difference in my smoke a whole world of difference in the terpenes but again it doesnāt do any good unless you had a proper dry and cure process
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