Not so much a 'Thought Experiment', just thinking...

[buddyh]

I read of people putting their finished plants into total darkness for a week before cutting them down.

Has anyone tried putting a finished plant under 24 hours of light for a few days before cutting them down?

What makes me think of these things? I was thinking back to some plants that I revegged way back and just wondered.

Speaking of revegged plants, why doesn't a revegged plant turn Hermie?

No, Not Lily's main squeeze.

Gotta go, work to do.
:)

[PharmaPharmer]

I'd guess that reveged plants don;t ermie due to the massive trimming that usually takes place prior to reveg. Different hormones live in different parts of the plant. Cut off 90% or the buds and you remove a significant source of some of these hormones that could contribute to hermies. Just a theory, no real research on the topic but since it's "just thinking" I thought I'd throw that out there.

[pflover]

Light is the number 1 degrader/destroyer of THC. a week of dark is truely too much but 24 hours of dark will probably maximize your plant's current natural level of THC production. 24 hours of light would degrade the THC some. if you have ever smoked buds trimmed off a reveg plant just after it started to reveg you will know what i mean. there is some activity there but not much compaired to when the rest of the plant was picked.

Picking at dawn or pre dawn is standard practice for herbalist trying to obtain max potency from the precious volitile oils they are trying to obtain from their herbs.

Yay, wiccan herblist training. :)

[salmayo]

I read of people putting their finished plants into total darkness for a week before cutting them down.

Has anyone tried putting a finished plant under 24 hours of light for a few days before cutting them down?

What makes me think of these things? I was thinking back to some plants that I revegged way back and just wondered.

Speaking of revegged plants, why doesn't a revegged plant turn Hermie?
Total darkness for a week at the end of flowering (just before harvest) causes severe light stress and would likely increase the chance of a female putting out a male flower but probably without a chance to mature to pollen set. Also the chance of a mold outbreak would be much higher on such weakenned plants.

Depending on the condition of the plants, three days or more of continuous light (or long days) can cause reversal of flowering (revegging). There is renewed growth, but the potency is definitely not there. I once did a "turn up" experiment, reducing the dark period by 1/2 hour every two weeks testing growth vs. potency. By the time growth was notable (arround 13.5L/10.5D), potency was fer noda (jack squat, sucked).

Hermies tend to result from stress not easy living. More light and hours of it tend to vitalize the plant, while lower light and more dark time tend to stress the plant out and encourage females to REVERSE (and display male gender trait ~~ pollen).

Hacking your plants and not turning the light cycle back up would be more likely to pop pollen (i.e. severe pruning and/or extended flowerring).

[pflover]

To add to what sal said, spider mites and other bugs also seem to thrive in total dark conditions. if you try this experiment do so with some fan and ventilation going on. the airflow would inhibit many of the threats.