Old Wives Tales

Ok folks, I am so burned on some of the old wives tales. I want folk like Old Mac, Rusty, etc., to dispel the mistruths out there, we are seeing them refuted in posts, let's put it all in one place.

My favorites.

"You gotta hang the plant upside down to cure." This is purely convenience. It is just easier to hang the stems upside down if you choose this way.

"The 12 hours of light make them flower." Not, it is the darkness that makes them flower.

"If a hermie pollenates another plant all offspring will be hermies." NOT. If a hermie pollenated another female you would get female seeds........(Statements assume hermie was from stress as true hermie is very, very rare.

I know Old Mac has a couple pet peeves on this topic, let's hear it!
:thumbsup:

I can only think of a few right now. (waiting for coffee to finish brewing)

'You need all 15 of our products to properly grow your meds.' No, but you need to buy them all to keep the nutrient company properly solvent...

'Superthrive is a super tonic' Hardly. It's a band-aid to mask other issues in your garden. Good rule of thumb...if you don't know what's in it, likely it shouldn't go into your meds. Some folks are more sensitive to interactions than others, but if your life depends on the meds you take for your illness, think twice about smoking artifical plant hormones, steroids and snake-oils.

'Organic compounds are different than non-organic compounds.' A chemical compound is a chemical compound. The difference between "organic" and 'natural'...? Price.

'If a plant hermies, the strain is trash.' In most cases it's the gardener that has abused the plant that makes it hermie. (light leaks, bad nutrients, trying to 'overclock' the plants, no consistent schedule, too cold...) The ability to hermie is present in every strain. It's a self-preservation response to stress in it's natural enviornment that has been developed over thousands of years on all continents.

'Horticultural and biological rules do not apply to cannabis.' Cannabis is not a 'special' order, class, phylum, kingdom...It's a plant. Quit treating it as if the rules of biology were inconsequential to cannabis.

'Moon phase gardening is effective.' It has never been proven effective, but many scholarly studies lean twords it being an invalid technique to improve garden results. I read my horoscope once in a while for entertainment, but I'd never use it to raise my children.

'Coffee grounds and egg shells are good additives to your soil.' Adding uncomposted table scraps is a good way to promote disease your growroom. Eventually the scraps will rot in your pot(s).

Speaking of coffee...mine's ready...:jointsmile:

Coffee grounds be added to a compost heap as a source of carbon and proteins. Adding them to growing medium has little or no effect on growth...something I found out myself. The only benefit from coffee grounds, I found through numptiness, was that infestations (spider mites in this case) prefer plants growing without coffee grounds in the soil. However, there is no real reason to suggest the coffee grounds had anything to do with it.


How about placing plants into darkness 24hours prior to harvesting?
I personally don't go with this anymore because...well...how much growth do you expect within 24 hours?
I prefer to just crop at the end of the day after a week or 2 of watering and dry out over 1 or 2 weeks.
Is this wrong?


Pink.

This thread is a nice idea WashogulWonder,

You guys have already hit some, Rusty, even before his coffee came up with many.:thumbsup:

Putting your plant into darkness 48, 72 or ? hours before cutting down helps with bud development, trichome developement, potency etc. It dosen't do anything thing but waste time and allow for bud rot.

Yes pink you have it right, but since plant growth is based on photosynthesis, how much growth ot development can you expect at all in the dark.


OM :jointsmile:

oldmac,
Could leaving your plants in total darkness for 48 hours before chop help rid the plant of chlorophyll?
Possibly shortening curing time.

The old wives tell ya to leave your water "sit" for 24 hours to let the Chloramine demons out.;)

That is actually counter productive.

What leaves the water, is not the Chloramine, but the air.

"Flat" water will drown roots.
Those same roots are happy as clams in aerated water.
They are also quite happy in lightly chlorinated tap water as long as there is enough Oxygen as well.:)
A few parts of Chlorine per million keeps the micro-herd in check and is no-where near enough to adversely affect Cannabis.

I'll have a few more sometime soon.
Gotta go bum a cup of that coffee from R.T. first.

Aloha,
Weezard

I assumed letting water stand for 24 hours was to allow the chlorine to evaporate?
Chlorine, as many know, is added to water to kill bacteria and parasites making it drinkable.
Bacteria are required, in terrestrial sediments, to break down (or fix) chemicals which are consumed by the plants.

This means that giving chlorine filled water to ANY plant can significantly affect growth.

Chloramine, on the other hand, is a combination of ammonia and chlorine (much more stable than just chlorine). This acts in the same way as chlorine levels (bacteria depleting/quick evaporation rates) so can be left to stand for ~24 hours, too. If you're lucky enough and the ammonia stays within the water after the chlorine has been evaporated (don't know if this is possible), you have a great nutrient for your plants.

Simply letting the water "stand" will cause the chlorine to evaporate, but creating a lot of turbulation can allow it to evaporate quicker.


Pink.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by pinkdolphin113

I assumed letting water stand for 24 hours was to allow the chlorine to evaporate?
Chlorine, as many know, is added to water to kill bacteria and parasites making it drinkable.
Bacteria are required, in terrestrial sediments, to break down (or fix) chemicals which are consumed by the plants.

This means that giving chlorine filled water to ANY plant can significantly affect growth.

Chloramine, on the other hand, is a combination of ammonia and chlorine (much more stable than just chlorine). This acts in the same way as chlorine levels (bacteria depleting/quick evaporation rates) so can be left to stand for ~24 hours, too. If you're lucky enough and the ammonia stays within the water after the chlorine has been evaporated (don't know if this is possible), you have a great nutrient for your plants.

Simply letting the water "stand" will cause the chlorine to evaporate, but creating a lot of turbulation can allow it to evaporate quicker.


Pink.

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This is why it is an old wives tale. I switched from water that stood to just using it as I needed it, if it had stood so be it, if it was fresh out of the tap so be it. I actually think growth was better on the water that did not sit.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by tikiroom

oldmac,
Could leaving your plants in total darkness for 48 hours before chop help rid the plant of chlorophyll?
Sorry no. The break down of chlorophyll takes time. You can experiment yourself, take a nice green leaf, place it in a brown paper bag and check it in a couple of days. It may dry out but it will still be green.

Possibly shortening curing time.
I have found no way to "jump start" curing or cut the the time of curing. Plus proper time to cure varies depending on a few enviromental factors.

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Another pet peeve myth;

Roots grow during the dark period. Nope, all growth above and below ground level is a process of photosynthesis. "Roots grow in the dark but not when itis dark." There is cell division happening all the time at the tap/water root's meristem, but this cell division is the lubricant for the root tip growth.

OM


[/QUOTE]

Quote:

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Originally Posted by oldmac

This thread is a nice idea WashogulWonder,

You guys have already hit some, Rusty, even before his coffee came up with many.:thumbsup:

Putting your plant into darkness 48, 72 or ? hours before cutting down helps with bud development, trichome developement, potency etc. It dosen't do anything thing but waste time and allow for bud rot.

Yes pink you have it right, but since plant growth is based on photosynthesis, how much growth ot development can you expect at all in the dark.


OM :jointsmile:

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Funny you ask that....I lost power for 4-5 days my plants had to stay in the dark..... they were 5 weeeks into flower.

The buds actually grew in the darkness