Yes, indoor growers are trying to replicate conditions found in nature.

HOWEVER, the constant mantra "have you seen mother nature do _____" is stupid for exactly the same reason that doing things completely different than mother nature is stupid. Neither extreme is automatically correct. Have you ever seen mother nature grow weed without sunlight and dirt? No. Does it work? Absolutely.

If you're growing indoors you're already trying to improve on mother nature. You don't get 18 hours of constantly bright sunlight in nature. You don't get 100% sunny days in nature. You don't get ideal temperatures, humidity, and nutrition in nature. We're optimizing, perfecting, and tweaking every single little thing to try to help our plants grow as well as they possibly can.

So the argument that if it isn't found in nature it shouldn't be replicated indoors is flawed.

The only question is: does it help the plant achieve the end we want it to?

And guess what - we don't always have the same goal in mind as the plant. Do you really believe the plant's goal is to begin and never complete its reproductive cycle? She wants to reproduce, to create seeds. We try to prevent that. Carrots, garlic, and similar plants spend all of their first year creating massive root storehouses of energy for the reproductive cycle their second year. We interrupt that to dig up and eat the yummy parts.

I've seen some research that indicates a prolonged darkness cycle at the end can trick the plant into believing a massive frost is about to come, which the plant responds to with a final surge of reproductive effort - to try to get the seeds made and safe before the winter comes. Does that actually work? I don't know.

But I'm not going to discount it simply because we don't see several days of complete darkness in nature.


If I wanted to grow entirely by nature's rulebook I'd grow outside.
killerm8r Reviewed by killerm8r on . Lights off before harvest? I'm going to harvest in a couple of days, and am wondering what people think about giving the plants 24-48 hours pure darkness before cutting them down. Debates range from 'don't waste your time, you're living in a dream world' to 'my god, what increased resin production!' Any thoughts from you long-time growers? best jash Rating: 5