the only advantage I have seen about leaving plants in the dark... I found out by accident when I lost power for 3 days.

I was about 3 weeks into bud when we lost power ....when I did get the power back there was a noticable difference in the size of the buds, they filled in & were bigger.

Now whenever I go out of town for 2-3 days ...I just leave my plants in the dark if they are in bud cycle.

I have tired harvesting after a 12hr light cycle and after a 12 dark period I've never noticed a difference in taste or potency in my strain.

I have also tried letting the rootball/plant dry out before cutting it down and watering right before harvesting....also no noticable difference