Drought stress is a common technique with tomatoes to enhance certain qualities. By restricting water you can steer your plant towards more generative, flowering, growth much like how LST causes more vegetative growth. Commercial operations use sensors at the root zone to monitor the EC/pH/temperature for accurate crop steering. Too much water restriction can cause problems from the bottom to the top.
Towards the end of my flowering cycles I restrict water a bit by increasing the time between flood periods but also be maintaining lower temperatures, 75-78f, and sub 40% humidity. Near the end the plant likes to assimilate sugars and withhold them from the root zone but adding a carbohydrate source will help keep the microbes active and that contributes to quality.
Though if we are talking potency then what actually matters? I think high THC percentages are archaic when there are many other cannabinoids that work with THC. Brix testing would be a closer way to observe how much quality is contained within the plant - grape growers measure to know when to harvest. I want a quality high that doesn't require a lot to consume to get there for relief or just to be high.
Potency, to me, is in the back of my mind because I expect quality to be potent to some degree not accounting for the strain and it's specific qualities. If environmentals, nutrition, genetics, and the cure are on point then the bud should be pretty good and down to personal taste. Flushing isn't the key though but low EC throughout the whole grow, never over feeding and letting the plant take it's time.
You also have a lot of other things that contributes to quality like lights. High ppfd, 800+, UV, far red for EOD, tunable spectrums can help. Maintaining VPD throughout the majority of the grow lessens chances of nutrient issues and improves growth. Proper airflow will help exchange the stagnant air around the stomata. Low stress and consistency also contribute.
The only other thing I can think of is consistency. Everyone wants yield and an expeditious strain but does don't equate to quality and contribute to breeders only going for yield and THC percentages. Imo that is like only doing bicep curls on one arm and thinking marathon running will get you buff. I digress, but I do believe being incredibly consistent - logging every feeding, observing nutrient issues, maintaining equipment, keeping ideal environmentals etc lead to potency and yield to some degree.
I'll STFU soon. I also believe that growing strains that match your end goals is as important as getting quality down. If you press rosin, you want certain strains, if you do hash certain strains do it better, etc.
1) Darkness increases resin production.
During a plant’s dark cycle, respiration is in full swing. The light during the day provides the sugars/energy during respiration in the dark for growth of many things including trichomes and the oils inside. This is a normal process during flowering. When a plant is maturing and pretty much done, you shouldn’t see many, if any, clear trichomes forming. This is easy to check and don’t hold your breath waiting for more trichomes to form when the plant is finishing in those 3 dark days.
2) Darkness increases terpene production.
Terpenes and other secondary metabolites form mainly during the dark cycle.
3) Terpene levels are at their highest at the end of the dark cycle right before lights on.
Heat from the day evap’s volitle terp’s off we can smell so it make’s sense the highest levels would be when they are forming during the cycle with the coolest temps.
4) Sugars/starches recede from the plant to the root zone while in dark cycle resulting in a better tasting/burning bud.
This is also a normal cycle when the plant is growing leaf and photosynthesizing. At the end of the plants life there shouldn’t be much of anything going on if the plant is truly finishing. It’s a good practice for sure to cut during the dark cycle to gaurantee she hasn’t sucked anything up during a day time chop.
5) Chlorophyll isn’t produced/active in the dark and existing chlorophyll begins to break down.
