Droughting and its medicinal effects in cannabis

[Krissi Carbone]

Let's get rid of the argument weather droughting works or not for a second.

I don't think it's outlandish to say that this method is risky?

If you drought too long its obviously irreparable and not enough and it's a waste of time which will affect growth.

However. Fulfilled plants grow and produce resin. They always have and always will.

Would you risk everything for a potential improvement. Or use the zero risk option which will definitely give good results.

This will be the last thing I say on the subject. I won't argue the science etc. I'll just say that I personally consider this too much of a risk and will not be doing it.

I wish everyone well and hope your results are good.

You can stop the drought if you feel uncomfortable. Your plant will not die. I want to add here that it isn't the plant we are trying to make the best of, it is the harvestable buds. That is the end goal, right? To have the best smoke? I used to care what my plant looked like all the time until I was clearly told that's great if you want to win plant of the month. I'm not in this drought game for any other reason than the end goal of a more medicinal smoke with a higher flower yield. In my personal experience, no plant has died and every plant has given me a higher yield with a better smoke. My ratio is pretty good...you haven't seen me kill one yet, right?

 

[Krissi Carbone]

I wouldn't use tomatoes and strawberries as examples that relate to encouraging greater oil/resin production. It is the oil/resin content I most seek in my buds.

Not the oil resin content that is affected here...we are talking ripeness and with that, taste, in the regard of veggies and fruits

 

[Krissi Carbone]

Moony- mine was trichome coated as well after the drought.
Your also looking at it somewhat wrong. Yes, feeding it perfectly is part of what the plant wants. It ultimately wants to reproduce via pollination, so already we're denying the plant what it wants, to get what we want. Droughting is another denial (temporarily) towards our goal of higher potency, which we want.

I appreciate your personal experience shared here Rex

Thanks for doing this @Krissi1982 I am very interested to see what you have learned. I would love to experiment with this in a future grow.
Happy Growing.

Thanks so much BudMan! I have no personal gains from this other than helping everyone create the best buds for our medicinal needs!

 

[East Coast Marley420]

I'm in and want to try this when ready

 

[Moony]

Krissi if I drought in Coco my roots die simple as. This method just isn't possible either way. As I said I've said my piece and I have chosen what I will be doing and explained my reasons why. I can't do more than that.

 

[Krissi Carbone]

I'm in and want to try this when ready

Hurray!!! Another fantastic harvest to come!!

Krissi if I drought in Coco my roots die simple as. This method just isn't possible either way. As I said I've said my piece and I have chosen what I will be doing and explained my reasons why. I can't do more than that.

Moony, I understand and I hear you. I'm not being pushy, you do whatever you want to do with your girls. I just want to be able to share this technique and my knowledge on it so that others can see what people like @Rexer And I have seen first hand. I'm not studied in coco, perhaps @Maritimer could assist me in this regard but the last thing I will say is just how do you know if you never did? With all the LST and HST training we try and see our plants "suffering" through sometimes, why not "try" something else. All of these things were new to this community at one point. We learn more about the cannabis plant every day. I just like taking it all in and seeing for myself. You know you have all my support in your grows Moon and I do not hold myself on some droughting pedestal...that's not me, I just want to help

 

[Krissi Carbone]

Increase in Yield.
Increase in Resin.
Increase in Medicinal Benefits.
Increase in Cannabinoids.

My plant is yellow for a little while and wilted looking but bounces right back.

My smoke is sensational.

#droughtclub

 

[StoneOtter]

It really doesn't make any sense from a biological point of view.

The plant is a living machine. It takes in nutrients, energy and moisture. It gives out growth and eventually fruit.

In a former life I was a rugby player. I used to do weight lifting as a secondary training method.
If I wanted to gain mass I wouldn't deprive the living machine of energy or any of the elements I'd need to build muscle.

How does stressing or removing the literal thing we need to do this help?

All you are doing is forcing the plant to eat itself in the same way your body uses fat reserves the plant uses its leaves.

Once the leaves are gone they are gone.

I'll always take 2 full weeks of growth providing everything the plant needs over depriving the plant. Any perceived increase in oil/thc seems very circumstancial. The plant needs energy to produce oil. Why do we spend literally the whole crop from seed providing everything the plant could ever need just to remove that towards the end.

Is really simple as I see it. There isn't any living being which has ever thrived when it's needs aren't fulfilled. I can't name a single other drought method used in any other form of farming. It's literally the opposite of what you should do. The results at best look like the plant has been flushed properly. And at worst they stop increasing bud size and the whole stem dies.

I won't be doing this personally.

You haven't read the paper have you? The Kaplan papers. Edit: I see now you're in coco and get you're out. Nevermind.
Edit: How about you relax and watch and have a laugh, but later after you watch. Your mindset isn't working for this. Just watch and be positive.

 

[ppm Charlie]

Guys and gals, I'd like to start off with a slight introduction to the medicinal benefits of droughting our 420 plants. This will be an open forum discussion for all things droughting related. I'm currently in the process of completing my notes and developing a thesis, if you will, on this stress technique, but with so much ground to cover and with so many questions sure to arise, it's important we get going.

Let me get your attention with these numbers and then see how many of you will be able to turn your heads in the other direction-I'd imagine nobody will....

The Substantial Effects on Cannabinoid Yield in Drought Versus That Of Control:

THC 50% higher yield
THCA 43% higher yield
CBD 67% higher yield
CBDA 47% higher yield

Drought treatment elicited a 12% and 13% increase in THCA and CBDA concentration, respectively.

Yield of flower in control was:
178+/- @ 9.4 grams per meter squared
Yield of flower in drought was:
232+/- @ 18.5 grams per meter squared

Do I have your attention yet?

Before dropping in this comment I made on another feed today, thanks again @ppm Charlie for adding me onto that conversation, I would like to note that I had a prior misconception to growing..

I thought at all times I needed to have the most beautiful plant ever. I never looked into what actually gives our cannabis it's medicinal properties nor did I ever set out to embark on a journey to find out what added stressors would elevate those properties.

By some red string effect, I fell upon 420, @Maritimer and his original thread where I stumbled across this technique. Since integrating it loosely into my last few harvests and both SEEING and FEELING the results, I have not looked back. Moreover, I wanted to learn everything I could and not only that, but spread this knowledge to every grower I could. I hope that you all can in time learn this methadology and put it to use to help us finally end this war on pain, both physically and mentally.


Droughting has the end goal of increasing valuable metabolites such as THC and cannabinoids. Drought response has been observed in many plant species; in cannabis, the drought escape response accelerates flowering in response to drought stress-i.e, the increase of resin production.

The main focus of ABA is to be a promoter of stomatal closure which is synthesized in the roots and mature leaves in response to water stress.

It is important to note the health of your leaves during a drought as ABA is transported from roots to xylem to the leaves before returning back to the roots and the process repeats itself.

Droughting is a delicate balance as a plants plasticity is very important in the transportation and absorption of nutrients and light.

"Leaves are very important to a plant in that they create an avenue where phosynthesis and thermoregulation can occur".

Evolution developed their leaf shape to a myriad of different types to create a means of balancing energy production with the plant's fitness.

The GRN is the Genetic Regulatory Network that is responsible for creating this phenotypic plasticity. It involves a myriad of genes and proteins, including the aforementioned, to regulate its morphology through stress.

I'm "in" - got my notepad.

 

[AdaminCO]

Cant lie im sceptical about the idea.
Its like the 24/48 hour darkness debat.
But will be lurking as i do

36 my friend. Lol!

 

[Cactusreefer]

In respect to droughting, though not cannabis I have been doing this to hot pepper plants for years. Never took a scientific approach to it, but I think it makes them hotter. No idea the science behind it It seems to increase potency for sure. Not sure about yield, I would think it decreases a little?

 

[StoneOtter]

In respect to droughting, though not cannabis I have been doing this to hot pepper plants for years. Never took a scientific approach to it, but I think it makes them hotter. No idea the science behind it It seems to increase potency for sure. Not sure about yield, I would think it decreases a little?

Interesting! When do you do it?

 

[Skunksta]

36 my friend. Lol!

I meant to do or not to do.
But ye i hear ya i heard 14 hours makes the buds turn pink.
Just dont forget the magic powder and the magic words.

 

[Cactusreefer]

Interesting! When do you do it?

Nothing fancy really. Once its got peppers showing, id say halfway to harvest I just let them wilt some. Then water back up. Repeat all the way to harvest. Fine line between stress and damage. They respond like a tomato plant, bounce right back. Ive never done a comparison grow so I have no data

 

[Krissi Carbone]

I'm "in" - got my notepad.

Knew you would be...get more paper

36 my friend. Lol!

Bahahaha this darkness thing....

In respect to droughting, though not cannabis I have been doing this to hot pepper plants for years. Never took a scientific approach to it, but I think it makes them hotter. No idea the science behind it It seems to increase potency for sure. Not sure about yield, I would think it decreases a little?

Hmm! That doesn't veer far off of the fruit ripening studies @Cactusreefer . Fruit and vegetable ripening is an ethylene response.. different hormones allow for different stages in fruit and vegetable development as dormancy is induced by ABA while jasmonates or jAs are uniquely involved in the deposition of storage proteins. In a mango experiement, an exogenous application of methyl jasmonate increased ethylene production @ a climatic stage. It's skin color improved with its application along with an increase in fatty acids, ripening and aroma volatiles-sesquiterpenes, monoterpenes, etc (just like terpenes in the cannabis world)

I meant to do or not to do.
But ye i hear ya i heard 14 hours makes the buds turn pink.
Just dont forget the magic powder and the magic words.

And the locks of hair

 

[Krissi Carbone]

Nothing fancy really. Once its got peppers showing, id say halfway to harvest I just let them wilt some. Then water back up. Repeat all the way to harvest. Fine line between stress and damage. They respond like a tomato plant, bounce right back. Ive never done a comparison grow so I have no data

How they bounce back is incredible every time! I grow lots of veggies, especially peppers come springtime, so thank you for this, I will certainly add this to my list of things to do next year!

 

[Melville Hobbes]

Nothing fancy really. Once its got peppers showing, id say halfway to harvest I just let them wilt some. Then water back up. Repeat all the way to harvest. Fine line between stress and damage. They respond like a tomato plant, bounce right back. Ive never done a comparison grow so I have no data

I grow them outdoors in the summer here, and it's almost inevitable that the peppers will wilt during the hottest part of the summer. They've always been hotter than anything I can grow indoors. I've read that the stress increases capsaicin production. Does kinda affect the flavour though. Not as sweet as the ones I used to grow indoors.

 

[Krissi Carbone]

I grow them outdoors in the summer here, and it's almost inevitable that the peppers will wilt during the hottest part of the summer. They've always been hotter than anything I can grow indoors. I've read that the stress increases capsaicin production. Does kinda affect the flavour though. Not as sweet as the ones I used to grow indoors.

Another awesome tid-bit of information!! Thanks so much Mr.Hobbes!

 

[Krissi Carbone]

I’m in like Flynn….

Ooh you added to this!!

I had read you were working with Maritimer so I’m excited about that!

You know I believe people meet for a reason, I am grateful to the higher powers that I met him

I am droughting an Amnesia right now and I didn’t have time to ask but 7 weeks from flip versus 7 weeks from first sign of pistils was one question… I did 7 weeks from first pistils

My first drought was Amnesia! My Ammy! You do it at 7 weeks of flower so almost towards the end!

another thought for me was…. one really needs to be on point in week 6 with regards to reducing water volume and/or frequency of watering sessions in preparation for the upcoming drought… for example during week 6 you could just lightly spray mist top of soil once or twice but I know gravity still does it’s thing and moisture sinks in the substendnotes!

I did not prepare and have not prepared any for the upcoming drought at week 6. I let them ride right into it....I haven't had a kick back yet

anyway I will clam up and let you get on with things - I’m anxious to learn more!

There's so much info..these studies are where it's at. Learning the biology of the cannabis plant and their photosynthetic networks and enzymatic responses to the biotic and abiotic stressors is when this all makes sense and you can tell it is not the deprivation but the morphology of the plant that induces the response we are looking for

 

[AdaminCO]

I meant to do or not to do.
But ye i hear ya i heard 14 hours makes the buds turn pink.
Just dont forget the magic powder and the magic words.

I heard magic powder was on some shipping delay or something. So I had to try snake oil instead. Lol!

Check the “hold over thread” in my signature. Unlike a lot of the “experiments” I’ve seen, my was with 3 strains with 2 clones per strain. All 3 showed what I considered to be an increase in trics, but 36 seemed to do best.

I hold over every grow, just not at any specific time period. They are all different.