When do you harvest ( trichomes/pistils )?

[Lethidox]

im on my 2nd harvest but im confused. im currently on week 8 since flip plants are doing fine last i checked the trichomes were a few days ago and to me they looked mostly clear but the pistils are starting to turn orange on one plant the pistils are about 50% orange with the other 2 plants following at around 30% and 40%.

what confuses me is i want them mostly cloudly with very few ambers right? also what happens if i harvest them at cloudy will they still change color after during the drying process? i plan to dry in my tent/closet.

 

[Thundercat]

You want to look at the whole plant. The Stigma(pistils) are one of the first signs the plant is getting close to maturity. Most plants the stigma will turn red and receed or at least 90% of them will. Usually, at that point the plant has 10-14 days left, sometimes more than that depending on genetics and the environment. Really what week its on doesn't matter much because harvest recommendations are just very loose guidelines.

During that last 2-3 weeks the plant won't appear to grow outwards at all, but will be sucking up the last available nutrients trying to swell up the buds internally. The bracts(calyxs) will individually swell up and look fatter, and typically the plant will put on a noticeable amount of weight and often times the branches will sag so make sure you have supports. The last 2ish weeks is when the plant finishes ripening. The BEST smoke comes from healthy properly ripened buds.

I really think there is WAY too much emphasis put onto trichomes. I havn't looked at a trichome in years at this point.

Cutting early is one of the BIGGEST mistakes new growers make, and they usually don't even realize they did it because bad advice, or because they "thought" the trichomes were ready.

Well its VERY EASY to harvest early, however it is VERY HARD to harvest too late. I've never seen someone "over-ripen" a plant unless they were intentionally leaving it extra long to experiment. Otherswise more time is better 98% of the time.

 

[Lethidox]

You want to look at the whole plant. The Stigma(pistils) are one of the first signs the plant is getting close to maturity. Most plants the stigma will turn red and receed or at least 90% of them will. Usually, at that point the plant has 10-14 days left, sometimes more than that depending on genetics and the environment. Really what week its on doesn't matter much because harvest recommendations are just very loose guidelines.

During that last 2-3 weeks the plant won't appear to grow outwards at all, but will be sucking up the last available nutrients trying to swell up the buds internally. The bracts(calyxs) will individually swell up and look fatter, and typically the plant will put on a noticeable amount of weight and often times the branches will sag so make sure you have supports. The last 2ish weeks is when the plant finishes ripening. The BEST smoke comes from healthy properly ripened buds.

I really think there is WAY too much emphasis put onto trichomes. I havn't looked at a trichome in years at this point.

Cutting early is one of the BIGGEST mistakes new growers make, and they usually don't even realize they did it because bad advice, or because they "thought" the trichomes were ready.

Well its VERY EASY to harvest early, however it is VERY HARD to harvest too late. I've never seen someone "over-ripen" a plant unless they were intentionally leaving it extra long to experiment. Otherswise more time is better 98% of the time.

thanks yea u helped me with my last grow i harvested and i fucked that one up and harvested too early. this one it's sagging already and has been for a while now, the bracts as you taught me before as swollen i thought they were swollen in my last grow but not these fuckers are massive well the ones at the top kola's are. it's confusing to me too because they keep pushing out more and more pistils does that ever stop?

 

[Thundercat]

Every so often you might get a plant that won't stop throwing white stigma, but it's really not that common. If your plant is still covered in fresh growth then it is still growing and isn't even close to ready. Most plants Will stop growing BEFORE they finish ripening.

It's great that the stems are bending and that it has nice fat buds, but that will continue even after the stigma and buds stop growing.

You can post some pictures and I will take a look again.

Many new growers read about plants being done in 7-8 weeks. Some plants will finish that fast I you are actually counting from when they begin flowering, not from 12/12 flip. But most hybrid plants need 9-12 weeks of actual flower time. Also any issues in the grow can slow things down. I've had some cold temps this winter that have added 3ish weeks to all my plants. They still grew nice and have far frosty buds but it all slowed down. And it's a strain I've ran for 4 years so I'm pretty used to how it grows.

 

[CptBluemax]

What strain are they? This can really help with the trichome determination.

went about 15-20% amber this time on my SLH after cutting it way too early before , almost every other trichome is milky as hell but the clear ones took a long time to turn to milky , with very slow onset of ambers too , they went 16 weeks from 12/12 flip and its some of the best smoke ive ever had at 8 weeks off the plant.Supposedly its better to let heavy Indicas go justttt starting to get amber and heavy sativas around 20% (still taking in overall trichomes/plant etc though,theyre all different). Basically making sure I had a good amount of ambers , and as little clear as possible seems the way forward , depends on how quickly they change though.

Ive had plants turn pistil colour completely or almost completely WEEKS before the buds are mature , Thundercat is right you need to look at the whole plant , but you do need something like a 30x jewellers loupe to look at the trichomes , the pistils will start turning , the buds will end of seeming like they stop growing....but theyll swell....and the plant will start to consume its leaves-this is when you really know they are getting close.

 

[Thundercat]

Yep some plants will take forever I've ran sativas for 14+ weeks of actual flower time(16+ Weeks of 12/12) an they still could have gone a few weeks longer but I was out if time at that grow location.

 

[Kingrow1]

Sounds like you got three weeks min left - you shouldnt be looking at trichs yet tbh just wait til its closer 100% swollen and receeded pistils.

Pistils can brown but thats not withered and receeded yet. Subtle changes

 

[Lethidox]

it is strawberry cough. i'll try to follow your guys recommendation this time just as an experiment. if they got like 3 weeks left should i start to leech the medium? i've been feeding pretty heavily with little to no run off this entire grow.

 

[CptBluemax]

ooo strawberry cough , had a disaster super last summer heatwave grow with DPs strawberry cough and it still turn out decent , got another 10 waiting and some lemon zkittle from them too , waiting till summer passes after these autos are done. did me few months of smoke and learned my lesson .

Youll want to let them go to about 15-20% amber trichs imo , I had to cut them down at 12 weeks from 12/12 because of the temps , they were throwing nanas all over the place poor things. , wouldve love to see them not roasted and 14-16 weeks. Cant wait to do them next time.

 

[Lethidox]

Yea i got heat issues too they seem okay for now going to try let un go 2 weeks then check im on werk 8 right now

 

[Thundercat]

Yea i got heat issues too they seem okay for now going to try let un go 2 weeks then check im on werk 8 right now

8 weeks of 12/12 is not 8 weeks of flowering.

Captblue just told you his went 12 weeks of 12/12 and needed 2 more weeks.

I still haven't seen the plant but I know that strawberry cough is a hybrid which means it will likely need 9-12 weeks of actual flower time.

Which will mean 11-14 weeks of 12/12 time if you just want to go off the lights instead of the plants.

 

[Lethidox]

8 weeks of 12/12 is not 8 weeks of flowering.

Captblue just told you his went 12 weeks of 12/12 and needed 2 more weeks.

I still haven't seen the plant but I know that strawberry cough is a hybrid which means it will likely need 9-12 weeks of actual flower time.

Which will mean 11-14 weeks of 12/12 time if you just want to go off the lights instead of the plants.

Yes i just count my flowering basrd off flip but take into consideration 3 weeks stretch

 

[Thundercat]

Yes i just count my flowering basrd off flip but take into consideration 3 weeks stretch

Well its not always a 3 week transition, sometimes it happens in 7 days. That's why I always advocate paying attention to the plant instead of the arbitrary 12/12 number. Each plant is different and should be treated that way.

 

[Lethidox]

Well its not always a 3 week transition, sometimes it happens in 7 days. That's why I always advocate paying attention to the plant instead of the arbitrary 12/12 number. Each plant is different and should be treated that way.

Yea mine took about 2-3 weeks i got pics in my journal

 

[CptBluemax]

Temps wise , for 70-80% Sativas like SLH and Strawberry cough , they really like the warmth , like 25 C id say , maybe even 26-27 , but keeping them at that temp is almost impossible without a sealed room and air unit , anything over 28C is dangerous , 30C+ is going to roast the terpenes right off the plant like it did with mine , still some strawberryess but oof......like I said cant wait to do them next time properly. Id rather have them a little colder (20C I seem to be able to keep it at) than run the risk of it ever happening again , so no more summer grows for me.

Breeders guidelines seem to be from the first appearance of buds , not 12/12 flip...........so If I read any guidelines now.....I add 3 weeks onto the start and the end..........SLH is no where NEAR ready in 9-10 weeks from 12/12.......but 12-13 maybe just maybe..........not perfect but it gives you a much much better idea of how long they will take , i think even 4 weeks on start and end is an even better gauge how long theyll take from 12/12 flip..... they easy at least go 14 weeks under my 600w HID , very slow onset of trichome changing once buds have stopped growing.

 

[Lethidox]

Temps wise , for 70-80% Sativas like SLH and Strawberry cough , they really like the warmth , like 25 C id say , maybe even 26-27 , but keeping them at that temp is almost impossible without a sealed room and air unit , anything over 28C is dangerous , 30C+ is going to roast the terpenes right off the plant like it did with mine , still some strawberryess but oof......like I said cant wait to do them next time properly. Id rather have them a little colder (20C I seem to be able to keep it at) than run the risk of it ever happening again , so no more summer grows for me.

Breeders guidelines seem to be from the first appearance of buds , not 12/12 flip...........so If I read any guidelines now.....I add 3 weeks onto the start and the end..........SLH is no where NEAR ready in 9-10 weeks from 12/12.......but 12-13 maybe just maybe..........not perfect but it gives you a much much better idea of how long they will take , i think even 4 weeks on start and end is an even better gauge how long theyll take from 12/12 flip..... they easy at least go 14 weeks under my 600w HID , very slow onset of trichome changing once buds have stopped growing.

i think they are okay because i don't see any fox tails that i know of i do see some heat stress going on but really not much i can do i have to run a shit load of AC's just to drop my temps. next time i think im going to run my plants on flowering at night. i think i get my time mixed up because i look at the buds and they look fat but then i look at the pistils and then they start turning all orange so mentally im thinking they are ready when really they only been flowering for like 4 weeks ( not even including the stretch phase that would be about 7 weeks total )

im going to go back to my log though and dig up some dirt see when i actually started seeing the flowers form and try to count based off that so i have a general idea of when to expect them to be done i think towards the end of this month though or at least early next month.

 

[Logan Burke]

I've always use trichomes are my primary yard stick of determining ripeness. While buds can continue to throw out new trichomes the same as they can produce new hairs, I still feel like going off of trichomes alone removes some of the guess work from the equation.

 

[Lethidox]

I've always use trichomes are my primary yard stick of determining ripeness. While buds can continue to throw out new trichomes the same as they can produce new hairs, I still feel like going off of trichomes alone removes some of the guess work from the equation.

yea i go off trichomes now but apparently i am checking them too early and have been checking them wrong. i been checking them on the sugar leaves and not the actual buds

 

[CptBluemax]

make sure youve either got a hygrometer in there for general temps and humidity sitting on a pot or something , really recommend the little laser ones as well , really good for checking canopy and where ever in a flash really.

Gotta check those trichs on the nugs for sure man , I usually check main cola top and bottm , middle nug and bottom nug , gives you a good idea.

 

[Logan Burke]

yea i go off trichomes now but apparently i am checking them too early and have been checking them wrong. i been checking them on the sugar leaves and not the actual buds

I had read somewhere here on RIU that the trichomes on the leaves mature more quickly than the trichomes on the buds, hence if you go off of them you may harvest before the trichs on the buds are ripe...but, hey at least now you know