Are they ready to harvest?

matchgrip

matchgrip

Member
Hey guys!

I can't really be sure if I should harvest or not. I want to harvest before the trichomes go too much amber, I want the high high, not the stoned high. Here's some info:

I got two strains, Critical and White Widow (feminized, not autos)

This is the 54th day of flowering. I'm checking the trichomes with magnifier but can't be sure of what I see, lol. I'd say mostly it's in between cloudy and translucent, with some amber here and there.(i'd say 5% amber give or take)

Here are some photos, what do you guys think?

Thanks!!
 

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Nutty sKunK

Nutty sKunK

Well-Known Member
matchgrip said:
Hey guys!

I can't really be sure if I should harvest or not. I want to harvest before the trichomes go too much amber, I want the high high, not the stoned high. Here's some info:

I got two strains, Critical and White Widow (feminized, not autos)

This is the 54th day of flowering. I'm checking the trichomes with magnifier but can't be sure of what I see, lol. I'd say mostly it's in between cloudy and translucent, with some amber here and there.(i'd say 5% amber give or take)

Here are some photos, what do you guys think?

Thanks!!
Click to expand...
Are u checking the trichomes on the buds? Or leaves of the buds? The latter amber faster.

You could harvest now and you won’t be disappointed.

But to get the best out of them another 10-14 days I’d say.

Ive seen some post about it’s not the Trichomes colour that dictate the high but the strain itself. Not sure if that’s true never really dug into it.

All I can say from my experience is that harvesting a plant in multiple stages definitely altered the high. From racy, good balance to buzz then sleep.

Only one way to find out and that’s to try a sample bud.
 
xtsho

xtsho

Well-Known Member
People are getting too hung up on looking at the trichomes. One look at those buds and it's obvious they're not ready so checking trichomes at this point is a waste of time. Too many people get impatient, start scoping trichomes, see some amber, conclude the plant is ready, and harvest too early.

I don't even bother checking trichomes. Some strains will show amber early and some won't amber at all. Then there are other factors that can cause trichomes to turn amber when the plant still has weeks to go. Like many other things cannabis related that damn illustrated chart many go by that is floating around is not the holy grail on when to harvest. In fact it's responsible for much of the early harvesting going on.
 
matchgrip

matchgrip

Member
xtsho said:
People are getting too hung up on looking at the trichomes. One look at those buds and it's obvious they're not ready so checking trichomes at this point is a waste of time. Too many people get impatient, start scoping trichomes, see some amber, conclude the plant is ready, and harvest too early.

I don't even bother checking trichomes. Some strains will show amber early and some won't amber at all. Then there are other factors that can cause trichomes to turn amber when the plant still has weeks to go. Like many other things cannabis related that damn illustrated chart many go by that is floating around is not the holy grail on when to harvest. In fact it's responsible for much of the early harvesting going on.
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Hey thanks for the answer! How do you judge when to harvest then? I'd be interested to know.
 
xtsho

xtsho

Well-Known Member
matchgrip said:
Hey thanks for the answer! How do you judge when to harvest then? I'd be interested to know.
Click to expand...
I'm not saying that trichomes shouldn't be used but they're just one factor to consider. In the photos you posted the buds still have white pistils all over them and the calyx's really haven't started to swell. Nice looking flowers by the way. So that shows that they still have awhile to go before you should even bother checking trichomes. And when you do check the trichomes you want to check on the buds not the leaves. Also, different buds on the same plant can have trichomes at different stages.

And just like with trichomes, pistils are just one factor to consider. Some sativa's will just keep putting out new pistils even when the bud is basically ready to harvest. There really isn't a one size fits all. It's not just black and white. What I do with indica's and most hybrids is wait until all the pistils have changed and start to become enveloped in the calyx's as the buds swell and put on weight. I then wait about a week and chop. But I don't pay that much attention to it as I've been growing so long that it becomes second nature to just visually inspect the plant and decide when it's time to harvest.

Your plants look like they will still fatten up and put on more weight so letting them go a couple more weeks would be beneficial. Sure you can chop them now and they would get you high and be some good smoke. But if you wait they'll be much better once dried.
 
matchgrip

matchgrip

Member
xtsho said:
I'm not saying that trichomes shouldn't be used but they're just one factor to consider. In the photos you posted the buds still have white pistils all over them and the calyx's really haven't started to swell. Nice looking flowers by the way. So that shows that they still have awhile to go before you should even bother checking trichomes. And when you do check the trichomes you want to check on the buds not the leaves. Also, different buds on the same plant can have trichomes at different stages.

And just like with trichomes, pistils are just one factor to consider. Some sativa's will just keep putting out new pistils even when the bud is basically ready to harvest. There really isn't a one size fits all. It's not just black and white. What I do with indica's and most hybrids is wait until all the pistils have changed and start to become enveloped in the calyx's as the buds swell and put on weight. I then wait about a week and chop. But I don't pay that much attention to it as I've been growing so long that it becomes second nature to just visually inspect the plant and decide when it's time to harvest.

Your plants look like they will still fatten up and put on more weight so letting them go a couple more weeks would be beneficial. Sure you can chop them now and they would get you high and be some good smoke. But if you wait they'll be much better once dried.
Click to expand...
Nice! Thanks man, great information. This is my first growth and I pretty much also tried to stay away from forums and mostly just observe the plants on the way. Didn't measure ph or got different fertilizers and all the crazy formulas (I actually only used an all purpose tomato fertilizer with high N). And honestly they never got really hungry much. Only towards the end they got hungrier than usual. What I did was I got myself a lot of houseplants when I planted the seeds, so in those 4 months I spent a lot of time with plants in general. I've read a couple of books about agriculture and plant needs as well. All my plants seem to do pretty okay so far.

Hopefully after some cycles I'll get better at reading the I'm ready signs too :) Anyway, thanks again for the info. Cheers!
 
xtsho

xtsho

Well-Known Member
matchgrip said:
Nice! Thanks man, great information. This is my first growth and I pretty much also tried to stay away from forums and mostly just observe the plants on the way. Didn't measure ph or got different fertilizers and all the crazy formulas (I actually only used an all purpose tomato fertilizer with high N). And honestly they never got really hungry much. Only towards the end they got hungrier than usual. What I did was I got myself a lot of houseplants when I planted the seeds, so in those 4 months I spent a lot of time with plants in general. I've read a couple of books about agriculture and plant needs as well. All my plants seem to do pretty okay so far.

Hopefully after some cycles I'll get better at reading the I'm ready signs too :) Anyway, thanks again for the info. Cheers!
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This is your first grow? Are you being serious? If so then you nailed it. There are growers that have been growing for years that can't get the results you've achieved. There are also many new growers that skip learning the basics about plants in general and go straight to following some dude on youtube and end up with terrible results.

I've been saying for a long time that basic plant knowledge is invaluable. Cannabis is just another plant and doesn't need all the convoluted nonsense many people go through to grow it. But so many skip past the basics of growing a plant and go straight to a dozen bottles of this and that, overcomplicate things, and end up nowhere near what you've achieved. It's a really easy plant to grow. It looks like you don't need to change much if anything for your next grow.

Enjoy your harvest.
 
matchgrip

matchgrip

Member
xtsho said:
This is your first grow? Are you being serious? If so then you nailed it. There are growers that have been growing for years that can't get the results you've achieved. There are also many new growers that skip learning the basics about plants in general and go straight to following some dude on youtube and end up with terrible results.

I've been saying for a long time that basic plant knowledge is invaluable. Cannabis is just another plant and doesn't need all the convoluted nonsense many people go through to grow it. But so many skip past the basics of growing a plant and go straight to a dozen bottles of this and that, overcomplicate things, and end up nowhere near what you've achieved. It's a really easy plant to grow. It looks like you don't need to change much if anything for your next grow.

Enjoy your harvest.
Click to expand...
Yeap, it's my first grow :) Sorry for the English mistakes, it's not my first language.

I remember also being extremely confused at the beginning and forums seem to just made me even more confused, treating this plant like it's a rocket science. If anyone's curious, it was Uncle Ben's posts that made me realize where to put my focus. I don't know him and honestly he seems like someone I wouldn't like to be friends(lol) but he seemed different from the crowd as he approached this from the agricultural standpoint, not from the "mj grow forum" standpoint.

I used his method of topping to get 4 main colas and that's basically the only training I used. Which is pretty simple, you just wait until the plant has a good root system and then top it above the second true node.

Here's the link in case someone would like to read and try it. It helped me a lot and made things easier.

Uncle Ben's Topping Technique to Get 2 or 4 Main Colas

Howdy! Based on quite a few questions about topping I've received here: https://www.rollitup.org/general-marijuana-growing/13820-fimming-topping-101-a-12.html I decided to reproduce a thread on my favorite topping method published at cann.com about 10 years ago. Even though I've got much better...
www.rollitup.org
 
xtsho

xtsho

Well-Known Member
matchgrip said:
Yeap, it's my first grow :) Sorry for the English mistakes, it's not my first language.

I remember also being extremely confused at the beginning and forums seem to just made me even more confused, treating this plant like it's a rocket science. If anyone's curious, it was Uncle Ben's posts that made me realize where to put my focus. I don't know him and honestly he seems like someone I wouldn't like to be friends(lol) but he seemed different from the crowd as he approached this from the agricultural standpoint, not from the "mj grow forum" standpoint.

I used his method of topping to get 4 main colas and that's basically the only training I used. Which is pretty simple, you just wait until the plant has a good root system and then top it above the second true node.

Here's the link in case someone would like to read and try it. It helped me a lot and made things easier.

Uncle Ben's Topping Technique to Get 2 or 4 Main Colas

Howdy! Based on quite a few questions about topping I've received here: https://www.rollitup.org/general-marijuana-growing/13820-fimming-topping-101-a-12.html I decided to reproduce a thread on my favorite topping method published at cann.com about 10 years ago. Even though I've got much better...
www.rollitup.org
Click to expand...
Yes Uncle Ben. I was reading his posts years before I created an account on this forum. He knew his stuff and I learned a lot from him. He's a big reason why I take the approach I do for growing cannabis. It doesn't have to be complicated and the same methods used to grow other plants work for cannabis. It's just a plant and grows like other plants. Much of the methodology I use comes from information gleaned from Uncle Ben's posts. Unfortunately his logic and wisdom could not compete with the broscience and shiny bottles that now dominate cannabis cultivation.

But lately I've started seeing a shift among many back towards the common sense approach to growing as more and more people seem to be realizing that they don't need all the overhyped products that are more marketing than science.
 
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