Yet another "is it ready to harvest?" thread

[PopeCrisco]

closing in on week 8 of flower on 2 red runtz and a hulkberry. My intuition tells me about another week would be best, but I am getting that itch to move to harvesting, and get my starters for my spring garden and my next run started by mid jan. this is my first grow - TIA

 

[medidedicated]

Looks mostly done for 8 weeks full which is cool. I hate waiting longer than 10 wks and after getting mold Im sketchy just chopping wk 9 regardless, its not very healthy. Flower smokers usually have a different approach many of them will let it go really long like 12 wks when Id say now or in the next 2 wks.

Im hash only though. I just look for most or all white hairs to be red. Lots of people do that too while others claim flavor, potency and yield increases if you let it go 4 more wks. Idk hope that helps Im in a chatty mood today.

 

[medidedicated]

Make sure the lowest nugs are as done looking as the top though as lots of strains will finish from top down. It can be misleading and infact is because its dependent on of course happy conditions but also how far up you lollipop.

 

[GreenGenez421]

Awww shit, looks like your just about done. Wait for the swell tho. The hairs will receed into the calyx once she swells with resin and becomes fully ripened. Looks to me like another week and you'll be golden. You could also keep her in the dark for the last 2-3 days and drop the temp as low as physically possible.

 

[Jjgrow420]

You could also keep her in the dark for the last 2-3 days and drop the temp as low as physically possible.

Could you explain the science behind leaving the plant in the dark for 2-3 days and dropping the temp as 'low as possible'?
And how that would benefit anything?
Bro science!

 

[conor c]

Id say you got like two weeks left give or take

 

[GreenGenez421]

Could you explain the science behind leaving the plant in the dark for 2-3 days and dropping the temp as 'low as possible'?
And how that would benefit anything?
Bro science!

I think you've mistaken my statement. The plant wont magically ripen in the dark. Lmao, I'm pretty sure light is still required for metabolic process and ripening is exactly that.

Cold temps have been shown to signal the plant that the end is near. More importantly it's a stressor, and that has been shown to trigger plants in pushing out a little extra resin in hopes of becoming pollinated.

The dark thing for 2-3 days, again this is a stressor, and isn't used to ripen. It's used after your ripe and ready to chop. Wait a couple more days and keep her in the dark, she'll push out more resin.

Bro science? Hmm, well mabey you can provide some clarification and real science?

 

[PopeCrisco]

just saw a bloom of fungus gnats while watering this morning. fun times.
this close to the end I am going to set chop date for xmas eve, and will flip lights off saturday morning. thanks everyone for their input!

 

[Jjgrow420]

I think you've mistaken my statement. The plant wont magically ripen in the dark. Lmao, I'm pretty sure light is still required for metabolic process and ripening is exactly that.

Cold temps have been shown to signal the plant that the end is near. More importantly it's a stressor, and that has been shown to trigger plants in pushing out a little extra resin in hopes of becoming pollinated.

The dark thing for 2-3 days, again this is a stressor, and isn't used to ripen. It's used after your ripe and ready to chop. Wait a couple more days and keep her in the dark, she'll push out more resin.

Bro science? Hmm, well mabey you can provide some clarification and real science?

Cold temps slow down the metabolic process so I can't understand how that would speed up ripening or push out more resin. Trichomes take weeks to develop and mature doing something for 2 or 3 days won't have an impact on anything. Especially if the plants are cold and not transpiring as much because they aren't in an ideal condition. In fact I would assume that the plant would reallocate its resources into trying to preserve itself and not die instead of putting that energy into budding/ripening. It's all bro science just like putting a nail into the bottom of the stem before harvest and that's somehow supposed to make your weed better? I've never heard of any farmer keeping any sort of crop cold and in the dark for days before harvest. That's more chance to stress your plants in a very negative way and get into issues like mold. It's just ridiculous things stoner bros made up and decided to spread that propaganda across the interwebs.

 

[GreenGenez421]

Cold temps slow down the metabolic process so I can't understand how that would speed up ripening or push out more resin. Trichomes take weeks to develop and mature doing something for 2 or 3 days won't have an impact on anything. Especially if the plants are cold and not transpiring as much because they aren't in an ideal condition. In fact I would assume that the plant would reallocate its resources into trying to preserve itself and not die instead of putting that energy into budding/ripening. It's all bro science just like putting a nail into the bottom of the stem before harvest and that's somehow supposed to make your weed better? I've never heard of any farmer keeping any sort of crop cold and in the dark for days before harvest. That's more chance to stress your plants in a very negative way and get into issues like mold. It's just ridiculous things stoner bros made up and decided to spread that propaganda across the interwebs.

I've heard about the nail before, lol, yeah that's just retarded. Never tried it myself nor cared to. And I do completely agree with you regarding temps being so cold that the plants no longer transpire, does slow down metabolic processes.
Yes, they will use stored reserves if they're not able to uptake from the roots, but I'm not talking about cold shocking the plants in near freezing temps when there's still weeks left until chop. That's silly and no doubt counter productive especially after all the time invested to get to the point of being in that harvest window.

Do you think that 60f and 30%RH is harmful or stalls the plants in the final days before chop?

Also I think every growers primary goal should be high brix plants, I personally obsess over it and test my values bi-weekly. But what's wrong with having a beautiful crop that's healthy, vigorously grown and fully ripened ready to chop... forcing the plant to use its stored glucose by dropping temps and RH and inhibiting its transpiration? You've already made it to harvest day which is why I advocate for the 2-3 days of complete dark. I have seen first hand that the trichome density increase with my own grows. Plus the terpene is better preserved in cold compared to warm. So when someone talks about their crop having higher quality and potency, it's not because there's a higher percentage of canabanoids, but rather higher terps. There's scientific proof that terpenes play a large role in the effects of canabinoids.

 

[Jjgrow420]

I've heard about the nail before, lol, yeah that's just retarded. Never tried it myself nor cared to. And I do completely agree with you regarding temps being so cold that the plants no longer transpire, does slow down metabolic processes.
Yes, they will use stored reserves if they're not able to uptake from the roots, but I'm not talking about cold shocking the plants in near freezing temps when there's still weeks left until chop. That's silly and no doubt counter productive especially after all the time invested to get to the point of being in that harvest window.

Do you think that 60f and 30%RH is harmful or stalls the plants in the final days before chop?

Also I think every growers primary goal should be high brix plants, I personally obsess over it and test my values bi-weekly. But what's wrong with having a beautiful crop that's healthy, vigorously grown and fully ripened ready to chop... forcing the plant to use its stored glucose by dropping temps and RH and inhibiting its transpiration? You've already made it to harvest day which is why I advocate for the 2-3 days of complete dark. I have seen first hand that the trichome density increase with my own grows. Plus the terpene is better preserved in cold compared to warm. So when someone talks about their crop having higher quality and potency, it's not because there's a higher percentage of canabanoids, but rather higher terps. There's scientific proof that terpenes play a large role in the effects of canabinoids.

Ok. You have some fair points. I do think 60 is a bit cold... But I've been known to keep semi cooler temps after about week 5 of flower and drop temps and light level slightly during the last week yes to preserve terpenes. I do not believe it has any impact on resin or trichome production tho. Personally I use 10k lamps on the last 2 -3 weeks when running CMH and I run uv/ir bars with my LEDs the entire grow. That's the kind of POS stress you want to add to increase trichome production imo.