Scope! It's the ONLY way to go.
Why waste sooooo much time just to chop early? A plant can pack on 25% of it's total weight it's last week of life-chopping even a few days too soon can cause a difference in yeild and potency.
If I'm growing a new strain I'll harvest in stages- I use my scope but harvest 1/3 of the plant a little early, then another 1/3 when I think it's done, then a 1/3 5 days to a week after that.
I find that the scope is a tool and harvest time depends on the grower. Most say 75%cloudy and 25% amber and it's good to go, at it's most ripe. Amber is degraded THC, but I find certain strains I like the trichs to be 60/40 or even very little amber. It's all in the details and what you prefer.
You definitely don't want to harvest early, and the scope makes sure that doesn't happen- if you see a lot of clear trichs then it needs more time. Hope this helps.
ALSO, check plants in multiple spots a few times a week with the scope to discover any type of pest or disease as early as possible and take immediate action.
SPIDER MITES: Neem is good, if that's ineffective try Sevin it's some good stuff- kills tons of pests and can be used on edible fruits and vegtables till day of harvest. I know it seams worse then neem but it's more effective and I've personally seen it save crops with no noticable effect to final product(and I am very picky, I knew they were sprayed and it was in the back of my mind, but I honestly couldn't tell the difference and completely forgot about it) You can get it at almost any hardware store. If it's between choping or spraying, i'm spraying : ) Do it IMMEDIATELY after your lights turn off(seriously, stand there and wait for them to go off then spray them, don't go in 'a couple' mins after lights have been off), you don't want to spray anything with the lights on.
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