I always harvest early. Help.

Hey guys I always look at my plants by the end of the 5 week mark (switch to 12/12 on the 19th of August) and think they're ready. I harvest in fear of mould. There's amber all over the leaf. But not the buds. As you can see. And most if not all the hairs on the top crowns are all red and shrivelled. I know there's not many if any plants completely ready by 5 weeks. So what's happening here? Should I just stop going off the hairs as I could have a environmental factor causing them to turn early. Like a strong fan?
My buds are never as fat as I feel the strain could potentially do
Here's some pics. I always run fast finishing hybrids.

Peyote alexia said:

amber all over the leaf

Click to expand...

Doesn't count.
2 more week anyway.

Snap all the dead/yellow off . There just taking up light now and wasting plants energy.

Anytime when you think it’s done wait 2 weeks. Or get you a jewelers magnifying glass and look for cloudy trichs.

Your hairs are still stand straight up. I would wait to see if you get another burst of buds.

Chears guys. I did a small test. (Needed perso anyway) and I cut 1 of my 2 galaxy clones. The one I harvested was the biggest and had better light. So if this one goes anywhere near the outcome with an extra cpl weeks. Then I know its worth it. As that's almost 30-50% gain

5 weeks? How long you gonna dry and cure?

The pistils will curl back and the buds will swell. I'd guess at least 2 weeks. Here's a helpful thread about it.

https://www.rollitup.org/t/are-they-done-yet-what-does-done-look-like.853978/

Powertech said:

5 weeks? How long you gonna dry and cure?

Click to expand...

I just sit it on newspaper in a room with airflow. Depends. It was rainy the first few days. But today was dry and 32c so probably 7-10 days



Thanks guys I'll keep them baking

Here's a update at the end of the 6week mark

Sorry about the added blurple. But aren't they ripening nicely. I pulled the last lot of yellow leaves of. Seems this plant has more again. It looks killer

wait a few more weeks man. Looking nice!

Thanks @Nizza here's a update

looking nice buddy!! You're still feeding it right? But just slowly adding less ferts?

You still want to be giving it nutrients all the way until chop and save a bunch by weening off. It already looks like the plants been eating itself which is a good sign that you havent been over fertilizing.

When do you chop? I always chop a half hour or so before lights ON. This is a big debate but its what I do.

I bet your itching to cut it down. When you get that feeling just tell yourself eh one or two more weeks

when you get to that 2 weeks later check em out again. A fun experiment if you cant wait and have room to dry this somewhere else is cut off the top 1/2 of the plant, let the second half go for another 3 weeks you will be surprised what happens to nuggets when you actually let them mature with the type of high and how much extra weight you pull. The nugs get so dense. Also it allows you to drop the light to the buds underneath and they get that last kick from the plant . sometimes when i cut the plant in half I put aloe on the sever

visually you want to wait until those calyx's (hairs) Recede into the pistil and the pistil looks like its going to blow up. The plant at this point will be almost "dripping" with resin. That stuff looks nice and could keep going in my opinion.

excellent pictures dude. Also take breeders suggestion into account-- I usually add at least 2 weeks to this and count from 12/12

Try some pictures with no LED's on. perhaps under a light from your house (the brightest one)

be sure not to look at fan leaves for trichomes. I dont see any amber at all in the close up pic.
If you inspect the bud on bottom, mid, and top of the plant you take all that and decide when to chop. Some strains arent supposed to be harvested with amber and some are. That is something that comes with experience of that specific cut of that plant. Checking other peoples grow logs of similar strains is a good way to get a feel of when they are ready

Thanks @Nizza
Massive help bro!!! In the past these woulda been chopped by now for sure.
I used to check the leaves and they would be amber by now. Now I know why I never had those solid buds. I always pulled at max WK 6
I did harvest one plant already so it will show me the difference I already assume it will be night and day .
The 7-8 WK ones will be something else compared to the 5 week
And that should put me in my place. I see what you mean by the hairs receding. Like the pods eat them up when they swell. I'll wait for that. And amber.
For the last week I've fed them mainly pk with a tiny bit of base nutes. I thought each plant would have reserve salts to feed of. The peyotes all had no reserve. They yellowed straight away from lowering base from 1500ppm
The galaxy is still green as. It has a lot of leaves. So it must store nutrients for later a lot more so then peyote critical

if you have the space try the experiment with those 7-8 weekers. leave the bottom scraggly's on at least 1/3 of the plant and let it grow for another 1-3 weeks and that will help you experience what happens deeper into flower

I like this post the guy made about how he typically always runs his strains at least 10 weeks . The proof is in the pudding so you won't know what you're missing out on until you try it. at week 7-8 you will be like omg these look so dank and ready... but in another 1-2 weeks even more happens when she is finishing up

this will be a curveball for you too with what you're used to doing with nutrients, you are almost doubling the flowering time here, but going to have some real quality bud because you were patient .

if you stopped giving Nitrogen don't. you still need some right now..
my rule of thumb is as this~ others have different opinions..
3-1-2 ratio NPK roughly during veg
2-1-3 ratio NPK during flower.
Nitrogen is essential and people who tell you to stop using it are misled. The bloom boosters do help somewhat but you cant forget the basics