Is it ready yet???

Hi all, this is what I would call my first proper grow.
It's UK Cheese I think and it's now 4 days away from being on 12/12 for 8 weeks.
I've been flushing with plain water for the past 5 days.

From all the stuff I've read it looks like it's very near ready to harvest now but I don't have a microscope to check properly!

Judging from my pics what would you experienced guys say????

Should I cut it down now or should I wait till Saturday or beyond?

Many thanks

Id wait, cant tell cause you took pictures under HPS maybe you have a white balance to fix how yellow the pictures are? are your trichomes turning amber yet? if not then wait

it would be better to see the whole plant but the colas look nice and frosty with the extra growth on the buds....if you have really been flushing them for 5 days with clear water then you have initiated the end of life for the plant......I would chop away!

hahahaha....wait....chop.......

they don't look any where near ready imo.. they look way bomb, don't get me wrong, but they've easily got 2 plus weeks left on them, and probably closer to 3 or so imvho..

WOW man, my head is getting more blown......... lol

I thought cheese was an 8 week 12/12 plant. They are only about 20 inches high and there's just 2 of them but they are quite heavy with buds.

I'll try and get some better pics up in a few mins.

The Herbinator said:

WOW man, my head is getting more blown......... lol

I thought cheese was an 8 week 12/12 plant. They are only about 20 inches high and there's just 2 of them but they are quite heavy with buds.

I'll try and get some better pics up in a few mins.

Click to expand...

8 weeks is just a guesstimate like everything else.. also, where these grown from seed, or from clones? if they're from seed, you'd have to veg them until sexual maturity before flipping to flower for them to get any where near the 8 week mark imo.

Id feed them since you been flushing them. like N-P02-K2O5 90ppm-70ppm-140ppm

They were clone's of a mature female.

Should also of said that they are in soil.

Here's some more pics. I can't get the orange HPS colour totally off coz I'm not that good with my camera but I have used the flash this time to try get things looking a little better.

yeah that's a bit better, still say they have more then a week of flowering before you should flush them.

Ok, being as the most say leave it for a couple of weeks I will start feeding again in the morning.

How long should I flush for as they are in soil?
I have read that it should be for the last 10 days in soil and the last 3-4 days in hydro. Is this correct?

Sorry for all the questions, it's just a bit exciting getting near the end and I don't wanna mess it up when I'm this close.

Next time turn OFF the HPS to take the pictures and you won't have any color trouble.

I'm with racer on this one. 2-3 weeks till the actual cutting. Restart a prudent feeding and return to wash in 10 days.
The end quality of our chosen plant will be at the peak around 1 1/2 -2 weeks longer then stated by the seed company.

Flushing is sort of a preference when it comes to soil. I guess that depends on what type of soil and ferts you're using. In hydro, flushing is mainly used to take care of salt build up.

There are many who believe cutting off nutrients towards the end of the cycle can reduce the bud swell, and some people continue lightly feeding only calcium and maybe one or two other individual things during their "flush" period. In fact, I've heard people talk about studies showing how important calcium is to final bud development (or trichome production, couldn't remember which). There seems to be varying opinions, so it's challenging to distinguish the best route.

However, if you're using chem ferts, would recommend flushing a bit just to be safe. Organic is a bit of a different story.
As far as duration goes... well. Who really knows this for certain? It depends on your soil drainage, nutrient uptake, how often you're watering, plant behavior, etc.... But 10 days sounds like a good place to start.

Also, when I say "people," I'm referring to users on RIU. :3

I don't know why people insist on not buying a 5 dollar microscope. Nobody on here will be able to give you an accurate estimate on if that bud is ready yet without being familiar with your particular pheno of UK cheese which is impossible to know. I've had strains that finished with all white pistils and strains that finished well after all the pistils had changed color. For all anyone knows on here right now could be the perfect point for harvest! If you absolutely refuse to get a microscope then i'd say wait a week then chop

Thank you everyone for your input.
I will be getting a mini scope in the next few days, I guess I didn't realize how important it was to get one until now!

Look to the trichomes brother.

UncleReemis said:

Look to the trichomes brother.

Click to expand...

Damn UncleReemis i just watched your movie the other day..

Mindmelted said:

Damn UncleReemis i just watched your movie the other day..

Click to expand...

Quite strange isn't it?

I feel like I need to change my name to Reemus instead, since when I was spelling it out I wasn't thinking about the movie.