Milky / amber and time of day to harvest

So my mom is very old school. Doesn't like to change anything. She swears harvesting at midnight is way better then under direct sun. She also uses hair color to determine ripeness. Everyone's goal is 100% milky trich heads right? She never goes by trich color.

The trichs are where its at.

50/50 milky and amber trikes. also harvesting in the dark is better. that is when the THC is being created, and u are drying in dark as well so just keep it dark and it will continue to produce thc until fully dried

jdmcwestevo said:

50/50 milky and amber trikes. also harvesting in the dark is better. that is when the THC is being created, and u are drying in dark as well so just keep it dark and it will continue to produce thc until fully dried

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now this is info i can fully understand and very useful for best results i'm thinking ..... many thanks jdmc... dont know if i'll be saying that while tripping and falling all over my plants in the dead of night though!

troutie said:

now this is info i can fully understand and very useful for best results i'm thinking ..... many thanks jdmc... dont know if i'll be saying that while tripping and falling all over my plants in the dead of night though!

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get green party lights the plants reflect green light (why they are green ) so u can see and it wont interupt the photocycle.....

PS
I"m a GOD for a reason haa

I don't go by trich color either, that doesn't really apply as much outdoors as it does indoors... I've waited an extra week outdoors and teh trichs still didn't turn from mostly white. there were a few ambers in here every now and then, but somethig tells me that doesn't demonstrate maturity.

the /look/ of the bud does definitely demonstrate maturity... it goes from looking like it's growing to lookig /done/.... fdd has a thread in harvesting and curing that demonstrates this concept exactly...

I stopped harvesting by trichombs 3 years ago, I've been MUCH happier ever since...

https://www.rollitup.org/harvesting-curing/28072-harvest-time-tutorial.html

Okay, so no one has asked the obvious; your mom? You and your mom are growing weed? How old are you and how old is she, and I'm not poking fun, I'm just amazed. I think it's cool.

asafan69 said:

Okay, so no one has asked the obvious; your mom? You and your mom are growing weed? How old are you and how old is she, and I'm not poking fun, I'm just amazed. I think it's cool.

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same thing with me until I took over the grow because she's in too much pain.

In my experience, pistil appearance can vary depending on environmental factors, thus making it unreliable at gauging maturity. Like stated above, the best way to truly tell the plant has completed its life cycle is by direct observation of the meristems. Trich "ripeness" will allow you to hone the overall effect to some degree, but I personally wouldn't say it determines if there will be any benefit (particularly increased yeild) to letting the plant grow for a little longer. When the tips of the lower horizontal meristematic areas stop producing new calyxes, you can be pretty sure the plant is ready for harvest. At that point, the main colas are usually 50-75% cloudy-amber, and the secondary colas are usually 50-50 cloudy-amber.

With that being said, my father and even grandfather had different means of gauging maturity. And I was never able to truly convince them otherwise. That is just how things are, I guess.
I for one, am going to try to be more open to change when I am rounding that last proverbial "bend". I hope....

Everyone's goal is 100% milky trich heads right?

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YES. that IS the goal. and this is the reason. http://www.weedguru.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=26638

Read that whole post. and tell your mom to read it.

people have to learn that what you did 25 years ago, is probably irrelevant now. the science and tech have moves so far beyond those people that they are still smoking the same, 1/2 assed meds as before.

dont cut corners, dont try anything stupid, and stick to the KNOWN tactics. you will have a good harvest

Trich "ripeness" will allow you to hone the overall effect to some degree, but I personally wouldn't say it determines if there will be any benefit

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there is a MAJOR benefit. THC is only produced at the base of the head of the trichome, with a proper microscope and lighting you can see the cloudy THC forming inside the trichome. when you can visually SEE the THC forming you can harvest it at its ACTUAL peak.

also harvesting in the dark is better. that is when the THC is being created

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ACTUALY THC is created ONLY duering the DAY TIME. THC is produced as a result of UV/B contact with the trichome, there is no UV/B at night... so THC CAN'T be created at night. it literaly CAN NOT BE/

P.S: Just because you have trichomes, doesn;t mean you have lots of THC. THC makes up one small portion of thr trichome and you have to harvest it at exactly the right time to actualy get the THC content to be high.......

Corbat420 said:

there is a MAJOR benefit. THC is only produced at the base of the head of the trichome, with a proper microscope and lighting you can see the cloudy THC forming inside the trichome. when you can visually SEE the THC forming you can harvest it at its ACTUAL peak.

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If you didn't cut out what I put in parenthesis, it would be obvious that I was referring to the volume of yeild. Like I said above, I feel it is not a good indicator that your plant will or will not produce more calyxes = more weight. I stated that you could hone effect by trich maturity, which is what you so graciously restated.

I stated that you could hone effect by trich maturity, which is what you so graciously restated.

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realy? putting words in my mouth now.

Calyxes=more weight, yes but thats not the only benefit that comes from harvesting. weight doesn;t mean anything if its weak ass bud. when you have to smoke an 1/8th to get off, is it even worth it?

What i said what you can not judge true "ripness" on the look on the BUD. you NEED a microscope to examine the THRICHOME RIPENESS, which is what we are talking about on this thread...... when the best time is, day or night.

i ALSO stated you wrong because peak THC production happens at around 6~ PM on indica around september 20'th~ Outdoors..... on outdoor sativa its November, at around the same time..... When the UV/B light is at its PEAK, THC PEAKS.

visual spectrum light has LITTLE to do with THC production. our eyes dont see UV/B light. therefore you cant visualy tell from anything other than a MICROSCOPE the PEAK harvest of THC.

P.S. THC is Milky in color, when it oxadises it turns into CBD (amber color). 100% Milky=100% THC. the plant doesn't have to be growing for the THC to degrade...... if you cure it for a year they all turn amber.....

Interesting information on appearance of THC/CBD. I will have to read up on that, as I was under a different impression.
And no, not putting words in your mouth... ???
Thanks!

High times is claiming 100% milky. Amber means the thc is degraded to cbd to give off a fake high. I understand that it's probably personal preference but I don't have a preference as I don't know. Maybe I'll do some of my plants all milky and some with 50/50 milky/amber. I took a few popcorn buds from the bottom a week ago and I was stoned from them. One bowl was enough.

jdmcwestevo said:

50/50 milky and amber trikes. also harvesting in the dark is better. that is when the THC is being created, and u are drying in dark as well so just keep it dark and it will continue to produce thc until fully dried

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man, i would have never known that! thanks for that info (for all whom read it).

TwistedGenetics said:

Interesting information on appearance of THC/CBD. I will have to read up on that, as I was under a different impression.
And no, not putting words in your mouth... ???
Thanks!

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didn't wana spread any hate, just wanted to get it straight

Moteasah said:

High times is claiming 100% milky. Amber means the thc is degraded to cbd to give off a fake high. I understand that it's probably personal preference but I don't have a preference as I don't know. Maybe I'll do some of my plants all milky and some with 50/50 milky/amber. I took a few popcorn buds from the bottom a week ago and I was stoned from them. One bowl was enough.

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http://www.greenmanspage.com/guides/thc.html this is a good link explaining the Science behind it.

High Times isn;t the only people saying 100% milky = peak THC content. all you have to do is get a polarizing microscope ($500 to buy a cheap one, or just use one at a college...take a slide of "plant matter" and examine the cell structure) when you look at a trichome, the large ones have 8-14 cell stems which peak in a 5-7 cell head. the THC is produced by the breakdown of certain cells within the trichome.

100% milky sounds legit to me as all my experience truly /ripe/ plants had almost no amber trichomes on the buds and probably 50/50 on the leaves. totally agreed.

It's just odd cause three of my six are 100% milky with about 75% of hairs red/brown but I'm roughly 6 weeks into flowering. Headband x2 and Lemon OG Kush x1. Pistols on July 18th if someone else can check my math.