Trichomes & Harvesting

Yet another well articulated and scientifically supported post by K0ijn. +rep.

I have 18 bananarama (sativa dominant hybrid) in flower now. 65 days from pre-flowers will be Christmas Day. Merry Christmas to me best present I could have asked for... Though it won't be till atleast the end of Jan till I'm smoking them.

I'm utilizing a 40x loop, 60-100x microscope, and my 16.4 MP digital camera to keep an eye on my trichs. I would say I'm about 40/60 clear/cloudy right now. No sign of ambers yet. At first sign of amber trichs I plan to harvest thanks to the info provided in this thread. I will upload some pics later when I get home.

Side note to k0ijn:
thank you for your scientific approach to growing and your willingness to share your research with the RIU community. I know scientific research regarding floral biology in cannibis is not always easy to find. And as an attorney in CA I'm not easily swayed by opinions and suggestions. I look for facts and utilize analytical reasoning when it comes to my grow, thus I've found many of your posts to be insightful and helpful.

Recently I've been arguing with my wife over the pre-harvest flush and 48 hour dark before harvest because one of her friends told her we would have chemical tasting buds without it. And she's worried about me ruining the whole run by not flushing. I keep telling her they are stoner myths that science does not support and that taste comes from a good/slow dry and cure. And thanks to one of your post regarding pre-harvest flush I was able to convince her otherwise by utilizing the scientifically sound reasoning you provided. (Namely storage in leafs and mobile and immobile nutes needed for metobiloc processes within the plant which when taken into consideration tells you flushing is clearly not good for the plants especially at the point of peak production.) Thanks!

I will not be flushing. So I've ran a low EC throughout flower with a weekly flush before res-change to cut back on any salt build up since I use veg+bloom 1 part powder nutes.

aurora stardust said:

Thanks k0ijn. The initial high humidity was due to the harvest being fresh. The humidity has been dropping steadily every day, and now it's about the low 60s in the day time and high 60s in the night. It's pretty much the same as the rest of the room at the moment. I think this means it's almost ready for curing. I didn't get huge colas, so the drying time I assume would not take as long. Not that I'm rushing, I'm more than happy to just let them keep hanging there.

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Alright, well it sounds like the weed escaped the mold danger.
I hope it's all still going to plan.

TheEvilBanana said:

Yet another well articulated and scientifically supported post by K0ijn. +rep.

I have 18 bananarama (sativa dominant hybrid) in flower now. 65 days from pre-flowers will be Christmas Day. Merry Christmas to me best present I could have asked for... Though it won't be till atleast the end of Jan till I'm smoking them.

I'm utilizing a 40x loop, 60-100x microscope, and my 16.4 MP digital camera to keep an eye on my trichs. I would say I'm about 40/60 clear/cloudy right now. No sign of ambers yet. At first sign of amber trichs I plan to harvest thanks to the info provided in this thread. I will upload some pics later when I get home.

Side note to k0ijn:
thank you for your scientific approach to growing and your willingness to share your research with the RIU community. I know scientific research regarding floral biology in cannibis is not always easy to find. And as an attorney in CA I'm not easily swayed by opinions and suggestions. I look for facts and utilize analytical reasoning when it comes to my grow, thus I've found many of your posts to be insightful and helpful.

Recently I've been arguing with my wife over the pre-harvest flush and 48 hour dark before harvest because one of her friends told her we would have chemical tasting buds without it. And she's worried about me ruining the whole run by not flushing. I keep telling her they are stoner myths that science does not support and that taste comes from a good/slow dry and cure. And thanks to one of your post regarding pre-harvest flush I was able to convince her otherwise by utilizing the scientifically sound reasoning you provided. (Namely storage in leafs and mobile and immobile nutes needed for metobiloc processes within the plant which when taken into consideration tells you flushing is clearly not good for the plants especially at the point of peak production.) Thanks!

I will not be flushing. So I've ran a low EC throughout flower with a weekly flush before res-change to cut back on any salt build up since I use veg+bloom 1 part powder nutes.

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Thank you very much for your kind words.
Sounds like you got a proper Sativa grow going, I'm getting a bit jealous (my new tent grow is getting setup over the holiday).

Sounds like you've got the grow under control, with 60/40 you still got a bit of a journey left on those calyxes, but it shouldn't be too long.

Flattering words again, though I must stress that it's not my personal research, I'm not equipped nor knowledgeable enough to perform proper molecular scientific research.
I do get what you meant though, it is my research and my own writing but some people like to twist words and take things out of context, so to put those troglodytes down in advance, I felt it must be mentioned.
But I do take my time to sniff out and attain proper scientifically backed research which I base most of my writing on.
I try to focus on the science as much as possible and I hope it shows in my work.

It is indeed very hard to find the proper peer reviewed research, which might be why many people simply choose to make theories up on the spot or cling on to age old disproved myths.
I can tell that you do a fair amount of critical & analytic thinking, it comes across in your posts, it's the kind of posts I enjoy reading and replying to the most, I always feel both parties get most out of it if they both exercise proper reasoning and presentation.
I'm glad you find my posts helpful, some people take offense to my writing and others wave it off as scientific wishful thinking (which is kind of ironic), so it's satisfying to see that people actually do get something from my (horrendously) long posts.

You're welcome, I'm glad you convinced the missus, it would be a shame to cause a deficiency and possibly lower the potential yield and effect of the final product of your harvest.
It's honestly heartwarming to know that my reasoning actually promoted scientific understanding, I couldn't ask for more.
Now just don't mess up the dry & cure or I will get a bollocking


I wish you all the best with your grow, don't hesitate to ask if you have questions, and thank you once again for your kind words

how powerfull of a magnifying glass or micoscope do you need?

k0ijn said:

Alright, well it sounds like the weed escaped the mold danger.
I hope it's all still going to plan.

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I think it is... Since it's so humid here (60-82%, with temperatures of 26-32C), I think I might let it dry 8-10 days without it getting too dry for curing. That's another 1-3 days more. What do you think? Is that too much or should I let it dry even longer?

Hey guys. This is my first grow and I'm close to harvest most pistols have turned red and orange and some of the leaves are yellowing and falling off. I have a scope and to me they look mostly milky with a few amber but I'm only on day 50. My grower friend who I got the strain from( black domina) says it should take about 60-65 days I have pictures of the plant and the trics. Just need a more experienced growers opinion

Here's a few more pics of the trics

would appreciate your input. 4th crop using CFL and a bit of window light a couple of hours a day. think I have been harvesting a bit early. I've actually extended this one 2 weeks longer than I have been.

roachfinder said:

how powerfull of a magnifying glass or micoscope do you need?

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60x-100x is best.

aurora stardust said:

I think it is... Since it's so humid here (60-82%, with temperatures of 26-32C), I think I might let it dry 8-10 days without it getting too dry for curing. That's another 1-3 days more. What do you think? Is that too much or should I let it dry even longer?

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I assume you've already completed the dry since it's been 4 days since the post you made.
But since you have such high RH levels I would let it dry longer than most, you need to be sure that the buds hover around 60-65% RH so you get a proper cure and also eliminate the chances of mold developing.

Purpsdro420 said:

Hey guys. This is my first grow and I'm close to harvest most pistols have turned red and orange and some of the leaves are yellowing and falling off. I have a scope and to me they look mostly milky with a few amber but I'm only on day 50. My grower friend who I got the strain from( black domina) says it should take about 60-65 days I have pictures of the plant and the trics. Just need a more experienced growers opinion

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I see quite a few clear trichomes, a few amber and a few cloudy.
I would estimate anything from 2 weeks - 3 weeks left.
Don't go with what the seed guy says, no plant follows a prescribed grow period.
You should always judge the plant and go by what the plant tells you (read first post of the thread for info).

AmIhighYet said:

would appreciate your input. 4th crop using CFL and a bit of window light a couple of hours a day. think I have been harvesting a bit early. I've actually extended this one 2 weeks longer than I have been.View attachment 2450879View attachment 2450885

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It's very hard to see anything in those pictures.
Too light magnification to see trichomes and too high magnification (centering) to see the calyxes as a whole.
Of what I can see it looks like you might have some foxtailing, could you possibly take some sections pictures (calyxes top & bottom full view) and some overall plant pictures?

k0ijn said:

I assume you've already completed the dry since it's been 4 days since the post you made.
But since you have such high RH levels I would let it dry longer than most, you need to be sure that the buds hover around 60-65% RH so you get a proper cure and also eliminate the chances of mold developing.

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Yes, I have. I didn't want to let them get too dry before the cure. They are now curing in a few glass jars. Love having a whiff each time I air the jars. The harvest was a very light 31g dry. Everything else is wonderful though. Aroma, flavour, smoothness, and potency.

ok I just got a microscope, and i took a leap torwards th top and i saw a bunch of clear trichomes, and a bunch a amber trichomes everywhere but no cloudy trichomes. just mostly clear ones. does anyone know whats going on?? oh yea there are still a decent amount of whit pistols...but the calyxes are kinda big too...

leaf torwards the top*

how much longer for the first plant. its about 10 weeks into flowering. there are a decent amount of amber trichs and clear and cloudy ones

aurora stardust said:

Yes, I have. I didn't want to let them get too dry before the cure. They are now curing in a few glass jars. Love having a whiff each time I air the jars. The harvest was a very light 31g dry. Everything else is wonderful though. Aroma, flavour, smoothness, and potency.

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Good to hear that it's all going well, it's a fair amount for a first harvest I'd say.
Especially since the harvest, dry and cure is done properly so you will get the full effect of the strain.

roachfinder said:

ok I just got a microscope, and i took a leap torwards th top and i saw a bunch of clear trichomes, and a bunch a amber trichomes everywhere but no cloudy trichomes. just mostly clear ones. does anyone know whats going on?? oh yea there are still a decent amount of whit pistols...but the calyxes are kinda big too...

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What light did you grow this under?
I'm sorry but the plants looks very airy in the first, third and fourth pictures, I can hardly see any calyxes apart from the main calyx on the 2nd picture, everything else looks like bunches of pistil groups.

If it's been flowering for 10 weeks then it is all you're going to get, I'm afraid there's no way of correcting the end result.
You might get some weed out of the plant in the second picture but it looks like the plants are under stress and with the trichomes being like you've said I don't think you'll get much out of the weed.

This is an excellent Thread! I've done enough research on growing MJ, that my fingers have almost fallen off from typing! LOL Your approach, detailed information, and advice are balanced to give a grower an optimum harvest. The 3 girls in my grow are about to come down, so I decided to do a "Refresher" and found your great Thread on the subject of Trichomes.

I'm not a long time grower, but I'm very quick to learn and do things right the first time. My first grow did have some challenges, but the finished product blew people away! My wife gave me an A++ and she says this current grow is even better!

I'm sure you have covered this subject, but proper light penetration is critical for good Trichome/Bud development. Indoor grows suffer from lack of light because of space limitation, and making sure that as many buds as possible receive adequate light is crucial for a solid, potent grow. This is the main reason you see weak or struggling buds on the lower branches, and, poor light can cause a plant to mature in a very uneven fashion.

I’ve also noticed that my eyes are becoming familiar with how a plant looks before harvest, without the use of a magnifying glass. Like you and others have mentioned, there are more signs that a plant is ready besides just the tint of the Trichs. Strain, color of leaves, swollen calyxes are just some of the other things to watch.

Maybe you could say something about this one thing I’ve noticed; water absorption begins to decrease towards the end of a plants cycle.

Guitar Man said:

This is an excellent Thread! I've done enough research on growing MJ, that my fingers have almost fallen off from typing! LOL Your approach, detailed information, and advice are balanced to give a grower an optimum harvest. The 3 girls in my grow are about to come down, so I decided to do a "Refresher" and found your great Thread on the subject of Trichomes.

I'm not a long time grower, but I'm very quick to learn and do things right the first time. My first grow did have some challenges, but the finished product blew people away! My wife gave me an A++ and she says this current grow is even better!

I'm sure you have covered this subject, but proper light penetration is critical for good Trichome/Bud development. Indoor grows suffer from lack of light because of space limitation, and making sure that as many buds as possible receive adequate light is crucial for a solid, potent grow. This is the main reason you see weak or struggling buds on the lower branches, and, poor light can cause a plant to mature in a very uneven fashion.

I’ve also noticed that my eyes are becoming familiar with how a plant looks before harvest, without the use of a magnifying glass. Like you and others have mentioned, there are more signs that a plant is ready besides just the tint of the Trichs. Strain, color of leaves, swollen calyxes are just some of the other things to watch.

Maybe you could say something about this one thing I’ve noticed; water absorption begins to decrease towards the end of a plants cycle.

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I'm glad you found it helpful

Hopefully your next harvest will be even better than the previous!

I'm not sure exactly what you mean about the decrease in water absorption.
I haven't spotted this myself, in fact my plants usually get more 'hungry' the older they get.