When to harvest plants?

ntg908

Well-Known Member
You don’t have to look. It’s personal preference.

Scoping before your plant looks ready from the outside is just more confusing
Gotcha....Im sorry if i come out ugly just ive ALWAYS been told the trichomes determine it 100%....you know the whole clear to cloudy to amber and pull at 10% amber. I thought that was the one and only way to tell when your ready. I need to open my mind up to new methods i guess a little more. Im just trying to get better ya know
 

UncleFat-Nug

Active Member
I dont have a plant anywhere near ready right now, people are telling me im dumb for saying that you need to pay attention to trichomes to harvest. People are telling me to ignore them entirley...and me working in the cannabis industry for years working with labs and such tells me thats false. I cant find a single website that DOESNT say to look at trichomes. Just wanted to get some other peoples 2 cents
I personally look at trichomes. From my experience if my trichomes are still clear and not milked up. The plant still has potential to keep fattening up for a heaver yield. I have harvested not looking at trichomes but based my harvest on weeks and next grow i watched until they where milked up was like night and day with the quality and overall quality of the smoke,smell and yield! Again just my opinion, Happy Growing!
 

ntg908

Well-Known Member
I personally look at trichomes. From my experience if my trichomes are still clear and not milked up. The plant still has potential to keep fattening up for a heaver yield. I have harvested not looking at trichomes but based my harvest on weeks and next grow i watched until they where milked up was like night and day with the quality and overall quality of the smoke,smell and yield! Again just my opinion, Happy Growing!
Thats what ive been doing, also heard that clear trichomes will be more sativa feeling and amber more indica feeling, and when i have pulled at about 10-15% it seems a nice high to me. Thanks for your input!
 

ntg908

Well-Known Member
We all are.

it just seemed odd you asked a question that you already answered in another post.
Talking about my "google" comment on that other thread? That is what sparked this whole thread. Im not trying to be mean but the answers that guy was giving me werent even asnwers, he was just telling me im wrong and wouldnt tell me the specifics on why, which is why i wanted to ask some other people theyre personal choices
 

ntg908

Well-Known Member
Maybe you didn’t seem open to others opinions. It was the same feeling I got from you as well.
Im sorry i come across that way, i didnt mean it as that at all. Just trying to pick peoples brains and figure out why they do things the way we do. I really do apologize
 

ntg908

Well-Known Member
Some strain dont even amber at all, swollen calyx can sometime also play a part in quantifying if a plant is ripe.
RIGHT always gotta look at the calyx. I guess im just coming off as a dickhead to people for expressing the importance of trichomes but i really shouldnt be, everyones got their own process.
 

Thundercat

Well-Known Member
Well here is the info I share with all the new growers trying to fully understand when their plant will be properly finished and ripe.

Before even thinking about harvesting take a look at this and see if your plant is actually showing you all these signs.


The signs of ripeness are pretty standard.

First a few of the pistils begin turning color and start receding. Your plant is just starting to ripen. Depending on the strain you could still have two months to go. We're just starting this journey.

Two to four weeks later you'll notice that most of the pistils(>80%) have now changed color and curled back into the bud. It's frosty, way bigger than it was a few weeks ago, and smells dank! It's time, right? Not a chance killer. Patience is a virtue

Over the next 2-3 weeks it doesn't look much different, maybe a little more swelling in the calyxes, and the rest of the pistils change over, but the stems are starting to bend under the weight of the buds. These ladies are putting on weight and now the buds are doing their final ripening.

Now you begin looking at trichomes on the calyx, not leaves, and harvest according to your preference. When looking at trichomes it’s essential to look at them from the side. The bulbous heads can magnify the opaque stalk under it. Looking from the side allows you to more accurately see the condition of the resin in the trichome head.

There is still no rush to harvest, the window just opened, and you have several weeks before you MIGHT start having to think about it possibly beginning to get too ripe. It takes WEEKS for plants to mature not days.

It is very easy to harvest a plant too early. It is very hard to harvest a plant too late. I’ve never seen someone accidentally wait too long.
 

ntg908

Well-Known Member
Well here is the info I share with all the new growers trying to fully understand when their plant will be properly finished and ripe.

Before even thinking about harvesting take a look at this and see if your plant is actually showing you all these signs.


The signs of ripeness are pretty standard.

First a few of the pistils begin turning color and start receding. Your plant is just starting to ripen. Depending on the strain you could still have two months to go. We're just starting this journey.

Two to four weeks later you'll notice that most of the pistils(>80%) have now changed color and curled back into the bud. It's frosty, way bigger than it was a few weeks ago, and smells dank! It's time, right? Not a chance killer. Patience is a virtue

Over the next 2-3 weeks it doesn't look much different, maybe a little more swelling in the calyxes, and the rest of the pistils change over, but the stems are starting to bend under the weight of the buds. These ladies are putting on weight and now the buds are doing their final ripening.

Now you begin looking at trichomes on the calyx, not leaves, and harvest according to your preference. When looking at trichomes it’s essential to look at them from the side. The bulbous heads can magnify the opaque stalk under it. Looking from the side allows you to more accurately see the condition of the resin in the trichome head.

There is still no rush to harvest, the window just opened, and you have several weeks before you MIGHT start having to think about it possibly beginning to get too ripe. It takes WEEKS for plants to mature not days.

It is very easy to harvest a plant too early. It is very hard to harvest a plant too late. I’ve never seen someone accidentally wait too long.
Thank you so much. That helps me a ton.
 

jondamon

Well-Known Member
also heard that clear trichomes will be more sativa feeling and amber more indica feeling

not correct either I’m afraid. Harvesting early an Indica known for being a strong body stone will not make it become and energetic sativa just because the Trichomes were clear.

harvesting early in my experience reduces the amount of the strains effect, generally in the length of time the hit lasts for and how effectively it hits you.

similarly allowing a sativa to “Amber” if it did, wouldn’t turn it into an indica body stone high.
 

jambud

Member
So your saying amber trichomes are not decresing potency and terpenes? Because i lab test every bud i produce at my grows and personal and more amber is ALWAYS less terpy and less potent
IMO one problem is words like 'potent' are subjective. I think you are using POTENT to mean 'more THC'. So yes I'd agree with that, but more Amber trichomes are just changing things like THC => CBN, not necessarily destroying or 'weakening it' for other purposes. More CBN can be much more sedating, so some may want that and call that effect more 'potent'. I personally like mine with good amounts of Red/Amber/Dark heads for medical reasons, not just head high. I also recently decarbed an oz of good bud for much longer/hotter and let it extract in oil longer and got exactly what I wanted - a narcotic/xanax type oil that will kill all anxiety and kick my ass to sleep. Some may say I 'ruined' it, but made it perfect for what I wanted.

I also agree that it seems terpenes are so volatile that they could be losing more although possibly they are just being converted to other compounds as well that have less smell/taste. We've learned so much and I think there's still so much science yet to come on these things. :)
 
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