Everyone Should Know About Trichomes
- Thread starter HappyHomeGrower
- Start date
blackbellychimp
Member
yes thats the trichomes. from day 1 of flowering the plants start to produce trichomes, but the plants really starts to look good n frosty when the buds start to get fatter and you can make out what shape that bud will be
Brick Top
New Member
While that would work for most strains, it would not work for all of them. Some strains will still have completely white pistils still sticking out when the plant is fully ripe and ready to be harvested. That is part of what makes harvesting by trichome color a far more accurate way to judge when to harvest. A person cannot always rely on the easily visible signs that can be seen with the naked human eye because not all genetics are the same and different strains will be fully ripe at times, both before and after, when the easily visible signs tell the person it is time to harvest.
Visible signs and test-smoking samples were the best we had to go on when I started growing 39-years ago. But since then a lot has been learned. These are not things that are the opinions or preferences of home growers. They are research findings and it makes no sense to ignore decades of actual research in favor of preferences and opinions and what we had to rely on before there were known facts to go by.
zo0t
New Member
u iz spell it da wrong way mang its TRYCOMBZ !
This was a good read for me, I've only been through a couple grows now and all times I've based my harvest time on trichome appearance in the harvest window provided by the breeders. Not the best way I'm figuring out on my own. Its worked so far but my last harvest has made me open my eyes a little more and look at everything else before trich's seeing I did a partial harvest of all the good stuff, and then went another week or so, even a little longer on some and my lowers are turning out better than some of my primo (so I thought) uppers. The problem was I'd be looking through a 30x scope and all would be clear to milky, and then bam....a little clump of ambers..that started throwing me off and started making me worry that I went to long or was going to let them go to long so I chopped when I should have waited another week.
Thanks for this thread, helped me out quite a bit.
Thanks for this thread, helped me out quite a bit.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ HAHAHAHAHA you fucking legend !
^^^^^^^^ Very good point, I would like to see an answer to this....
Sensi that is an awesome post +rep man. You had me at "trycombs" LMFAO. Now for the serious stuff, the info that you have just provided is spot on, 100% knowledgeable aswell as very entertaining lol. In that single post you have answered a LOT of questions I needed to be answered so thank you very much dude. Peace out
vagellie007
Active Member
i thank u too my friend, i just cleared up so much things for me and taught me not to worry about just 1 thing but veiw the big big. wvery one on here has been very helpful through my first growing exp and i thank u all. although the one thing i think i might mess um is the curing but we will see. thanks alot guys and happy smoking 
midnitetoak
Active Member
I got one of those 420 scopes from amazon for like $16 & it does allow one to check the color of trichs. However it is not always easy to focus in & see through it standing over your plants in a tent or small space. I find it easier to check the trichomes on the sugar leaves of the bud either by holding a fan leaf steady with one hand & the scope with the other or trimming off a leaf & checking it sitting at a table to hold it steady. Keeping the scope steady can be tricky & you could squish your buds trying to sight in a picture of the trichs. I find using a jewelers loupe 60x or 40x is easier to steady & you can see the color of the trichs in large group to determine ripeness. You can easily see the trichome heads with the scope at 60x or higher but the loupe helps determine where to start looking deeper. The visual aids on this thread are helpful but its not easy to focus in on a single trich with a scope while bent over your grow. Thanx for all the great info on this thread!!
Screaming trees
Well-Known Member
Very nicely said!! And in my personal opinion it can never be said enough.Even though it's been posted a million times +rep for posting accurate information.
I'd just like to elaborate on bud "ripeness"a bit further.
I'm personally of the opinion that 90% of the growers on this site (And probably in general) harvest too early. By letting the plants go a little longer you're ensuring that the've plumped as much as they're going to.
Despite popular opinion to the contrary(and don't fool yourself, the jury is still out on this one) Recent studies have shown ;contrary to what was previously believed, that THC itself (And its predecessor THC-A) are quite guilty of causing the confusion and drowsyness associated with burnout and other cannabinoids (our friend CBN, and a handful of others) to be the catylist (along with THC) to being 'high' rather than 'baked'
Regardless, whether or not theres any substance to the aforementioned study, its easy to get the high you want.
If you want a soaring 'cerebral' high: Get yourself a tropical sativa that contains a high level of THC-V and grow it until it is ripe.
If you want the narcotic couchlock stone, grow a rugged indica until its ripe.
Notice a pattern of growing it until its ripe? Its a really good rule to live by.
OF course we have to remember that there is more to a good high than just THC. At last count there are at least 66 cannabinoids, and we don't know what most of them do.
Now alot of people will tell you that you should harvest based on the colour of your trichomes. But (again, in my opinion) that is far too simplistic and there are too many variables to make that an effective strategy. I've made that point a million times before and i'm not going to re-hash it here, but rest assured there is more to the picture than just trich colour.
A ripe marijuana plant will be filled in, will have an amber tinge to the buds. The pistils should have browned (or orange-d) off and receded into the buds. The seed bracts should be swollen and the trichomes should be sticking straight out with bulbous ends. Also, because you're coming close to the end of plant's life cycle, the leaves should have yellowed off and started to die.
one of my plants, 3 days before chop-chop.
Another very important (imho) reason to let your plants mature is Terpenoid production. Terpenes are responsible for alot of the complex (And enjoyable) flavours that cannabis produces. Some of the most intense flavours are produced on the "downslope" of cannabis's life cycle. My personal experience with this came when i was growing GH cheese. One of the plants i harvested at 8 weeks and it tasted pretty nice and had pretty dense buds. The other i grew until about 9 1/2 weeks and it had most amazing, sour, skunky, delicious taste with rock hard buds.
Here is my interpretation (and maybe exaggeration) of a scenario i see all too often...
That plant is 4 weeks into 12/12. Granted not all of the trichomes are that far along. And most people arent going to harvest weed that looks like this. But my point with this is that you have to look at the big picture. Stop being so scientific and start being practical.
I'm not anti knowledge, i just cant stand these "rules" that more often than not lead people down the wrong path.
Lets cut through the bullshit and spread good information in a way that is not so absoloute. Or at very least explain the growth stages of cannabis making sure to mention that the pistils should have receded back into the bud before you chop. Regardless of trichome colour.
Sorry for what could be interpreted as a thread jack.
Botanical Shart
Member
In my opinion, all factual knowledge goes out the window when people claim buds have pistols attached to them. That just sounds dangerous. I might be new to cannabis, but I'm fairly certain the female part we call hairs are pistils. Much love,
Shart
Shart