Flushing? When exactly to harvest? final flowering steps ADVICE!

Ok, so I'm definitely new to this whole growing thing...
(skip to the part that says --The End-- if you just wanna solve the problem without reading how I got a hold of my plant! I just think it's kind of a cool story. plus I'm high...)

Interesting story: on the way back from a ski trip, a buddy of mine from another university that happend to be on the way home for me shoots me a text: "bro, i NEED you to help me find new owners for these plants." Being a so cal post grad local and having my cali med card for just under a year now, I've definitely thought of what it would take to grow my own herbals.

After finding out my buddy's landlord walked in on the usually-locked garage to a full indoor-tent setup with something like 8 plants and a couple clones just starting up, he told me his landlord was returning the next day to do an inspection of the property to search for plants, and if he found any, he would pursue eviction or something i dunno all the details. He needed to get rid of them in a 48 hr window from when his landlord found them to when he was coming back to check, so I responded to the text message with the simple question: "how far along are they?"

-"couple weeks."

the excitement of the idea of getting my hands on my own baby mid-end flowering triggered a slew of rapid text fires about everything from watering regiments to harvesting techniques (making sure everything I had read on the internet and seen in videos- that I could still remember- were consistent with his growing advice- i'm sure i sounded like a kid who discovered kush for the first time), but the next thing i knew, i was standing in his kitchen, and looking at four beautiful mature flowering bombshells. he said his other buddy beat me to the chase and grabbed a couple already, but I had my pick of the rest- I could take one, or ALL. STOKED!

I couldn't help, though, but feel guilty at the thought I'd ruin his beautiful girls with my first time experience grow techniques in a combo of both my best friend's and my closet space for this crap, let alone we didn't have any materials such as light, let alone a timer for one, so I ultimately chose what I thought looked to be the one healthiest girl so I would know that any imperfections to come in the plant's future would be a result of MY mess-ups, therefore knowing exactly how to troubleshoot, cuz I figured I'd be doing a lot of that. Since my buddy was basically liquidating all of his materials, I ended up with a 120 W flowering light for $50, so I thought I'd be in good shape.
--The End.--

First off, I apologize for the long story. In my defense, I'm new to this like I said, so just deal with the "tooly" enthusiasm, plus I'm high so I got overzealous on my first post since becoming a member here:-P

Secondly, to follow are the facts on the plant as it is now, details on my "regiment" (so-to-speak) will be in the following paragraph, and my final questions in the final paragraph.
Unknown strain (flowering 8 weeks, 5 days)
26 inches tall
most hairs are orange
noticed cloudy trichs for the first time two days ago
growing in a drainage pot (looks about 2 gallons, maybe 4, I'm trying to think of comparing it to those 1 gallon portable red plastic gas tanks)
Good soil
light hanging 14 inches above the top cola
looks like I'll MAYBE get like 14 gs outa this thing, although I must say, her buds look beautiful and frosty, as small as they are.

Regiments:
No nutes whatsoever
I got the plant 3 weeks and 2 days ago
first two weeks I did my best to stick to a 12/12 cycle manually, but in the dark there could have been some light leakage
start of week three had a timer installed for 12/12
watering every two days about 1 gallon of Britta filtered water:-P
when we first got it, I made the HUGE mistake of "pruning" the plant, I dont know what the hell I was thinking, like maybe too many leaves meant the plant was using too much energy for their production rather than buds and trichs, I'm an idiot i dunno, but basically I cut off any leaves that looked messed up or any that were significantly blocking light to any of the lower bigger buds. I'm sure I gave it too short of a haircut....

QUESTIONS:
She's always looked healthy, but recently the leaves have been turning crispy, the tips of many are turning brown, some of the tips even curling under, a couple spots here and there I dunno... I check for bugs everyday and see none or any real indication of it, I thought maybe light burn, but apparently 14 inches is a good distance as long as it stays cool. I'm not using nutes so it can't be nute burn. The PH of my water shouldn't really be an issue I don't think, but I don't have a meter for it.. I HAVE heard that it is normal for leaves to turn yellow right before youre supposed to harvest... but could someone tell me how that really works or what that process is like?
-The same friend said something about being able to watch the buds use up all the nutrients stored in the rest of the plant right before chopping, like the leaves slowly turn yellow form the tips all the way into the buds or something? Does flushing cause this? is this what the plant is doing on its own?

flush for a few days of heavy doses of water?
deprive it of water for the last couple days before harvesting to force it to utilize all the plant nutrients like my friend said?
when should I harvest??
What do I do NOW???
 

Oldreefer

Well-Known Member
If you've never used nutes, why are you flushing? And yes, final flowering typically has the fan leaves yellowing......
 

Alexoxox

Active Member
Your leaves are getting crispy due to lack of nutes, or mag to say the least.

You need to get at least PH strips so you have an idea of what balace you plants are feeding from, ph can kill your plant if too much base or acidic.

Depending on the type of plant, you could harvest from 12/12 anywhere from 5-9 weeks.

large range due to varying plants.

hope this info helps.

ox
 

Griffin285

Active Member
She's always looked healthy, but recently the leaves have been turning crispy, the tips of many are turning brown, some of the tips even curling under, a couple spots here and there I dunno... I check for bugs everyday and see none or any real indication of it, I thought maybe light burn, but apparently 14 inches is a good distance as long as it stays cool. I'm not using nutes so it can't be nute burn. The PH of my water shouldn't really be an issue I don't think, but I don't have a meter for it.. I HAVE heard that it is normal for leaves to turn yellow right before youre supposed to harvest... but could someone tell me how that really works or what that process is like?
It is not normal for your leaves to yellow, to curl, or for the tips to be crispy before harvest. That indicates a nutrient deficiency. Your plant should be bright green up until the day you harvest if you do everything right. The pH of your soil should be from 6.8 to 7.0... any lower and you will experience nutrient lockout and your plants will have the same symptoms you are describing. However, the only reason your soil would be acidic is if you have been fertilizing, but you haven't, so thats why I would say you have some kind of deficiency. Its hard to say what without pictures. Marijuana requires N-P-K fertilizer with high levels of P during the bloom phase. Chances are if you have not been feeding your plants they are lacking P.

-The same friend said something about being able to watch the buds use up all the nutrients stored in the rest of the plant right before chopping, like the leaves slowly turn yellow form the tips all the way into the buds or something? Does flushing cause this? is this what the plant is doing on its own?
All the leaves should stay green ideally, although I have seen this before. Sometimes the fan leaves on the bottom of the plant will yellow a little bit towards the end. Thats OK, but you don't want any curling or crispness. Flushing might cause that if your plant needs N-P-K and your only giving it water.

flush for a few days of heavy doses of water?
No need to flush if you haven't been fertilizing.
deprive it of water for the last couple days before harvesting to force it to utilize all the plant nutrients like my friend said?
Probably doesn't make a real difference
when should I harvest??
Wait at least 8 full weeks of flowering before you think about harvesting. Look at the hairs on your flowers, have they all turned red? A good time to harvest is when 80% of the hairs turn red and wilt. I use a 60x magnifier and look at the tricomes. I like to harvest at 100% cloudy its like the most intense energetic high. If you wait till they all turn amber its more of a pain reliving couch lock high.

What do I do NOW???
Just wait man. The longer you wait the happier you will be later. And make sure you cure your buds properly thats really what makes good bud is the cure. Its the most important step in the entire process.
 
thanks so much! super thorough. I think at this point there's not much I can do about nutes.... based on things I've read it seems like it's time to harvest (most trichs are cloudy under a magnifying glass. I took a couple pics but I'll put 'em up in a few so you guys can see exactly what I'm dealing with. I know its dumb to ask for help on this without any pictures....

I feel like I've done so much research on this recently I could grow a killer plant as long as I have the right resources,cuz i got the time. I'm excited to go buy a couple good clones from my favorite pharmacy and try this from the beginning. fun hobby, can definitely see how people make this their careers :) but I'm just tryin to blaze for free (more or less) in the end.
 
bud.jpgbudzz.jpgbudz.jpgfrost.jpg

The three pics with the yellow hew are because the grow light is on. The other one I took just after the lights turned off with a flash to catch the frost.


Notice the shape and color of leaves, and please let me know if/when you anticipate me cutting her down! Thanks for all your help!
 
oh ya i forgot to say the hairs when I first got it a few weeks ago were ALL orange, with very few that were still white only on the buds at the very bottom hidden under the canopy. I didn't think about harvesting though cuz I had noticed the trichs' growth with each day was getting more intense. now most are cloudy...
 
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