That is pure ignorance. What you are preaching is for people to accept a high or a stone that they least prefer because it is what you do and what you like and what you believe in.
Yaaawn, do we really have to have this argument on every thread on RIU.
The singular reason to grow your own herb is to get the very best herb that you can, the herb you like the most so what is wrong with fine tuning what you grow so it best suits your own likes and tastes?
Of course, this is obvious. Beginners aren't fine tuning their herb, they fucking it up by trying advanced techniques whose procedures are not properly articulated in that jurassic GrowFAQ graphic.
In general I agree with your position of if someone wants a sativa high then grow a sativa and if they like an indica stone grow an indica but your logic and rationale still falls apart come harvest time because if you most like a clear soaring cerebral head high of a sativa you will not harvest it when the trichomes are amber because that will dull the effects you most want. At the same time if you want as much couch-lock as you can get you will not harvest an indica when the trichomes are milky white. The same information that you claim is outdated still applies and is still totally valid.
This is meat and potatoes of what we disagree about. I don't know how many times it can be said, if you harvest a sativa with all amber trichs IT IS NOT GOING TO CAUSE COUCH LOCK. See if I use all caps maybe you'll listen this time. The effects of the compounds are based on it's genetics and the plant is either ripe or premature. You can harvest at different times to heighten certain chemical effects but not anything like whats being said on this board. YOU CANNOT TRANSFORM A SATIVA INTO AN INDICA AND VICE-VERSA BY HARVESTING EARLY OR LATE.
Using your reasoning no one should ever have created crosses because that it an attempt to alter nature and landrace genetics.
You may not be able to understand that but your position is to let nature take its course so since that is your position nature should never have been tampered with.
You have a real problem making leaps and assumptions where there are none to be made and insults do not help your postion. Obviously the reason crosses have been made is to break the genetic limitations of natural strains and blur the lines between phenotypes. Harvesting early or later is not breeding, its pretending to be more important than you really are.
By picking a cross you have picked something that has been altered and is neither one or the other, sativa or indica, and the result is unnatural so how can it actually take natures course?
No it hasn't been altered, it has been manipulated to take on specific characteristics based on the preference of the breeder due to meticulous natural selection on the part of the breeder. Its still a cannabis plant, it just shares the attributes of its gene pool. Harvesting early or late isn't going to change any of the properties inherited by it's genetic makeup.
You say go natural but yo do not limit that to only natural strains. That is something hypocritical on your part. You want things to work both ways.
The only way to try to answer that is to ignore that it is unnatural to begin with and to claim that what you believe to be the singular best way to grow/harvest is to allow plants to grow for as long as possible before THC degradation reaches a point where the loss is unacceptable.
This is all rambling about the concepts already addressed above. A bred hybrid is not some alien species that is un-natural, its just a composite of its genetic makeup. Harvesting early or late is not going to change this.
Once the trichomes have turned milky white the THC is as potent as it gets, it has maxed out and does not increase after that point. When the trichomes begin to turn amber the THC increase, as in potency levels, has leveled off so herb with amber trichomes is not more potent that herb with milky white trichomes. Once the trichomes begin to turn from amber to brown THC has started to degrade and you lose THC.
What happens when the trichomes turn from milky white to amber is different cannabinoids increase in level and the effects that are then felt when smoked are different. It gives you more of a narcotic effect, a ‘messed up’ feeling that very many people confuse with being higher potency and with having higher levels of THC. But that is not why the effects are different, there is not an increase in THC when trichomes turn from milky white to amber.
If someone wants to increase the amount of THC, not the level of THC but instead the amount of THC, they should give their plants 72-hours of darkness before harvesting them.
Yes, we have already established your opinions on this matter.
The Stichting Institute of medical Marijuana (SIMM), the first company to sell marijuana through the pharmacies of Holland, has been investigating the medical possibilities of cannabis, together with TNO laboratories and the University of Leiden.
One of their discoveries has been that to keep the ripe plants in the dark before harvesting could increase their potency.
SIMM's growers separated a crop of mature plants, harvested half of them and kept the other half in absolute darkness for 72 hours before cutting and drying.
Analysis of the resulting dried buds showed that some varieties had seen increases of THC of up to 30 %, while the CBD and CBN remained the same.
A 30% increase in THC is HUGE but I have to assume you will say that is not something that happens in nature so it cannot work and it should not be done even though the results of doing so have been proven and can pay tremendous dividends.
I've heard this before and I have requested the white paper from the research and no one can provide it. Until peer reviewed research can be provided, I'm inclined to call bullshit.
For some inexplicable reason you want everyone to grow/smoke pot that you like the best instead of telling them the facts and allowing them to grow/smoke pot that they will like the best.
Why is that? Why is it that you do not believe that each individual should not decide for themselves what they like the best and then allow them to make sure they get what they like the best?
All they are doing is fine tuning their herb to best suit their personal likes and taste so what in the wide, wide world of sports is wrong with that?
No, I want everyone to harvest their pot when its done, so they don't fuck up their crop and don't sell garbage on the street because they listened to the "experts" and followed the magical trichome chart being posted here in every thread.
As for monitoring trichome color it is a breeze. All someone needs is an inexpensive scope from Radio Shack and to know what the different trichome color will give them and then they look at their plants. You do not need to be a botanist to know the difference between clear and milky white and amber and brown.
If you believe that it is difficult to be able to monitor trichome color then you have to believe it is equally difficult to pick out the amber trichomes you love so dearly and claim to be the only way to go.
Consider your rationale, you postulate that it is hard to monitor clear and milky white so what would be so easy to determine amber or amber from brown? Following your advice couldn't someone harvest to late as easily as harvesting to early and end up with compost? How are they going to be able to know when to harvest according to your advice any more than they will know when to harvest by going by the trichome chart?
Your logic and rationale does not pass the Pepsi challenge.
You give horrible information that is not fact based and is only opinion based. It is only based in your personal lies and taste and beliefs and nothing more.
Opinion is not fact and it should not be spread as being fact. That is a MAJOR problem with sites like this. Most of the information shared/spread is opinion based or based in myths or urban legends or old hippie beliefs handed down through the years.
None of this strengthens your postion about transforming Sativas into Indicas magically by just harvesting late.
As much as I like sites like this the best advice I could give any new grower would be to use Google and to buy several books on marijuana growing written by top experts in growing and not to rely on sites like this for much if any information because they will receive answers from people like you.
Please holy BrickTop, point me to one piece of research that demonstrates this supernatural power to transform Indicas to Sativas and vice-versa by looking at trichomes.
Let me sum all this dribble for our RIU readers..... The cannabis plant is done when its done. If you don't know when that is then search for fdd2blk sticky in the harvesting forum.
The chemical and psycho-active effects your crop has on you depends on various factors, predominatly it's genotype and biological makeup. If you grow an Indica you will likely experience couch-lock and if you grow a Sativa you will likely experience racy, mind-altering experience and if you grow a hybrid you will experience a mix of these effects based on the dominating attributes of the breed.
You cannot transform the plants effects by harvesting early or late but you can certainly ruin your entire crop by harvesting early.