How far can "ripeness" be pushed?

My understanding has always been that the flowers are at their peak ripeness when the trichomes become milky with about 20% of them turning amber.

But when did this become the common ideal?

I'm pretty old and been growing off and on (mostly with no idea what I was doing, tbh) since the mid 1970's. I never knew anyone back then who had any idea about trichomes. Back then, the only way growers knew the plants were ripe was when the seeds were ripe! And those ripe seeds usually were accompanied by leaf color that was light green or yellow (gold)...sometimes reddish-brown..."Fall colors" let's say.

Growers who grow plants for smoking, don't (usually) allow their female plants to be pollinated and produce seeds. At some point in time, the milky/amber trichome formula became the ideal for determining when to harvest. My bet is that, when people determined that THC was the "psychoactive component" in marijuana, and started to test for it, they found that the milky stage was when THC levels were highest. When the milkiness changes to amber, then there is degradation in THC...Therefore, all amber trichs would produce less potent marijuana. But...Is that true? What about the other, non-tested-for components in the flowers? Do any of those increase? -flavonoids, terpenoids, volatile esters, etc.

I may be wrong, but I get the feeling that a lot of personal-use growers are using big, industrial, high-yield grow ops as a model to follow. "The guy with the biggest plants, wins". And, in doing so, the small op growers cheat themselves out of the luxury of being able to take extra time for their plants to ripen and develop more complexities and unique smells and flavors.

I can say, for sure, that whenever I scope any weed that I buy in the commercial market, the trichomes are clear. In other words, they are underdeveloped and not ripe. And I'm not talking about some bottom-shelf shwag. I'm talking about the best stuff available in the store! This is the stuff that people buy and then review and say how great it is....But they also have to stuff their noses entirely into the jars in order to get the smell! "Piney" "Lemony", they say. I think part of it is that the pinene and limonene terpenes develop earlier than some of the others. Maybe if those flowers were let to TRULY ripen to milky/amber or all amber, then they wouldn't be so piney or lemony anymore. But, hey, if the big producers need to meet a quota and the plants are still not ripe, then just harvest them, anyway. It' good enough.

Based on this, I don't believe it's a good idea for the personal-use ops growers to use the same criteria as the industry uses...because the industry doesn't care about putting out ripe marijuana.

Thoughts?

I agree, most commercial weed is harvested early for profit reasons, it's one of the reasons people such as ourselves, people of class and distinction, turn to home growing. Commercial growers focus on production, period-since the market only seems to care about thc%, other aspects of quality fall by the wayside. It's one of the reasons modern strains have lost so much of the character as the strains of yore.

Many sativa strains trichomes won't change to amber, unless you wait 20 weeks or more. Indica's show their ripeness much easier. Trichome coloring is just one indication, of many.

SSHZ said:

Many sativa strains trichomes won't change to amber, unless you wait 20 weeks or more. Indica's show their ripeness much easier. Trichome coloring is just one indication, of many.

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Yes, and this is why people might need to wait 20 weeks to get them truly ripe. But I think it's kind of a shame that the industry doesn't do that with their Sativa. In fact, I wonder if that's the reason why Sativa are now perceived as "up" or "energetic" types of highs. I mean, I smoked many-a-Mexican Sativa strain back in the day and they knocked us onto the couch as bad as any Indica ever did. Again, most of those Sativas were grown until the seeds were dark and ripe...and that may have taken 20 weeks for all I know. But I think if they get pollinated, then the ripening period is considerably shorter.
So, when "sinsemilla" started happening, the criteria for ripening changed. Obviously we couldn't use the seeds to gauge it. I think it's VERY rare for there to be a fully ripe Sativa available in the commercial market. You're basically getting underripe trichomes, regardless.

We, the superior, distinguished, small-batch connoisseurs must not compare what we can do with what the industry is trying to shove at us. "Take it or leave it!" is what they offer...and leave it we will!

I have some bought weed from when we legalized. I looked at it with my microscope out of curiosity and saw, the trichomes were missing. One of the reasons I still have it is because I haven't really got ripped on it. It is a Diesel, should do something to a, haven't smoked anything for 15-20 years guy. I really should grow a strain to do that though (mainly medical). Maybe in the summer.

printer said:

I have some bought weed from when we legalized. I looked at it with my microscope out of curiosity and saw, the trichomes were missing. One of the reasons I still have it is because I haven't really got ripped on it. It is a Diesel, should do something to a, haven't smoked anything for 15-20 years guy. I really should grow a strain to do that though (mainly medical). Maybe in the summer.

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I've seen this, too. I think some of the buds get so shaken around by the time they get to market, most of the trich heads are gone. Those buds can appear frosty at a glance because the stems of the trichs are still attached to the leaves...but no heads on them!

Yes, that has to do with rough handling and just not caring for the buds properly.

Would be better if a load of excellent growers got together and opened a dispensary with proper harvested, trimmed and cured buds

spliffendz said:

Would be better if a load of excellent growers got together and opened a dispensary with proper harvested, trimmed and cured buds

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Yes, it would. But I fear that it would be like having too many cooks in the kitchen unless all the growers were family-related! Eventually, one expert would disagree with the other expert and...well....

tstick said:

Yes, it would. But I fear that it would be like having too many cooks in the kitchen unless all the growers were family-related! Eventually, one expert would disagree with the other expert and...well....

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That's the point though, they each have their own kitchen

spliffendz said:

That's the point though, they each have their own kitchen

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OOooooh...okay!

tstick said:

OOooooh...okay!

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Too many cooks spoil a broth. They all make a broth, Simon Cowell and Gordon |Ramsay come in and slay them and then the chosen buds are manicured sophistically by infantile caimans and then carried by the daintiest fairies to the dispensary and sold

Okay, okay...But I still really need some comments about just how far a plant can be ripened before it starts to degrade to the point of not being any good. The reason I am curious is because I've never seen a thread about plants that are "over"-ripe. And most of the pics, (as awesome as many of them are) are mostly clear, milky with a few amber thrown in, bright green...beautiful!....But what about buds that have all-amber trichs? -never seen any pics of those. I'm wondering how the flavors and smells change as the trichomes become more and more amber and the sugar leaves exhaust their chlorophyll. I plan on doing some more experiments in future grows, but at the moment, I only have two plants and I don't want to risk it this time.

What would be really interesting to know is if anyone has had the same strain and harvested some of the buds early and then let some go to the extreme amber end to see how the smell and taste changes. That's what I'm hoping to find out by asking this time. Eventually, I will find out by doing.

I'm just basically always planning on 10 weeks for indicas and .. well have not grown many heavy sativas but I would guess.. 13 ish? But I am all about getting that amber all over... imo... if you want less stoned smoke less again just me

tstick said:

Okay, okay...But I still really need some comments about just how far a plant can be ripened before it starts to degrade to the point of not being any good. The reason I am curious is because I've never seen a thread about plants that are "over"-ripe. And most of the pics, (as awesome as many of them are) are mostly clear, milky with a few amber thrown in, bright green...beautiful!....But what about buds that have all-amber trichs? -never seen any pics of those. I'm wondering how the flavors and smells change as the trichomes become more and more amber and the sugar leaves exhaust their chlorophyll. I plan on doing some more experiments in future grows, but at the moment, I only have two plants and I don't want to risk it this time.

What would be really interesting to know is if anyone has had the same strain and harvested some of the buds early and then let some go to the extreme amber end to see how the smell and taste changes. That's what I'm hoping to find out by asking this time. Eventually, I will find out by doing.

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I have done this for sure.... hence my preference I encourage you to do the same and see which you like!

I would like to see somedody do lab tests to see if the potency changes as the plants get older. say the thc at 7 weeks, then 8 weeks. 9 weeks etc...
It would take somebody with deep pockets, but would be interesting and maybe settle the question about flowering times.

tstick said:

What would be really interesting to know is if anyone has had the same strain and harvested some of the buds early and then let some go to the extreme amber end to see how the smell and taste changes.

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I've harvested between 6 and 12 weeks, cuttings of the same plant which I grew for years. It was a bagseed in Australia, so I can't make any solid comparisons with strains you'll be familiar with, but its qualities were (by description) similar to the original Princess behind the Cinderella 99 strain. I grew about twenty bagseeds when I started, and that was the smallest but also the tastiest of the lot so I kept its cuttings for propagation.

Over the years I grew this plant, I harvested most at 8 or 9 weeks - partly because I was running a perpetual on a tight schedule, and partly because that harvest time accentuated the energetic, alert aspects of the effect.

The harvest after 6 weeks gave a very clear buzzing high, but the yield was predictably poor and it always left me wanting more shortly afterwards.

The (one) cutting which I ran for 12 weeks was delicious. It was always a tasty plant, but the pine and lemon were still dominant at 9 weeks. The 12-week plant had a crazy array of fruity flavours, and a more mellow effect. Also a higher yield, but not enough to compensate for the extra four weeks in the perpetual flowering area. To my mind, the plant was ready at this point. Maybe she could have run for another week or two, but the fan leaves were all dropping off, and the sugar leaves were yellowing and dying at the tips. From memory, I was aiming for some amber trichomes - just any at all, because I'd only really seen clear and cloudy from my own harvests. It was years ago now, but my memory of looking at the buds says I did get some amber in there - it was not at the extreme all-amber end of the scale, though.

Perhaps most significantly, my friend who used weed for chronic pain said the 12-week buds gave the best pain relief and restoration of ability she'd had from any weed ever. I was planning to reconfigure the area for 12-week harvests for her from that point on - because who cares about yield if it comes at the cost of quality of life? Life got in the way though, and the plant and grow setup are gone. I have some of her seeds (crossed with a random sativa-dominant) so I'm hoping her children will contribute to my future grows though.

I ran a white Rhino many years ago that looked ready by week 9( very indica Dom) I left it go another couple weeks and by this stage it was 95% amber trichomes, heavy yield, absolutely stunk and after the cure I’ve never smelt anything like it to this day. I always try to grow so they become overripe, I find the best smells and tastes at this stage.

ZeeeDoc said:

I ran a white Rhino many years ago that looked ready by week 9( very indica Dom) I left it go another couple weeks and by this stage it was 95% amber trichomes, heavy yield, absolutely stunk and after the cure I’ve never smelt anything like it to this day. I always try to grow so they become overripe, I find the best smells and tastes at this stage.

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What about the effects tho? Did you notice any difference in the high other than smell/taste?

Millo said:

What about the effects tho? Did you notice any difference in the high other than smell/taste?

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To be honest it was pure Knock out. Heavy heavy. Everyone who tried it all said the same. Not for beginners type. I’ve had plants that were mostly amber trichomes and still had a nice up high... Then you die lol But the Rhino put you on your ass from the get go.