Judging by hairs instead of trichomes?

how do I delete this? nvm

actually since I made this post let me just ask, is it really worth waiting till 30% amber?

Or is cloudy/milky potent enough?

Because even just getting the trichomes to turn cloudy/milky I have to wait 1 week past the breeder stated harvest window. And getting 30-50% amber I have to go 10 weeks on an 8 week strain.

Don't worry, it will be worth the wait. I juss harvested a 56-day (according to breeder) Indica at day 101!

And I don't go by trichomes anymore. Just wait until the calyxes have swollen and the pistils (hairs) have receded onto them.

makes me feel better, i have plants that sometimes take way longer than seed company says.. The swelling is a big thing i go by! Them buds usually swell up to 2x the size just a week or two before its time for harvest. Red hairs on most of my strains are about all red and the big bud one is like you say, red hairs pull in pretty much.

sandmonkey said:

Don't worry, it will be worth the wait. I juss harvested a 56-day (according to breeder) Indica at day 101!

And I don't go by trichomes anymore. Just wait until the calyxes have swollen and the pistils (hairs) have receded onto them.

Click to expand...

aren't you supposed to harvest an indica before it turns amber or else you end up on the couch?

I personally think its worth the wait. My first harvest I cut when the pistils turned brown, my next harvest I got a scope and waited for the trichs to turn amber. Needless to say I was knocked off my butt.

It's all personal preference, if you like sitting on the couch let em amber up.

btw it seems like there's a difference between cloudy/milky.

Cloudy looks like shattered glass, whereas milky is white. It's pretty obvious when I look at it.

For me, milky occurs sometime after the 8th week for an 8 week strain. Is this what I want?

Is it ready yet?: SpruceZeus's take on marijuana ripeness.
This is by no means meant to be the definitive guide to knowing when to chop your plant, only my views on the subject.

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 drowsiness associated with burnout and other cannabinoids (our friend CBN, and a handful of others) to be the catalyst (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,(maybe just a bit) 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 first 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...

Quote:noob mcboob
I'm a new grower and i've been reading all this great information about when its time to harvest. Theres pictures and everything!!!


Look at my trichs, they look nice and milky with a touch of amber just like the ones in the picture that says its harvest time now!!!


So i just have one question....









Does this look ready to you?


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 absolute. 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.

If I could offer one piece of advice on picking the right time to harvest, it's all about watching the pistils. Not so much the colour, but the movement. They should have receded into the bud and the seed bracts should be swollen.

It should look less like this

And more like this.


Trust me when I say, it is worth the excruciating wait.

DEF WAIT!

Note that cloudy thrichomes will degrade to amber trichomes AFTER harvest.

Personally I chop around 15%-25% amber, with the rest being cloudy. Then after 4-6 weeks of cure its more like around 65% cloudy & around 35% amber.




DONT judge by hairs!

I've had plants that just keep pumping out more calyxes, and then in tern pumping our more pistils (hair) so it was growing NEW white pistils to the day I chopped. You have to watch the trichomes on the calyxes, not the leafs. The leafs trichomes actually degrade more rapidly than those of the calyx.


Tricomes do this

Grow and are clear, then as they near the end of the season they start to turn milky and milker. The milky for all intensive purposes is basically THC, THEN the trichome will reach an apex. The point where the THC content no longer increases, then after its reached the max it will degrade into other cannabinoids like CBN and CBD.

It's commonly thought that THC is the head high, as in euphoric, laughing, funny things. And CBN & CBD are the ones that give you that 'body' high that COUCH LOCK feeling that straight STONED feeling. I also believe that scientists/studies are looking at CBN for the *most* medically beneficial properties. Which would explain why FDA approved, synthetic thc medications like Marinol are far less effective than actual cannabis with its MANY MANY MANY different cannabinoids (THC is an example of a cannabinoid)

I've seen that guide moola, thanks. I know what a plant looks like when it's ripe, I just don't know when exactly I should cut it for the best high.

This is what I notice happening to the color of the trichomes in order of occurrence:

1. Clear
2. Cloudy (looks like shattered glass)
3. Milky (completely white)
4. Amber

I'll post the following pics, and you tell me which one is ready:

People keep saying to harvest when it's cloudy/amber, but I don't think I ever see this:



or this (I never see this either unless half of the trichomes have turned white):




but I see this if I wait long enough (is this too late?):

Good Thread! I wonder this also from previous grows...

Check this out I found it very helpfull!
http://www.thctalk.com/cannabis-forum/showthread.php?23235-Harvest-Guide

Great read thanks for the very informative thread on both sides of the coin..