Looking for advice on when to harvest. Don't want to cut too early.

I was reading in a lot of threads that people always harvest too early even when they harvest in the day-window that the manufacteurer of the seeds recommend.

People say stuff like 'The plant is ready when it is ready' or 'the plant doesn't count days' or 'only harvest when the plant is ripe... why harvest early' and so on... so I did my research on when to harvest.

Most people say that thrichomes only is not a good indicator of a ripe plant... Instead I should look for swollen calyxes... Receeding pistils... No white pistils...

So I tried to find a lot of information on all those topics and what to look for. But I'm not an expert in this since I'm just learning about when a plant is ripe.

So I'm looking for some advice on my plants from the experts.

In my eyes my plants are not ready yet. I'm in the harvest window of the manufacteurer BUT as I've learned this doesn't mean anything...

When I look at my buds I don't see the calyxes swollen... Most of the pistils are not receeding and there are also some new white pistils coming... So based on that and the information I gathered over the last weeks I would say they are not ready to harvest yet...

I will attach pictures of my plants so you can take a look at them and tell me if they are ready or not and maybe you can estimate how long they still have to get ripe.

I think one of my plants (plant no. 3) is closer to harvest than the others because she doesn't really have a lot of white pistils anymore... but I think I don't see the calyx swollen... But I want to know what the experts have to say about my plants.

Here are some pictures of the buds (I had some nutritional problems and environmental problems due to a new setup so please don't judge the terrible leaf conditions. They recovered but the damaged leaves won't recover so they look fucked up):

Plant 1:


Plant 2:


Plant 3:

I can only Upload 10 Files so here are the 2 additional Photos of plant 3:

How is RH?

rmax said:

How is RH?

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From 45 to 55 why?

RookieMuffin said:

From 45 to 55 why?

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I was just looking at your pics.

I would try to wait for more orange “hairs” cause that plant is not going to finish correctly looks too stressed, most pics

rmax said:

I was just looking at your pics.

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Did you see something unsual?

Cboat38 said:

I would try to wait for more orange “hairs” cause that plant is not going to finish correctly looks too stressed

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Ok so you think they will take longer since they were severely stressed in flower? Wait until no more white pistils are forming or what do you mean by 'more orange hairs'?

How far do you think are they? How long will they still take?

Last picture is closest but still has a few weeks left.
You need to get rid of all that dead stuff as close to the stem as possible or you risk bud rot

Cboat38 said:

I would try to wait for more orange “hairs” cause that plant is not going to finish correctly looks too stressed, most pics

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And what do you mean by 'not finish correctly'? Do you mean they won't finish as fast as if they would be healthy?

Bud man 43 said:

Last picture is closest but still has a few weeks left.
You need to get rid of all that dead stuff as close to the stem as possible or you risk bud rot

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Ok so you think the plant number 3 is closer to harvest than the others? As I said I think the same!

Yeah I will remove everything... Was letting it there to see if it gets worse. But will remove it on next light on. Thanks!

Cboat38 said:

I would try to wait for more orange “hairs” cause that plant is not going to finish correctly looks too stressed

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RookieMuffin said:

Did you see something unsual?


Ok so you think they will take longer since they were severely stressed in flower? Wait until no more white pistils are forming or what do you mean by 'more orange hairs'?

How far do you think are they? How long will they still take?

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yes orange pistils and if you let those dead leaves get devoured by the bud it’s going to rot and depending on your environment to the look’s of it

I'd try to find a way to keep your pet away from the grow area. Everything I looked at up close had dog or cat hair on it. It's a good way to bring pests like spider mites into your grow. The new white hairs are from light or heat stress as the plants get closer to being finished. Just focus on the mature pistils and calyx swell for now and don't worry about the new white hairs. The buds might not swell and ripen fully due to the overall health of the plant but it still has a little time left before I'd chop it. Watch for bud rot from the dead leaves that are still in the buds, especially around any dead sugar leaves. Hope it works out for you.

Cboat38 said:

yes orange pistils and if you let those dead leaves get devoured by the bud it’s going to rot and depending on your environment to the look’s of it

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Ok so what would you advice to do? How to get rid of the dead leaves surrounding the buds? It's hard to cut them off if the bud is surrounding them... The fan leaves no problem I can take them off... but the sugar leaves I don't know how...

Or would you think in this damaged case it's better to harvest early and don't rist bud rot or should I still go on?

I dehumidify the air but they are drinking a lot these days...

FirstCavApache64 said:

I'd try to find a way to keep your pet away from the grow area. Everything I looked at up close had dog or cat hair on it. It's a good way to bring pests like spider mites into your grow. The new white hairs are from light or heat stress as the plants get closer to being finished. Just focus on the mature pistils and calyx swell for now and don't worry about the new white hairs. The buds might not swell and ripen fully due to the overall health of the plant but it still has a little time left before I'd chop it. Watch for bud rot from the dead leaves that are still in the buds, especially around any dead sugar leaves. Hope it works out for you.

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Yeah I try my best to keep hair off the grow next time...

What would you advice now? Cut the dead sugar leaves off somehow? And what about when I harvest...? Dry them on the stem or just cut off every bud individually to get rid of the dead sugar leaves while drying and dry them fast to prevent bud rot this time? I don't want to loose flavour while drying too fast but I also don't want bud rot... So if you say it's safer to dry faster this time then I could wet trim them and cut off the buds individually in smaller buds and dry them on a rack... What do you think?

these people are giving you good advice imo. the dead (or dying) sugar leaves are of great risk. the fan leaves too but in my experience it’s the dead sugar leaves that give you rot the easiest. You can pluck them usually. It’s tedious work & its slow cause when one breaks ya gotta finish the job and it’s easy to loose you place lol. you can’t just cut them off cause you need to get that stem out of the bud. You can bend the buds a little to get them. I typically wear latex gloves but up to you. it will allow better air flow also which is key b/c you are trying to finish a plant that is stressed. The fans can just be cut if completely dead but if they have some green I leave them till they essentially fall off by themselves or a small tug. Best of luck.

I'd rather harvest a little early and properly dry them in the 60°/ 60% humidity range rather than try to quick dry them. I've used fingernail scissors and plucked the really bad leaves out by spreading the bud open while trimming before I dry when I was dealing with the same issue. It took a long time to remove as many as possible but I didn't end up with bud rot so it was worth it. You need to keep the leaves healthy especially the ones deep in the bud if at all possible. Just something to work on for your next run. I know lots of people that have been in your position before, myself included so don't get discouraged by it.

Thank you guys I think it's good advice from all of you too! Helps me learning thanks!

ooof-da said:

these people are giving you good advice imo. the dead (or dying) sugar leaves are of great risk. the fan leaves too but in my experience it’s the dead sugar leaves that give you rot the easiest. You can pluck them usually. It’s tedious work & its slow cause when one breaks ya gotta finish the job and it’s easy to loose you place lol. you can’t just cut them off cause you need to get that stem out of the bud. You can bend the buds a little to get them. I typically wear latex gloves but up to you. it will allow better air flow also which is key b/c you are trying to finish a plant that is stressed. The fans can just be cut if completely dead but if they have some green I leave them till they essentially fall off by themselves or a small tug. Best of luck.

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Ok so bending them and cutting them of if possible... What do you think? Cut off every sugar leave that has brown spots? Thats alsmost all sugar leaves... isn't that too much? What do you think?

Anything that's yellow at the point it goes into the bud should go in my opinion. If it's just the tip of a leaf and not close to the bud it should be fine as you're going to chop soon I'd think.

FirstCavApache64 said:

I'd rather harvest a little early and properly dry them in the 60°/ 60% humidity range rather than try to quick dry them. I've used fingernail scissors and plucked the really bad leaves out by spreading the bud open while trimming before I dry when I was dealing with the same issue. It took a long time to remove as many as possible but I didn't end up with bud rot so it was worth it. You need to keep the leaves healthy especially the ones deep in the bud if at all possible. Just something to work on for your next run. I know lots of people that have been in your position before, myself included so don't get discouraged by it.

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Ok thank you for the good words at the end!

I will cut them with fingernail scissors too... All of the sugar leaves that are a brown? Or just the once which are brown a lot?

The next question would be: How early would you harvest? How many weeks from now on... I don't mind if I have less weight this time... as long as they are potent enough to be smoked it's ok.... Weight doesn't matter for me this time...

Next run I am a little bit more dialed in so maybe I won't have these issues then... Was too much light this time.

FirstCavApache64 said:

Anything that's yellow at the point it goes into the bud should go in my opinion. If it's just the tip of a leaf and not close to the bud it should be fine as you're going to chop soon I'd think.

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Ok cutting off all that's brown too close to the bud Thanks!

I think all of you helped me a lot now... Right now I only ask myself how soon I should chop them... As I said... weight doesn't matter as long as they are potent enough and smokeable... So I would rather have less weight than rotten bud lol!

RookieMuffin said:

Thank you guys I think it's good advice from all of you too! Helps me learning thanks!


Ok so bending them and cutting them of if possible... What do you think? Cut off every sugar leave that has brown spots? Thats alsmost all sugar leaves... isn't that too much? What do you think?

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I would not cut any tips off the sugar leaves at this point only pluck the onesthat are in the buds. The rest you can get a trim time but make sure and trim all that off or it will be harsh. Next run ask for help when you start to see the issue and people will help you correct it faster.