Loss/Gain of THC in days prior to harvest

I know when plants are done. My question more so just itches me. If one were to harvest a week prior to optimal, how much thc potential are you losing, compared to harvesting a week after optimal point. Basically if you had to make the mistake to harvest too early or late which would it be?

neither would be preferred but harvested early with the tric clear/cloudy would give a more head buzz and harvested late with the tric amber/brown will give a body couchlock buzz. any thc loss is bad, when its done its done look for a cloudy/amber mix

A week either way won't make a huge difference. You have a 5-7 day window for harvesting during the plant's peak..

i know when plants are done, as stated. im talking about numbers as far as % of content.

start counting the tric and put them in groups of clear cloudy and amber, count them everyday for 4 weeks and let us know the results...

no one can really answer that question accurately because most homegrowers don't make a habit out of sending their stuff to a lab. trichs do not equal thc, and thc is not the whole story of getting high. if i were to speculate however i would start by pointing out that the trichs continue to turn amber after chop, and reactions continue take place that change the chemical composition of the bud. personally overripe bud knocks me out and isn't much fun, so i would tend to prefer the "early bud", since it (should) contain less cbd since it is my understanding that thc is converted to cbd over time. all of this is obviously dependant on the strain, but i would prefer the early bud as long as it was only a week early and assuming it was dried and cured correctly. however if we are talking about a 6 week indica maybe i wouldn't be so hasty...

Taking info from some books by frank and rosenthal, the actual % of THC could be higher because less of it has a chance to be degraded by light/heat/oxy, however the THC + degraded substances could easily be the same. Mel Frank offers a lot of evidence suggesting that bud matter contains all its THC when first developing new growth, and that after being created the tissue will begin degrading, basically that all other things equal, new growth will have a higher THC content, and older growth will have a higher CBD content. However, it has been shown that THC levels fluctuate throughout the day/night, so I'm not sure how that jives with the proceeding theory, and if fluctuating throughout the day I'm not sure how accuratley you could gage %'s based on time in flower.

Anyway, not sure anyone is going to be able to give you a definitive answer. I hope the info help you formulate a more educated guess/solution!

thanks total head/gobbly. once agian mr mike didnt read my post.. you guys have good thoughts/theories its just a fun thought ive always wondered. wish i had a lab : /