at the brink of harvest..

I need to harvest ASAP. I would like to harvest when some of the trichomes are turning amber, so I get a mixed head/body high but my plant just will not cross the line between looking beautiful and being ready to harvest. This is a legal matter. The pigs have been sniffing around a lot cuz there was a break-in recently, is there anything I can do to speed this ripening process up? I tried increasing her dark time by 2 hours but when I checked her out after she woke up today she had like a dozen new hairs on her cola and no amber trichs.
Here's a couple pix from today. (note the little branch lookin thing on the left side of the cola with all the white hairs)
Please don't reply unless you have something helpful to say.

I've heard that if you put your plant through 48hours of dark before you harvest the plant puts on alot of resin....Maybe that might turn the hairs???? Not sure i have never tried this....

They look young. How long have they been flowering? 5 weeks? What they Need is time. The first signs of orange hairs doesnt mean its time to harvest.

If you feel that you have to harvest before maturity then I have a suggestion: Put them in total dark for as long as you can just like with unripe fruit and vegetables when you put them in a paper bag. They seem to ripen a little quicker that way.

Also read that the gases from banana peels helps plump the buds.

Don't know if either works or not. Just ideas.

Good luck.

yeah bannanas and darkness then harvest!!!

BCtrippin said:

They look young. How long have they been flowering? 5 weeks? What they Need is time. The first signs of orange hairs doesnt mean its time to harvest.

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um.. no.
try like 10 weeks and maybe reading my post

Knally said:

If you feel that you have to harvest before maturity then I have a suggestion: Put them in total dark for as long as you can just like with unripe fruit and vegetables when you put them in a paper bag. They seem to ripen a little quicker that way.

Also read that the gases from banana peels helps plump the buds.

Don't know if either works or not. Just ideas.

Good luck.

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never heard the banana peel thing!! MUST look that up, and I will try this darkness thing, I did add two hours to her dark period making that 14 hours dark to 10 hours light and I keep hearing about the wonders of leaving the lights off

lilmissfiend said:

um.. no.
try like 10 weeks and maybe reading my post

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I read your post, does not say how long they have been flowering.


The color of hairs has nothing to do with maturity. Go to Radio shack and buy a 100x pocket microscope for $10-20 and check the trichrome maturity.

The hairs will turn after you harvest when you dry it out too. They wont stay white when you dry out the bud.


And yes, put then in the dark for 48 hours before harvest, they will think winter is coming and send all the THC to the buds to try and protect the seeds, but if its sensimilla theres no seeds so you just get chronic sticky buds.

BCtrippin said:

I read your post, does not say how long they have been flowering.


The color of hairs has nothing to do with maturity. Go to Radio shack and buy a 100x pocket microscope for $10-20 and check the trichrome maturity.

The hairs will turn after you harvest when you dry it out too. They wont stay white when you dry out the bud.


And yes, put then in the dark for 48 hours before harvest, they will think winter is coming and send all the THC to the buds to try and protect the seeds, but if its sensimilla theres no seeds so you just get chronic sticky buds.

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no I didn't say how long it'd been flowering (not like it means anything because several people told me flowering would last 7-8 weeks) and I know the hairs don't really mean anything, I can see the trichomes you're not telling me anything I haven't heard before in other posts I've made, I meant for you to read that I need to get her harvested ASAP because of the cops sniffing around my complex.
this is my only plant so I'm certain there are no seeds
trichomes are all cloudy but none are turning amber

lilmissfiend said:

no I didn't say how long it'd been flowering (not like it means anything because several people told me flowering would last 7-8 weeks) and I know the hairs don't really mean anything, I can see the trichomes you're not telling me anything I haven't heard before in other posts I've made, I meant for you to read that I need to get her harvested ASAP because of the cops sniffing around my complex.
this is my only plant so I'm certain there are no seeds
trichomes are all cloudy but none are turning amber

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7-8 weeks is for indica dominant strains. Some sativas can take up to 12+ weeks to mature. Sometimes it just takes time. If the trichs are turning cloudy then you can harvest if you want. Once they start to get cloudy its really a matter of preference. If you crop earlier you will get a short heady high that wont last as long.

If you cant wait anymore cause of cops then chop her down man, its not worth getting busted if its a possibility.

An extra week or two can really make the difference between regular and Bomb chronic though, so IMO only chop it if you have to.

BCtrippin said:

7-8 weeks is for indica dominant strains. Some sativas can take up to 12+ weeks to mature. Sometimes it just takes time. If the trichs are turning cloudy then you can harvest if you want. Once they start to get cloudy its really a matter of preference. If you crop earlier you will get a short heady high that wont last as long.

If you cant wait anymore cause of cops then chop her down man, its not worth getting busted if its a possibility.

An extra week or two can really make the difference between regular and Bomb chronic though, so IMO only chop it if you have to.

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several people told me earlier on she looked indica dominant so I guess that's why they said that, I think I can wait another week or two. I believe I will chop her around the beginning of February, which was what I had planned would be the longest it would take. Thanks!

on another topic, have you ever tried water curing? if so what do you think?
I believe I want to water cure some of my buds so I can smoke them with my friend when she visits mid-late February, and air cure the others.

lilmissfiend said:

several people told me earlier on she looked indica dominant so I guess that's why they said that, I think I can wait another week or two. I believe I will chop her around the beginning of February, which was what I had planned would be the longest it would take. Thanks!

on another topic, have you ever tried water curing? if so what do you think?
I believe I want to water cure some of my buds so I can smoke them with my friend when she visits mid-late February, and air cure the others.

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I have zero experience with it and personally I think its just a novelty. As far as I know the ideas was to feed full strength nutes till the day you crop, then water cure to "wash away the chemicals"

Theres really no benefit. I think if anything you will lose a lot of crystal off of your buds. I think your best bet is to air dry it. Stagger your crop, chop down a bit early then do the rest a few days later, you will end up with the same weed but totally different high. Its nice to have a mix of heady highs and couch melting highs.

IMO do yourself a favor, stick with the proven methods. Everyone air dries then cures in jars for a reason. Its the best method with the best results.

Also the more stem you leave on the buds when your drying, the better it is. It prevents it from drying out too fast. They will dry out nice and evenly. And you get a nice handle so you dont gotta grope your buds when your clipping.

hahaha
thanks a lot, I will keep that in mind
I heard that THC isn't water soluble, but I'm still iffy on trying it until I've heard more about it.
Maybe some of the smaller buds will be ready when my friend visits, I will have to hope! I do have jars ready in preparation for that stage

lilmissfiend said:

hahaha
thanks a lot, I will keep that in mind
I heard that THC isn't water soluble, but I'm still iffy on trying it until I've heard more about it.
Maybe some of the smaller buds will be ready when my friend visits, I will have to hope! I do have jars ready in preparation for that stage

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Its true. THC is not water soluble. I would just imagine a lot of crystal could still get washed off and be sitting in the water after.

You could always ask someone who actually does water cure, but I dont know anyone so you would have to search the forums.

You should be far enough in that you could clip some buds 7-10 days before the visit. Take some lower cuttings and it should be dry when your friend arrives. Thats what I would do. Im always cutting off the small branches later in flowering to sneak some early samples.

Sometimes you just cant wait, lol, and its kinda nice getting an early taste, then you can imagine just how much more chronic its gonna be when its done.

try some dry koolbloom and lengthen the dark by 2 hours, so 14 off 10 on and that will speed it up by a week or so, but shit man when it comes to the law its better to smoke immature buds than sitting in the slammer, besides as long as the trichs are cloudy you will get nice smoke, i prefer to harvest when they are cloudy and cure a bit longer

BCtrippin said:

Its true. THC is not water soluble. I would just imagine a lot of crystal could still get washed off and be sitting in the water after.

You could always ask someone who actually does water cure, but I dont know anyone so you would have to search the forums.

You should be far enough in that you could clip some buds 7-10 days before the visit. Take some lower cuttings and it should be dry when your friend arrives. Thats what I would do. Im always cutting off the small branches later in flowering to sneak some early samples.

Sometimes you just cant wait, lol, and its kinda nice getting an early taste, then you can imagine just how much more chronic its gonna be when its done.

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already snuck in a little sample :X
does the job! I felt great, was a very happy high.

lilmissfiend said:

already snuck in a little sample :X
does the job! I felt great, was a very happy high.

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Haha, good to hear. I love that first taste of a new crop.