Grunk! My first grow ever. Help is appreciated.

why do they need more than a week? cuz their too green? the pistils still too fresh? I know i am new but common sense tells me that since people have been growing outdoors here for ages then why wouldn't these be ready in time? You can see a visible difference even after the last 3 days. I am checking the trics everyday. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isnt it about the high that is produced? That comes from the trics and they need to be 100% cloudy for full potency. You cannot get 100 all over but right now they are at about 80% with just a little amber. They are moving fast and i fully expect them to be ready in 7 or 8 more days. They are finishing week 9 of flowering right now. Please give me reasons why they are not ready, and then what am i supposed to do with them if they are not ready before the weather starts to fuck them up?

those definitely need more than a week bro... id say at least 2 probably more like 3. no sense in growing plants for months just to pull them early. u still got a bunch of white hairs and even the ones that are slightly orange are still standing straight up. the trichs are only one part of telling when a plant is done, not everything. u need to wait for the hairs to brown and recede back into the bud, calyxes to swell, and trichs to be about 50/50. if all of those arent happening, which they are not yet on your plants, i would wait. imo if u go simply off the trichs u will pull ur plant a little early every time. as for trimming off the leaves, i say if its green leave it be. the leaves are what absorb sunlight and convert it into sugars and carbohydrates that the plant uses to form the buds. not a lot of leaves = not a lot of buds.

ok. thats seem like a reasonable explanation, but what am i supposed to do when the weather gets too cold soon?

go get some clear plastic and construct a little ghetto greenhouse... get like some 5mil plastic or watever. i live in cali and even i have to cover plants every year that arent done before the rain comes. its all dependent on strain as to when they finish in your area. some strains will be done in early oct and some wont. and personally i like them better when the trichs are 50% cloudy 50% amber. they go from clear > cloudy > amber. ur still in the cloudy stage so just be patient. if u pulled ur plant right now u would prob get half as much weight as u will get in 2-3 weeks. buds add on most of their weight in the last two weeks. i know its hard to wait when they look so good, but u got to. go head over to the harvesting and curing forum and check out fdd's thread on harvesting, its a sticky thread on top.

well i havnt ruled out the possibility of having to pull them inside the garage at night for a week if needed but i have another question. I get that the buds will get much more weight in the last couple weeks but if amber trics represent degraded THC (losing up to 90% of its potency) then why would you want 50% of your trics to be amber? Essentially your trading quantity (more weight) for quality (ripe trics with the most effective high). Why?

u get a different ratio of thc:cbd by letting it go 50/50 which is suppose to result in a more couch lock high instead of a head high. i personally just think the bud looks better with the golden tinge to it as well.

Today is the day! I harvested my first plant ever this morning. She was ahead of the others so i decided to pull a few days early. Here are some pics from the 1st one.... tasty.