harvest time
- Thread starter Jarrod411
- Start date
hermex
Active Member
yum. that looks like a blueberry or blue dream. Delicious. I think you are right on with your estimate. 2 - 3 weeks should give you some nice swelling of the calyxes and you'll see the bud fill out in the areas that look a little leafy now. If you don't have a loupe, there's some great deals on ebay. for the same price as a regular one you can get one that attaches to your phone that will take pics like this at 60x (what you see with your eye is 100% clear, the pictures aren't spectacular, but cool nonetheless).
If the strain in my picture goes too far into wk 9 it gets all amber and can get couch locky. My train wreck on the other hand doesn't really hit its harvest window (predominantly cloudy trichromes with some amber and some clear) until nearly the end of week 9.
Yours looks like it's still swelling and making that beautiful sugar coating. A lot of strains are ready after 8-9 weeks of flowering, but the best way to tell is to look at the trichromes with a loupe.
If the strain in my picture goes too far into wk 9 it gets all amber and can get couch locky. My train wreck on the other hand doesn't really hit its harvest window (predominantly cloudy trichromes with some amber and some clear) until nearly the end of week 9.
Yours looks like it's still swelling and making that beautiful sugar coating. A lot of strains are ready after 8-9 weeks of flowering, but the best way to tell is to look at the trichromes with a loupe.
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Thanks for the advice. Ill definately grab one of those loupe's you mentioned and yeah thats a releif was hoping I hadnt missed the mark already, the nuggs look awesome and smell good enough to eat but there lacking that tightness/body..ill repost in 2 weeks or so just to get a second opinion before I give them the chop?
hermex
Active Member
Sounds like a good idea. How long have they been in flower? any small microscope will do, they are just commonly referred to as a jeweler's loupe...or a currency inspector. Radio shack has some awesome USB scopes. I like the portable ones because I visit other people's rooms and like to check it out....or show someone my trichromes without taking them into the room.
When you do take cuttings of leaves to examine, you need to look at them outside of your grow room or the HPS lighting will make everything look the same color!
When you do take cuttings of leaves to examine, you need to look at them outside of your grow room or the HPS lighting will make everything look the same color!
Yeah the portable ones sound like the go. They've been in flower for roughly 8wks...didnt do much for the first 4-5 weeks of flower and then bam! The last 3 wks theyve exploded but seem to be lagging a bit atm. I vegged them for about 6 weeks as I was kinda still buying my light setup in peices and I had to get it ordered in.(400w hps in cooltube). And while in veg I was using 5 24w cool white/daylight flourescent bulbs.
hermex
Active Member
Hey man, my operation started with one 600w HPS used for the first veg and flower until my harvest cycles allowed me to buy a veg light and more flower equipment, here's the current setup...there's 6 different groups in there currently at various stages of flower, I take down a minimum of 2 plants every 2-3 weeks. During the first few weeks of flower a lot happens down below, the plant needs a big old root base to push out all of those beautiful flowers....that's why root health and having enough room in your pots is so important. Then the buds fatten up for a few weeks. Once noticeable upward growth has stopped (like you have to stop pushing up your lights), and they don't look like they are doing much, they're building resin and slowly building bud behind those leaves.
Flower time is strain specific, so watch those trichromes once you get a loupe (there are threads out there about trichromes). If you go too long you can get the 'couch lock' buzz that just knocks you out, and most strains will push beaners if in flower too long. Without a microscope you can tell when they are finished because the calyxes swell (the hairs appear to shrink because the calyx has fattened) and the older fan leaves sometimes die, other leaves' edges turn up and change in texture...wow, it's hard to explain but they start to look like it's time to pick them.
Flower time is strain specific, so watch those trichromes once you get a loupe (there are threads out there about trichromes). If you go too long you can get the 'couch lock' buzz that just knocks you out, and most strains will push beaners if in flower too long. Without a microscope you can tell when they are finished because the calyxes swell (the hairs appear to shrink because the calyx has fattened) and the older fan leaves sometimes die, other leaves' edges turn up and change in texture...wow, it's hard to explain but they start to look like it's time to pick them.
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MD to NC
Active Member
wow hermex, that is a beastly grow room!
Greenhouse;save
Well-Known Member
Temps can b high without a cool tube but wot happens if u need the temp up (in winter) can u remove ducting to increase temps?
Hi just thought I would post these pics of the trichromes. Sorry there not the best quality but was hoping you could tell me what stage you think they are at to hopefully give me an idea of what to look for in future grows. From what I can see, I would say there still at the clear/crystal stage. I would like them to progress to where a few more than half are amber. Sorry for all the amateur questions.
1st image is lemon skunk. The 2nd is an unknown strain and are yeilding the buds I uploaded in my first post.
hermex
Active Member
I see no reason why you couldn't remove ducting, I've rerouted it into my house to use the heat in other rooms. You would probably still want to exchange new air from somewhere though.
hermex
Active Member
Sorry bro, it's too hard to tell from the photos, but they do look nice and icy.
In general, the individual trichrome is this mushroom looking thing that stands up and diffuses light as it hits the plant. Look for the trichromes at the edges of a leaf, this will give you a profile image that is easy to see It looks like a mushroom cloud. Try using different colors of paper for your background. Trichromes protect plants from UV light. UV light degrades trichromes. Early on, almost all of the trichromes will be clear, as in totally see through. Around week 8 for a lot of strains, most of the trichromes begin to cloud up to the point where you cannot see through them. You will also see amber trichromes. Amber trichromes are easy to recognize because they are close to the color of the hairs on the plant. Amber trichromes are dark, you cannot see through them, and hopefully they are just scattered at harvest time.
Each plant is going to have its own harvest window. The harvest window is the point at which most of the trichromes are cloudy (80%?), some are clear (10-15%), and a few are amber (5-10%). You can harvest at different times to get different effects. I usually take down in the middle of week 8 when many of the trichromes are still clear and amber trichromes are nearly non-existent; this seems to give a clean and long lasting "up buzz" that keeps you motivated. Letting the same strain go an extra week or two until the trichromes are mostly amber will produce something that is great for blasting you onto the couch and helping you get to sleep. Trichromes are always being produced and maturing, so it is not unusual to see amber trichromes or clear trichromes when you want them all to be cloudy. I don't think you'll ever see 100% cloudy trichromes.
UV light degrades trichromes; it degrades THC. During the day, the sun destroys trichromes. One of the things the plant does at night is regenerate its shields for the upcoming day, so to speak. This is why a lot of people, myself included, leave the plant in the dark (with ample, ample, ample air circulation and attention to humidity/temperature) for an extended period prior to harvest. The plant keeps building its shields (boosting trichromes) during this dark cycle. I do an extra 12 hours minimum and try for at least 24 hours. I know people who do 3 days, but we have too many other differences in how we do things to make a decent comparison. At the very least though, pull your plants at the end of the dark cycle versus the end of the light cycle.
Gramaw49
Member
If you haven't done so already, you might want to read up on "preparing for harvest". At about 2 weeks pre-harvest with a soil grow, you want to do a double-flush, followed by less watering (and no nutes) thereafter. You might also want to strip some leaves. If you need more info on this, let me know. Don't want to feed you info you already have!