Trichromes

southeastbud

Well-Known Member
Hello everybody i have a pretty simple question for someone experienced with growing.I have learned so much from reading peoples post on this site its not even funny, but im still a noob.Ok i have a beautiful plant right now that is growing better than i expected considering its a cfl grow.Right now my trichromes are clear to milky looking through a jewelers lens but i was wondering under normal circumstances how long does it take to go from clear to amber trichromes? I have tried a test bud and its very suprisingly good but i want amber trichromes so i get couchlock, how many weeks should i be looking at to turn amber ? I have been flowering for 8 weeks this coming saturday, thanks to anyone who can help. :leaf:
 

sirbudmaster

Well-Known Member
It really depends, but some strains can turn fairly quickly...i would suggest checking them daily or every other until your at your peek prefrence.....your close now and another week may be needed...have you flushed yet?


Peace
 

ddriver

Well-Known Member
it depends on the strain, most indica dominant plants will be ready in 8 weeks

your are now clear to milky trichs, next step is milky to amber, you should be harvesting soon, 1-2 weeks probably

if you have a tall sativa dominant plant you might have up to 3-4 weeks more maximum

as far as I know it is safe to harvest when 60-70% of the hairs turn brown
more milky trichs will give you more high smoke, more amber trichs will give you stoner smoke

also in general indica is more stoney and sativa is more high
 

southeastbud

Well-Known Member
I started flushing over the weekend, only once so far.I was hoping to be smoking by christmas but that just aint gonna happen, i will keep an eye on them daily and see where they stand, the strain is skunk red hair from nirvana it says flowering time 8/10 weeks on there site, thanks everyone for the quick answers +rep for everyone who helped so fast. Peace
 

ddriver

Well-Known Member
you have good chances, if you harvest within a week you can water cure some bud (will take up to 6-7 days) and have some smoke for the holidays, you can leave the rest to dry normally and cure in jars
 

OrarkCray

Active Member
if you really want some smoke for x-mas, cut off the lowest bud and speed dry by a fan, it will give you a good concept of where your smoke is with the trichromes and you got a lil smoke for yourself.
 

ddriver

Well-Known Member
or even better - cut the buds and place them in a paper envelope and on top of your ballast - they will dry in a few hours

but it still will be harsh, and maybe even bad for you, if you havent flushed the plants

best case scenario is water cure for as long as you can (not more than 7 days) even 3-4 days will be MUCH MUCH better than no cure, and then use the ballast dry method, you will have the buds dried out in a couple of hours and they will be much softer to smoke and won't taste SO BAD
 

southeastbud

Well-Known Member
Thats funny i did the envelope over the weekend, and yeah it was harsh but it did the job :-P I have seen some people talking about water curing here but never paid any attention to it.I read up on it yesterday and does it really make the bud more potent? I was going to take this bud off the lower branch and try this method, it said to do it for 7 days and change the water everyday.My thing is it said to use r/o water(reverse osmosis), well thats not an option i have so will bottled water work ? Thanks again if anyone comes back to this post. :peace:
 

Antman

Well-Known Member
I was gonna write that this info I'm giving you was "my opinion", but it's not my opinion, it's a fact. You don't need to flush your plant to get great tasting, super smooth smoke from your plant. I myself, along with NUMEROUS, other long time, extremely knowledgable growers on this site(and other sites also), NEVER, EVER flush. As long as you dry your buds right, and then cure them right, you'll have the best smoke you've ever packed in your bowl. In fact, I'll even go as far as to say that if you do flush, your plants will take longer to finish up. Here's the way I see it. The one time I flushed my plant(b4 RIU existed, when I was a noobie, and went by what some others said), my plant seemed to suffer more than anything. It started to droop, and the leaves all started turning yellow. Yes, some leaves will die and turn yellow towards the end of flowering, but not like mine did and expeditiously following the flush. A flowering plant needs food to produce the biggest, bestest buds possible, especially in the end when it's finishing up. If you strip the grow medium of the essential nutrients that your plant is using, it's gonna suffer. No two ways about it. I feed my plants right up to a week before harvest, and I've been told on more than 100 occasions, lol, that my stuff is the smoothest they've ever had. I've done the test to see if there was a difference, and there wasn't. Flushed one plant(same strain and grow times, etc.) and left the other one alone, and you would never be able to tell the difference between the two. As for how much longer your plant will need, that's up to the plant really. They're all different, so flowering times will vary. Like sirbudmaster said, they tend to turn quickly right in the end, so if you have been flowering for 8 weeks now, and your plant is one that takes 8-10 weeks to flower, and you want the "couch-lock" kinda high, I would say you need to wait for the later side of the grow time. But definately check it every two days or so. Phwew! That's gotta be the longest post I've ever wrote. Hope it helps.:bigjoint:
 

thiCbuds

Active Member
I'm growing some Super Skunk and it sounds like ours are on the same pace. It's my first grow as well, so I'll be checking back here for advice as well. I just snipped off a little bud and are currently slow drying it for the weekend. I too was hoping for a little Christmas present next week. But I may just have to bring in 2009 with it instead...
 

southeastbud

Well-Known Member
Thanks to everybody that took the time to help, lol the last week has been hard seeing those beautiful buds and convincing myself to keep my damn hands off.Thanks again and happy holidays.:joint: +rep for all
 

OrarkCray

Active Member
I was gonna write that this info I'm giving you was "my opinion", but it's not my opinion, it's a fact. You don't need to flush your plant to get great tasting, super smooth smoke from your plant. I myself, along with NUMEROUS, other long time, extremely knowledgable growers on this site(and other sites also), NEVER, EVER flush. As long as you dry your buds right, and then cure them right, you'll have the best smoke you've ever packed in your bowl. In fact, I'll even go as far as to say that if you do flush, your plants will take longer to finish up. Here's the way I see it. The one time I flushed my plant(b4 RIU existed, when I was a noobie, and went by what some others said), my plant seemed to suffer more than anything. It started to droop, and the leaves all started turning yellow. Yes, some leaves will die and turn yellow towards the end of flowering, but not like mine did and expeditiously following the flush. A flowering plant needs food to produce the biggest, bestest buds possible, especially in the end when it's finishing up. If you strip the grow medium of the essential nutrients that your plant is using, it's gonna suffer. No two ways about it. I feed my plants right up to a week before harvest, and I've been told on more than 100 occasions, lol, that my stuff is the smoothest they've ever had. I've done the test to see if there was a difference, and there wasn't. Flushed one plant(same strain and grow times, etc.) and left the other one alone, and you would never be able to tell the difference between the two. As for how much longer your plant will need, that's up to the plant really. They're all different, so flowering times will vary. Like sirbudmaster said, they tend to turn quickly right in the end, so if you have been flowering for 8 weeks now, and your plant is one that takes 8-10 weeks to flower, and you want the "couch-lock" kinda high, I would say you need to wait for the later side of the grow time. But definately check it every two days or so. Phwew! That's gotta be the longest post I've ever wrote. Hope it helps.:bigjoint:
From what I know, another huge benefit of leaching nutes is consumption of N and feeding nutes will just increase the overall N concentration, and I don't think that too much of the N can be gotten rid of through water curing(altho putting you plant in darkness for 72 hours b4 harvest could do the trick). But I've tested some water cure next to some normal, absolutly the same as far as how harsh it was(taste was different), but I have had strains that I did not like the water cure of and vice versa. One thing tho, I find water cure has a fresh taste to it, whereas the cured has less N and tastes more like the tarpins, personally I like the fresh taste in sativas so water cure for sativas, regular cure for indicas for me.
 

mawiwauiwithlabrador

Active Member
Basically it takes 2 months of flowering for the early finishers, up to 3 months for the later ones. You can buy a pocket microscope (or jeweler's magnifying glass x30 is good enough). With this device, check the trichomes (the resin). 3 stages:

- clear: you'll get a more heady high. Better to wait.

- cloudy: almost there. The high is in between heady and couch lock.

- amber: latest stage. The high is the most powerful.

Usually people cut it when the trichomes are 50 cloudy/ 50 amber.
 

OrarkCray

Active Member
Basically it takes 2 months of flowering for the early finishers, up to 3 months for the later ones. You can buy a pocket microscope (or jeweler's magnifying glass x30 is good enough). With this device, check the trichomes (the resin). 3 stages:

- clear: you'll get a more heady high. Better to wait.

- cloudy: almost there. The high is in between heady and couch lock.

- amber: latest stage. The high is the most powerful.

Usually people cut it when the trichomes are 50 cloudy/ 50 amber.
This is very good advice, if you find those hard to find or need one very quickly near the busy x-mas, a very good camera can zoom in pretty far if you have one lying around aswell.
 
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