When to harvest

Nocturnal_breed_lhp

Nocturnal_breed_lhp

Member
I'm an amateur in growing,... Im having a problem knowing when to harvest. If someone can tell me I would appreciate it. I uploaded some pics to help.. I been on 12/12 fora week shy of 3 months but when I've chopped 2 of my plants hung them upside down, I'm told once dry I must cure in Jar, I keep smelling a grassy smell which is annoying the shit of of me because15594732387742890276438792845854.jpg 15594735047664326393616187939463.jpg they looked great when I picked them. Basically I don't know for sure and I can use some help.. I appreciate it 15594732387742890276438792845854.jpg
 
Merlin1147

Merlin1147

Well-Known Member
The buds in the pic are nowhere near ready for harvest. It doesn’t appear that they are even done with their stretch. 11 weeks at 12/12 but when did they start to show flowering. Sometimes takes a couple weeks. Then you can start counting weeks in flower. If it’s a known strain you can reference the breeder flower time to get a general idea, but they lie. The plant is going to grow up. When it stops growing up then the buds will start to grow out. That hay smell is from early harvesting. It may go away in a couple of months. Get yourself a 30-60x loupe on Amazon. Checking the trichomes is the best way. Clear is not ready, milky is getting there, some amber is ready. Be patient! It is a whole lot easier to harvest too early than too late. I would wager that no one has ever harvested too late without some extenuating circumstance. Also pics look like a bit of nutrient tip burn going on. As for curing, I hang dry till the outsides are crispy 7-10 days then clip the buds off the stem and put them in a paper bag rolled closed till they are at a smokeable moisture 7-10 days mixing once a day then trim and jar.
 
EezyTimez

EezyTimez

Member
Have you had them on 12/12 since seed ? Did you allow veg time? .. is it an auto strain ? .. 3 months of 12/12 seems crazy for it not even being ready yet mate that's crazy hope it all.works.out for you
 
Thundercat

Thundercat

Well-Known Member
This plant definitely doesn't seem mature. My guess is environmental issues slowed the process along the way at some point. How much/what kind of light are you using? How have the temps been?

I had some extreme cold issues this winter that I struggled to deal with for a few months. It drastically slowed my plants down. Clones that normally take about 5-7 days to transition to flower took about 24. Then normally they need about 9-10 weeks to flower and ripen this time they took about 2 weeks longer then usual. They turned out as gorgeous plants in the end, but they were drastically slowed down by the cold during the transition.

So my point being this plant has hope :). Depending on the overall environment you might be able to pull something out still. It does look kinda skimpy though. I don't know your plans for more grows or upgrades. Maybe its just better to look forward, and make that next plan so things are better.
 
Logan Burke

Logan Burke

Well-Known Member
I can't distinguish hair colors under the HPS light, but she looks a bit shy of maturity. I know that I had a Snow White plant that had all milky trichs with some beginning to degrade into amber, yet had buds that were relatively small and look similar to yours, which I believe is mostly due to the fact that I messed up in mid-flower and severely reduced my yields. This is why I always suggest a cheap-o digital pocket microscope to any grower. It really helps you determine ripeness.
 
Nocturnal_breed_lhp

Nocturnal_breed_lhp

Member
Merlin1147 said:
The buds in the pic are nowhere near ready for harvest. It doesn’t appear that they are even done with their stretch. 11 weeks at 12/12 but when did they start to show flowering. Sometimes takes a couple weeks. Then you can start counting weeks in flower. If it’s a known strain you can reference the breeder flower time to get a general idea, but they lie. The plant is going to grow up. When it stops growing up then the buds will start to grow out. That hay smell is from early harvesting. It may go away in a couple of months. Get yourself a 30-60x loupe on Amazon. Checking the trichomes is the best way. Clear is not ready, milky is getting there, some amber is ready. Be patient! It is a whole lot easier to harvest too early than too late. I would wager that no one has ever harvested too late without some extenuating circumstance. Also pics look like a bit of nutrient tip burn going on. As for curing, I hang dry till the outsides are crispy 7-10 days then clip the buds off the stem and put them in a paper bag rolled closed till they are at a smokeable moisture 7-10 days mixing once a day then trim and jar.
Click to expand...
I really appreciate the help, you answered all my questions that I have been trying to figure out. Good thing I didn't waste too much money on this round . Thank you!!
 
Merlin1147

Merlin1147

Well-Known Member
Thundercat said:
They turned out as gorgeous plants in the end, but they were drastically slowed down by the cold during the transition.
Click to expand...
@Thundercat i don’t want to jack this thread but I’m interested in knowing if you think there are any benefit in yield and more specifically, quality, of intentionally slowing down the transition. I realize the longer production time but personally I’m not worried about that if it gives me more sites that develop fully, prettier buds etc. as compared to say just leaving them in veg for the added delay time and then transitioning them normally.
 
EezyTimez

EezyTimez

Member
Merlin1147 said:
@Thundercat i don’t want to jack this thread but I’m interested in knowing if you think there are any benefit in yield and more specifically, quality, of intentionally slowing down the transition. I realize the longer production time but personally I’m not worried about that if it gives me more sites that develop fully, prettier buds etc. as compared to say just leaving them in veg for the added delay time and then transitioning them normally.
Click to expand...
I'd like to know this too
 
macsnax

macsnax

Well-Known Member
Merlin1147 said:
@Thundercat i don’t want to jack this thread but I’m interested in knowing if you think there are any benefit in yield and more specifically, quality, of intentionally slowing down the transition. I realize the longer production time but personally I’m not worried about that if it gives me more sites that develop fully, prettier buds etc. as compared to say just leaving them in veg for the added delay time and then transitioning them normally.
Click to expand...
I'm not answering for Thundercat, so please feel free to add your reply buddy. I just had to put my two cents in because I've been seeing this a lot lately with some cuts I'm running.... I personally think if a plant is that ready to flower, like starts putting out pistils in a matter of days after flip. That there's really no difference in how they stack budsite's. I think they just do it at a faster rate. My gelato does this, it will look like a seed plant does at 2-3 weeks, after only a week to 10 days. It also finishes in under 60 days in my garden. This is just how I see it happening and I don't really see it from seed plants. I think some of these cuts have been passed so much they're just simply ready to go at the flip of a switch.
 
Merlin1147

Merlin1147

Well-Known Member
macsnax said:
they're just simply ready to go at the flip of a switch.
Click to expand...
That makes sense! The cutting is coming from a plant that is already mature (alternating leaves). I’ve seen that in orange tree propagation where normally it takes years for a seedling to flower and produce fruit but if you take a cutting from an already producing branch it will flower and at least try to set fruit the first year.
 
macsnax

macsnax

Well-Known Member
Merlin1147 said:
That makes sense! The cutting is coming from a plant that is already mature (alternating leaves). I’ve seen that in orange tree propagation where normally it takes years for a seedling to flower and produce fruit but if you take a cutting from an already producing branch it will flower and at least try to set fruit the first year.
Click to expand...
That's exactly what's going on with cuts. They come from a mother that's been mature for a long time, so they're ready to flower at the drop of a hat. Once again @Thundercat I didn't mean to jump in front of ya, I'm sure you have some insight as well.
 
Renfro

Renfro

Well-Known Member
Those look like buds from underneath the good buds in my grow. Like they don't get any light.
 
Thundercat

Thundercat

Well-Known Member
Merlin1147 said:
@Thundercat i don’t want to jack this thread but I’m interested in knowing if you think there are any benefit in yield and more specifically, quality, of intentionally slowing down the transition. I realize the longer production time but personally I’m not worried about that if it gives me more sites that develop fully, prettier buds etc. as compared to say just leaving them in veg for the added delay time and then transitioning them normally.
Click to expand...
I don't think there is any benefit. Much like Macsnax said, when they are ready they are ready. The plants that I had go real slow ended up turning out very similar to how they always do, they just took much much longer to get there.
 
D

DaFreak

Well-Known Member
I've had to cut a round early once or twice and it never caused anything to smell like hay, first I've heard of that.

I'm with somebody above who said that something might be off with your environment which caused slow maturation. Light leaks etc. Even with plants from seed 3 months should be near the end for most plants.
 
Nicebuds420

Nicebuds420

Well-Known Member
Merlin1147 said:
The buds in the pic are nowhere near ready for harvest. It doesn’t appear that they are even done with their stretch. 11 weeks at 12/12 but when did they start to show flowering. Sometimes takes a couple weeks. Then you can start counting weeks in flower. If it’s a known strain you can reference the breeder flower time to get a general idea, but they lie. The plant is going to grow up. When it stops growing up then the buds will start to grow out. That hay smell is from early harvesting. It may go away in a couple of months. Get yourself a 30-60x loupe on Amazon. Checking the trichomes is the best way. Clear is not ready, milky is getting there, some amber is ready. Be patient! It is a whole lot easier to harvest too early than too late. I would wager that no one has ever harvested too late without some extenuating circumstance. Also pics look like a bit of nutrient tip burn going on. As for curing, I hang dry till the outsides are crispy 7-10 days then clip the buds off the stem and put them in a paper bag rolled closed till they are at a smokeable moisture 7-10 days mixing once a day then trim and jar.
Click to expand...
Lol you are wrong about counting weeks a couple weeks into 12/12 you count from the flip i have strains that finish exactly at 56 days from flip wich is 8 weeks and i have some that take 9-11 weeks from flip you count from the flip his weed isnt ripe by no means and seems to be on week 4-5
 
Merlin1147

Merlin1147

Well-Known Member
Nicebuds420 said:
Lol you are wrong about counting weeks a couple weeks into 12/12 you count from the flip i have strains that finish exactly at 56 days from flip wich is 8 weeks and i have some that take 9-11 weeks from flip you count from the flip his weed isnt ripe by no means and seems to be on week 4-5
Click to expand...
I don’t really count days so much as look at the overall plant and the trichomes. But If you tell a new grower to count from the flip, they will harvest early every time, because the breeder said. So here is an experiment to test the accuracy of count from the flip. Drop a seed of your 8 week strain in a gallon pot and put it in your flower room. Post a pic on Nov 1 and let us know how you made out.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top