When to stop feeding unknown strain?

HarveyHarvester

Well-Known Member
I have some free mystery beans from Nirvana and think this is probably an acquired skill i do not yet possess (on 2nd grow), but thought there may be some general rule like "stop feeding when first amber trichome appears" or something similar...

Is there a rough way to know when to stop feeding? about 10 days out i guess?
 

Dan Drews

Well-Known Member
There's at least 10,000 threads here which discuss when to stop feeding before harvest, with answers ranging from 3 weeks before harvest to the day of harvest. Some people say you have to flush for 2 weeks while others will call you bad names if you flush at all.

The bottom line IMHO - assuming you're using organic nutes, you should feed up to the last week before harvest, then fresh water only for a couple of days (assuming you're watering daily), then nothing for the final couple of days. When the plant starts to look slightly droopy from lack of water, and assuming you have no more white hairs and the trichs look the way you want them, harvest the whole plant OR just the most mature buds. If you left some buds on the plant, water again to keep the plant happy and let the remaining buds fully ripen, then repeat.
 

thewanderingjack

Well-Known Member
There's at least 10,000 threads here which discuss when to stop feeding before harvest, with answers ranging from 3 weeks before harvest to the day of harvest. Some people say you have to flush for 2 weeks while others will call you bad names if you flush at all.

The bottom line IMHO - assuming you're using organic nutes, you should feed up to the last week before harvest, then fresh water only for a couple of days (assuming you're watering daily), then nothing for the final couple of days. When the plant starts to look slightly droopy from lack of water, and assuming you have no more white hairs and the trichs look the way you want them, harvest the whole plant OR just the most mature buds. If you left some buds on the plant, water again to keep the plant happy and let the remaining buds fully ripen, then repeat.
Maybe he hoped to find a mystic here, that could guess his strain, estimate when it should finish, and give him an exact date? ;-)

Way to give him a VERY useful answer though, you rock! :)
 

LegalizeNature420

Well-Known Member
Not when first amber appear, but when practically all the clear trichomes have disappeared. This is because an amber trichome might appear long before a plant should be harvested, but if nearly all the trichomes are at least cloudy, you could harvest. This is important because you don't want to misjudge and have to reintroduce ferts. When I first started out, I nearly ruined a crop because I began to flush with fresh water when 25% of trichomes were still clear. I believe it was around day 63, but I ended up harvesting at day 104! The trichomes just sorta stalled. Genetics can be funny like that, and that's why I say, be safe and wait until it can be harvested.
 

thewanderingjack

Well-Known Member
Not when first amber appear, but when practically all the clear trichomes have disappeared. This is because an amber trichome might appear long before a plant should be harvested, but if nearly all the trichomes are at least cloudy, you could harvest. This is important because you don't want to misjudge and have to reintroduce ferts. When I first started out, I nearly ruined a crop because I began to flush with fresh water when 25% of trichomes were still clear. I believe it was around day 63, but I ended up harvesting at day 104! The trichomes just sorta stalled. Genetics can be funny like that, and that's why I say, be safe and wait until it can be harvested.
Only getting into the trich method myself, always used pistils before... how does this look (this is the most zoom I have... the digital microscope I have is too pixelated to tell what's happening, I know I need to get a loupe or better microscope)?

19700101_201140.jpg 19700101_200925.jpg
 
Top