When to taste

When, during the flowering cycle, has your bud matured enough to just TRY IT?

And where on the plant (top, middle, bottom) am I most likely to find a good 'test' bud?

Thanks!!

They mature from the top down, but I ususaly test from the lil bottom buds.

Wait until some of the pistils turn a darker color.

Or you see the trichs becoming cloudy

or wait until you harvest and have cured and dried properly.

I would give you my teenager analogy of waiting for them to grow up before you "de-flower" them, but someone might get upset or offended.

m8 i am in same situation i started flushing today - improves flavour (allows natural flavour) - nutes taste bad

imo wait as long as u can - taking bud too soon is just robbing from your self

if u must just look for the bud with the most reddish/brown pistals (hairs that were white)

i would go upper middle - not top (best bit save it to mature)



this one is about 1 week from being ready yet it already has 50% reddish brown pistals

gl bud

OR....from the bottom...anytime you want

J Bud Dawg said:

When, during the flowering cycle, has your bud matured enough to just TRY IT?

And where on the plant (top, middle, bottom) am I most likely to find a good 'test' bud?

Thanks!!

Click to expand...

taking buds before ripe is losing more than you take. But if you must sample early, then who am I to stop you

I would go lower, because those will be the least ripe and smallest impact on yields compared to if you had left it till ripe.

hi again i found this good info:

Testing Your Buds
Most new growers start picking at their crop only a few weeks after budding starts. Usually this is because inexperienced growers get too excited and they don?t know that these small, immature buds still have a way to go before they hit peak maturity and reach the highest trichome development. But there is definitely nothing wrong with being excited about your ladies! Even veteran growers still get giddy seeing their plants start to sag under the weight of so much resin.
I don?t recommend taking any buds from your plants until they are approaching their window of harvest, and you should only take a small bud every day or two. You can test your first bud when approximately 10% of the pistils have turned reddishbrown; take it from the middle area of the plant. Once you?ve cut your self a small bud to try out, you need to dry it, but drying and curing traditionally takes longer than the entire window of peak maturity, so you have to quick dry it. Quick drying is a sub-optimal way to turn a lush, wet bud into something you can smoke, but it?s the best way to quickly test your bud every other day as it matures.

There are lots of different ways to quick dry your bud, but one of the best ways is to use your lighting ballasts in the grow room. First, cut up your fresh bud and spread it out evenly in an envelope. Close the envelope and place it on top of your ballast, then leave it there for two to three hours while the light is on.
After the buds are dried out, put them in an airtight container and allow the last of the moisture to move from the stem into the bud. Considering this is a quick dry method, the taste is usually good and the potency is acceptable.
Also, the use of a vaporizer will allow you to concentrate on your high rather than being distracted by the odd taste of quick-dried weed smoke.

By now you know what trichomes are and how the chemicals in them evolve from producing a head high to a body high over a couple of weeks.
You also know that the pistils on your buds change color from white to reddish-brown as the window of harvest opens and closes, as well as what type of high to expect depending on the percentage of new and mature pistils.

Throughout the window of harvest, you took small buds from the middle of the plant, quick dried them, then tested them out to determine the type of high you want your crop to give you. Now, you can harvest your plants with confidence in knowing that they will be loaded with resin that produces just the right kind of high you were looking for. Enjoy your harvest!

its not worth "sampling nugs" until you've raised her through the full flower cycle and have had her hanging to dry for 3-7days. when its dry enough to actually smoke. thats the earliest id sample from it. i usually wait till its been cured in the jars though, thats the best smoke !! (y)

its not worth taking nugs off during flower. chances are the THC isnt even in its physco-active component. which wont get you high. so whats the point??