Is this lady ready to harvest?

[AKgramma]

This lady is the best yet, and it is SOOOOO sticky with hard colas. She is OG Kush, sativa ancestry and has been in flower 60 days. Height is 30 inches including bin. Is she ready? I cannot tell through the loupe the difference between cloudy and clear trics. Old eyes. But the digital camera shows everything. This will be my 5th harvest this year.

 

[Weaselcracker]

Looks a bit early to me, based on the number of white pistils and the overall green appearance. But I like to leave them extra long I suppose. I like to leave them/flush until the leaves change color like a tree in the fall and the buds get to maximum stickiness. If it was my plant I'd be leaving it another week or even two. Some people like to harvest earlier though so it's a bit subjective.
And- if it's sativa dominant (?) I couldn't imagine it being done in 60 days. Mine mostly go at least 90, but again that's probably just me.

 

[AKgramma]

Looks a bit early to me, based on the number of white pistils and the overall green appearance. But I like to leave them extra long I suppose. I like to leave them/flush until the leaves change color like a tree in the fall and the buds get to maximum stickiness. If it was my plant I'd be leaving it another week or even two. Some people like to harvest earlier though so it's a bit subjective.
And- if it's sativa dominant (?) I couldn't imagine it being done in 60 days. Mine mostly go at least 90, but again that's probably just me.

I always appreciate your experience, WC! You are correct about the Sativa 90-day maturation. It's just that this lady seems to have gotten to this stage a lot faster than the previous 4, with bigger, harder buds. I SUPPOSE I could re-evaluate in 2 weeks, then decide if I need to wait till Xmas. And, yes, she's only getting water now.

 

[Weaselcracker]

Sometimes now I harvest a bud and trim it up. It seems like as soon as I get trimming I figure out whether Its ready or whether I cut too soon. This happened a lot in the past and I would regret chopping too early. Somehow it's easier to tell when you're dissecting it than it is when it's on the plant. In your case if it's just one main cola that method would be more difficult, unless you don't mind mangling it a bit.

 

[AKgramma]

Sometimes now I harvest a bud and trim it up. It seems like as soon as I get trimming I figure out whether Its ready or whether I cut too soon. This happened a lot in the past and I would regret chopping too early. Somehow it's easier to tell when you're dissecting it than it is when it's on the plant. In your case if it's just one main cola that method would be more difficult, unless you don't mind mangling it a bit.

Oh, She has a bunch of smaller buds, but my beta-testers aren't always available on-call. And I don't smoke. So I need to go by how they look. I'll give her the full 90 days, unless she gives up the ghost sooner.

 

[Weaselcracker]

Funny, most beta testers are available on call 24/7. It's something about trimming up the buds and seeing the color inside and texture that lets me gauge the ripeness even more than actually smoking it. Any beta testers I've ever used always said 'it's great! Give us more'

 

[josh223]

Looks like you have two weeks to go.

If you haven't noticed, you have spider mites. There's slight webbing in all pics in addition to leaf stippling.

 

[AKgramma]

Looks like you have two weeks to go.

If you haven't noticed, you have spider mites. There's slight webbing in all pics in addition to leaf stippling.

The webbing is cat hair. Long-haired Siamese. LOL! It comes in on my clothes, and it is impossible to get rid of.

The stippling is what's left after winning a battle against mites. I check the leaves every day now and if there is ANY indication of a mite, it either get squashed, or the leaf is removed. So this is one of the last batch of ladies who went through the mite treatment. They ARE going to look like Hell till harvest, because they aren't going to grow any more leaves while in flower.

 

[jojo677]

I'd say you have a bit more to go as well. I'm still learning to tell when they're "ripe" but the color of the pistols is a good way to tell, and your plant still looks kind of green. I'd give it another week, maybe 2.

 

[AKgramma]

I'd say you have a bit more to go as well. I'm still learning to tell when they're "ripe" but the color of the pistols is a good way to tell, and your plant still looks kind of green. I'd give it another week, maybe 2.

Agreed. it looks like it is a consensus. I'll let her go the full 90 days, unless she shows signs of giving up the Good Fight beforehand.

 

[Papageno]

Sativas For sure take their own sweet time. That last 2 weeks...man I find it to be the most important as far as potency goes. They look good long before they actually are great.

Since you are in a perpetual take some real high res pics before harvest and next time try to go 3 more days and see if the smokers can tell a difference. Depending how you render it for eating or other purposes it may not make all that much difference. The ratio of CBD to THC is really what the last few days is all about and that is where the personal preference comes in...but if you are not smoking and rendering it down you may not even be able to tell.

 

[Proyields]

Og kush was one of my first grows. I remember because I was tripping out because the breeder suggested 68 days and mine went 80- plus.

 

[AKgramma]

Og kush was one of my first grows. I remember because I was tripping out because the breeder suggested 68 days and mine went 80- plus.

Same here. My first harvest seemed to go on forever. WC advised me that one had to pull the plug at some point and I was already past 100 days, with a second appearance of new hairs and calyxes. My beta-testers said is was better smoke than what they were buying from their contacts. Can't argue with that! Apparently it is well worth the wait.

 

[Papageno]

The single most important tool in the Pot growers tool box is patience. Without that you are building a shed without a hammer.

 

[AKgramma]

The single most important tool in the Pot growers tool box is patients. Without that you are building a shed without a hammer.

You mean patience? (I guess you could consider my beta-testers patients, but not according to the law.) Seriously, tho, yes, it seems like the sativa maturation stage takes FOREVER, but when you look back on how many times you harvest in one year, with a perpetual grow, it's not all that long. 90 days is 3 months or 13 weeks. I think 13 weeks sounds a lot shorter than 90 days.

Spacing out placing the ladies under 12/12, so you are harvesting more often, seems easier to me. I would not have the room, nor the endurance, to harvest and dry more than one plant at a time. The lady in the pictures will be harvested around Xmas, and that will be my 5th harvest since I started my first grow in March.

BTW, VI: do you have a journal? I'd be interested in reading it.

 

[Papageno]

yeah I am an engineer and let spell check talk for me. My wife is an English teacher so I let her worry about that stuff...But yeah I am an idiot.

No journal. Been asked many times to make one, or worse a youtube channel. I don't have the time really for that one and I am not into video editing at all...don't even have a video camera.

I am changing things constantly (seeds and methods...I do soil and hydro and different types of hydro..my next grow I plan to build a new hydro system) and I don't spend money on all the enviro controls. So I am constantly fighting with things and all I would be doing is throwing out pics of stuff where I know what the issue is and I am dealing with it and someone will be telling me what I need to do...I don't need any help.

I am growing in a tent in my garage and it is bellow freezing outside right now. So my vent fan is low and my humidity is way too low...who needs to see that? I do know how to get them to the finish line even in sub optimal conditions so my small personal home grow is not really the best example. I have only been in a tent for about a year now. I used to grow in smaller DIY cabinets or in very large grow spaces so this tent is still a newish thing for me to dial in.

I feel there are plenty of gurus out there with great journals not messing around like me with youtube videos to show you how it is done correctly so I don't need to do that. I am a home brewer of teas and I like to play with that recipe so I am a loose cannon who knows how to bring it back when it matters.

I think newbs should do a journal until they feel comfortable but no one needs to see the mess I make.

The only reason I am on here is about twice a year I have a question that I ask so I feel I need the karma points and give back. That and the laws on this are ridiculous so anything I can do to help others I will try.

 

[Papageno]

I have lately considered doing a "no nute" journal this summer. I don't normally grow in summer but I would like to document doing this truly on the cheap how we used to do it back in the day. So I might take some clones this spring and do a soil run where I only add water and my own tea brew (which does contain lots of stuff) and posting that.

A lot of people are in it for weight and volume and quick turn but that just aint me. I do it as a hobby now so I try doing all sorts of things you don't want newbs doing.

 

[Weaselcracker]

I mainly started a journal as an example of how to sort of/kind of pull off a grow while doing everything half-ass from ignorance, lack of time, and available supplies. I'm always travelling and barely even make into the grow once a week to throw some water at it. I think people do need to see journals like that. As it turned out- the grow looks glossier and better in photos than it does to me in real life and photos never capture the hell I go through harvesting plants in the middle of the night when I should be sleeping, and trying to cobble together equipment from broken crap from the garbage dump because there aren't any stores for hundreds of miles. Oh well. I do prefer the grow journals that aren't too slick and perfect though. Maybe people do need to see more of that haywiring stuff. Not that I'm trying to pressure you into starting a journal VI though it would be cool. Just saying- there's a place for everything.

 

[Papageno]

I hear you but my issue is I am the definition of a loose cannon. I know how to fix things. So I can take the path less traveled and get there. If some newb tries to follow my lead they are walking around on the deck of the ship and they may just cut my cord.


I think newbs need to try to do what they can to follow real easy methods. Don't jump into things that take lots of time and knowledge. they will still screw it up and you want them to do it when it is easy to fix, not something where you can crash it before you know something even started.

Once you know about why nutes are not food and how O2 is needed at night and bla bla... Once you have an understanding of how these things actually work then lets talk about putting it in 6th gear. You gotta crawl before you can walk.

I was just at this hydro store 2 weeks ago and talking to the owner. We were talking about his displays and what he should have in the front window. He has 3 open tents with 3 different grow methods there showing off what you can do. He was telling me how he wants to pear it down to like 1 maybe 2 and put out simple stuff and go hide the fancy stuff in the back. The reason is he gets these people (especially now in Oregon) who come in and think if they buy the top of the line stuff and follow a nute plan they found online they will be able to get rich...or at least some dank weed. Then they come back after a few months complaining about how it didn't work for them and he is like stuck trying to explain that "I told ya so"...you should have scaled up doing it this simple way first and come to me later for that stuff. He gets these people who want to return expensive equipment because they thought they could buy there way there. So we talked a bit about what is a good setup to have in the window for newbs...

I don't want to be the one who convinces someone to blow their hard earned money on something that turns into a disaster. I would rather hold hands and help them understand what they are doing right and wrong and why and help get them over the finish line.



But yeah those flowers aren't ready yet.

 

[AKgramma]

I have lately considered doing a "no nute" journal this summer. I don't normally grow in summer but I would like to document doing this truly on the cheap how we used to do it back in the day. So I might take some clones this spring and do a soil run where I only add water and my own tea brew (which does contain lots of stuff) and posting that.

A lot of people are in it for weight and volume and quick turn but that just aint me. I do it as a hobby now so I try doing all sorts of things you don't want newbs doing.

I am very interested in your tea recipes, VI! Can you post them?