Sativa Harvest Timing?

[Stormycirca65]

I'm looking forward to examining the shapes of tricome production as well. A never thought of examination, not by me anyway. my grow may differ from others in that I use hps and mh in the grow area. MH unfiltered for UV and abundant in it. I supply a full spectrum already and can vary the pressure from positive to negative pressure with a switch.

 

[Stormycirca65]

See, that's what I've been thinking. At 8 wks, I'm only half way there.

 

[GreatLife4All]

I grew a 14 week sativa once... man that is a long wait for some quality meds.

 

[David Bowman]

And don't get me wrong - I have used the ratio of colors in the trichs for years and I have always been very happy.

I am not complaining about a method that doesn't work... I am saying that there is a better, more consistent, method.

That's exactly my take on it as well. I'm not out to bash an already proven technique, just improve upon it if possible.

You should definitely catalog this in your journal. I would be very interested in someone doing some detailed analysis with equipment that I simply don't have.

I will as soon as I get some trichs on my ladies. I will probably do more frequent updates since it appears that the changes to the trichs can occur much faster than changes to the plants themselves.

 

[GreatLife4All]

You will have trichs... then a few trichs... then a forest of trichs... and finally, hopefully smokestacks which touch. Perfect time to harvest, IMO.

 

[GreatLife4All]

See, that's what I've been thinking. At 8 wks, I'm only half way there.

Another hint.

You can sorta... kinda tell the flowering cycle by how long they stretch. If you get a very short stretch - say a week to ten days, then you have a 7 or early 8 week variety. If you get about 14 days of stretch (very common), then you have an 8 to 9 week variety.

That sativa that I grew with a 14 week schedule stretched for nearly 28 days.

I also grew a Super Silver Haze with a 12 week maturity and it stretched for 21 days.

So I can't give an exact schedule - but there is some correlation there. If you have been tracking things, you might be able to use this hint to figure out an approximate schedule.

 

[Stormycirca65]

I'm glad I posted this question. I've learned a few things and I appreciate all the feedback so far! Thanks guys!

 

[Stormycirca65]

new member...pfft ...still pisses me off

 

[Conradino23]

With pure sativa you might want to consider alternative photoperiod - I presume you grow indoor - as landraces are not used to indoor stable photoperiod. Often 13 hours of darkness is advised if they veg for too long and cutting the light even to 8-9 hours in the last 3-4 weeks, which prevents revegging typically seen in South Asian and African varieties. Just my five pence.

 

[GreatLife4All]

Ok... I have an OG which is approximately a week away from harvest.

I tried taking pictures - and this is the best that I can do to show the effect.

First, let me brag a little by showing the whole bud. This side cola is over 8 inches long and is so heavy that even tied up - it leans over vertical

Here are some closeups of the same bud. Depending on where you look - you can find clear, milky, and amber trichomes in different ratios. But no matter where you look, all the trichomes still look a little immature based on my earlier descriptions.

Thus they have a little more time to fill out. Also notice that there are nice little balloons on all of the trichomes... so based on that description of harvest time I am there.

And another brag - my purple haze. Starting to turn purple now and a great little nug shot of it. I need lights out to show the color on that one.

I will try to update one more time when I harvest.

GL4A

 

[Stormycirca65]

Thx Conradino, I had thought of shortening the photoperiod by an hour or two and I may still, but I don't need to rush the harvest. I simply want to be able to recognize peak maturity in a (nearly?) pure Sativa strain.
Holy crap GL4A, those are some frosty ass nugs bro! You should brag and then you should ship 1/4 of your harvest to me...for inspection and critique ; )
Sativa growers and lovers... Please keep chiming in with advice... Stormy

 

[GreatLife4All]

Thank you for the comment.

Unfortunately... I am selfish. Quality meds like that are not for sharing, but instead

I got to sample a little this weekend cause I "accidentally" broke a branch... No, really, I did. Very nice and slightly fruity. No harshness at all - which is surprising for quick dry.

I am using UVB in that tent... burned the leaves cause it was a little too heavy. But man did it produce some trichs. The indica (Afghani Haze 33) that I harvested last week was absolutely covered in resin. Haven't sampled it yet... but previous experience tells me it is going to be very good.

 

[Stormycirca65]

Thx for the status upgrade 420 ; )

 

[Conradino23]

I just chopped down Malawi Gold with a total mixture of trichs, I'd say around 50% cloudy, 30-40 clear and the rest amber, so the thing is if you keep this particular strain going longer in my local climate, you're gonna be getting more cloudy and amber trichs in the same time. Not really what I expected, but u grow u learn