Harvest Time, Need Insight Please :)

[xtrchessreal]

Acapulco Gold soil 12/12 1000W HPS tank-CO2 enrichment 8 weeks (pics below)

Observation:

I am seeing the trichomes on the fan leaves near the bud are being absorbed back into the leaf and the leaf turns a purple brown in these locations. What was frost at first, turns into a shiny blotch, then purple-ish brown just as the rest of the leaf begins to yellow.

My understanding:

As the plant nears the end of its life cycle the leaves are supposed to turn yellow. This marks the point at which the plant is absorbing Nitrogen from the leaves. I am not supposed to provide Nitrogen to the plant at this point because it will make the smoke harsh. According to Indoor Marijuana Horticulture I should be focused on the rate of change of the color of the pistils from plump yellow to rusty brown and the shape and clarity of the trichomes on the bud. Clear trichomes give you a nice uplifting high where as cloudy and brown trichomes give you couch lock, or the feeling like you want to sleep. I want the Uplifting high.

Questions:

Are the trichomes that are being absorbed an indicator that I have waited too long to harvest or is this a natural process along the way? The big fan leaves are yellowing and still have some green in them, the Pistils are about 50% yellow to brown. The trichomes on the bud are still clear and the small bud leaves are still green. I am at 2 weeks of providing H2O only and 8 weeks of bloom.

What would you do and why?

Thank you for your input and effort.

X

Notice the Brown/Purple areas on the fan leaves, you can still see some of the trichomes but most have vanished.

 

[The303Stoner]

A pic would help

 

[xtrchessreal]

I added a Pic to my post.

X

 

[canabinerd]

I think a pic that show the plant in its entirety (not just a close-up of a leaf) would be nice in order to answer your questions best. She's 8 weeks into flower and you have been flushing with nothing but pH'd water for two weeks.

What would I do? Monitor trichomes until ready to harvest at which point I would give her the old choppy-chop.

The phenomena you are observing with the glandular trichomes disappearing from leaves that are dying is a nothing. The only thing it tells you is that you've been starving your plant for two weeks to prepare for harvest and therefore probably have multiple macro and micronutrient deficiencies. As a consequence, your fan leaves are being metabolized and dying to provide the plant with the nutrients it needs (one more reason I'm uncertain of heavy defoliation) to complete its lifecycle.

So if anything is "wrong" at this point it is probably too late to do anything about it since from the looks of the picture above, you will likely be chopping soon. Now, if upon looking at the trichomes you were to observe that you were still all clear I would consider giving a light feeding to help swell the buds if I thought I would need to keep her alive for more than a week or so, but once again that decision would be best made after seeing the whole plant, not just a leaf. Anyway, hope that helps. Good luck with your harvest.

 

[trichomes]

horrible pics, please post lots more pics, then, you will get many responders! I'll be one of them!

 

[xtrchessreal]

I do not have a sophisticated camera, coolpix 7.1 megapixel. I tried my galaxy s phone but the sampling rate of the electronics causes aliasing with the wavelength of the HPS light and the pic looks like you are looking through window blinds. I will try to get better pics later.

Thanks for the info everyone

X

 

[canabinerd]

Just turn off the HPS and use regular light long enough to take a picture. You won't hurt your plant as long as it's during its light cycle.

 

[CronicHempHog]

or use a scope to check buds for trich color
ie: clear, cloudy, amber
id wait till mostly cloudy with maybe 10-15% amber but everyone has different times they choose some like more amber some not its partially a personal preference but if you let it go too long the heads will shrivel

 

[garce]

i have posted the same question a few times and researched many times ... responses seem like the post was not read ..
i know exactly what you mean ... the trichs form on fan leaves and then start to go somewhere ? WHERE ? if absorbed by
leaves , does the THC remain ? decrease ? ... or what ?
this has been a frustrating topic for me , probably nothing to worry about , but IF the trichs are absorbed by the leaves and
retains active THC , i want to do something with those leaves beside just making oil ... g

 

[Dan Ultra]

If you want an uplifting high, get a scope or a loupe and harvest when you see this. This is about 10% amber

 

[garce]

If you want an uplifting high, get a scope or a loupe and harvest when you see this. This is about 10% amber

Thank you , but i do that already and it's not what i was asking about ..
When you loupe your girls , do you notice that on the new fan leaves , they are covered with trichs ,
as they grow larger , the trichs disappear !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Even before they get milky ... what is happening ??
Do the trichs get absorbed into the leaves ? are the leaves then rich with thc ? thanks .. garce

 

[rillos]

What has happened is that you starved your plant. The only advice I can give you is that next time have patience.

 

[closetorganic]

My thinking on the disappearance of that resin on those yellow leaves could be the degrading of it.I heard you can overflower a plant where the good stuff begins to break down or decompose and also heard to check the trichomes on the flowers holding main supply of the medicine rather than the leaves where you may see the cloudy and amber first.
Not thinking they get absorbed is my idea
Sweet trichome pics UD