Ok, where do you think I'm at? Need help

[Steelbuds89]

Alive now for over 120 days. I cannot inspect trichomes up close because all I have is a magnifying glass. I've been keeping the site posted on this grow that was a mystery seed. To this day I have no idea what strain, but because of its scent and how sticky it is..im jus going to go wit juicyfruit. I know she's real close to being done, I jus need some assistance because this is my first photoperiod plant.

 

[Rosti]

I still see white pistils so it’s got a little while longer. Looks like it’s going to be some stellar smoke though!
Edit: Just to throw this out there you can clip one small bud and dry it for a couple days to test it out and see if it’s to your liking.

 

[Steelbuds89]

Yea..I was thinking the same..at least another week..10days..the anticipation is killing me. So are you saying(personally) that you pull it when the majority of the stigmas are orange/brown..or is it just a person's personal preference?
One thing I can say is, the color it has revealed is spectacular..a lot of the buds are like..blueberry colored. Throughout the flower stage I've been keeping the RH between 25-40% during dark period to try an produce more resin an change color.

 

[Rosti]

Ya you got a week atleast, but you are very close...no personally I go by trichome maturity, I have 3 different scopes. A basic magnifying eye glass and two digital scopes, one is for checking trichomes the other is for taking pictures of them. But without a scope to examine the trichomes then I would go by the pistils, and make sure their all orange/brown and receded in before I pulled. See it’s tricky without a scope because some strains can start to amber up while some of their pistils are still white.. some take forever and will just start showing amber weeks after the pistils turn color and recede in. As far as when to harvest it’s all personal preference, 100% milky trichomes indicate the plant is at its peak potency and will provide a more upbeat/cerebral/ sativa leaning type of high, whereas 100% amber would be overripe (thc degraded) very sedating/couch lock and would provide more an indica type of high. Since you have no way to gauge the maturity of the trichomes, I recommend waiting until those hairs colors change and recede in... also it won’t hurt the plant to snip one of the lower buds off the plant to dry it for a couple days to test it out and see if it’s where you like it.. I still do this even though I can check my trichomes. My personal preference for most strains is around 80-90% milky and 10-20% amber. I really recommend going on amazon and ordering my a scope for 30$... it takes the stress away of missing your harvest window.
Edit: I also noticed you mention the beautiful colors your buds are displaying (great job btw) there are a few tricks to bringing out anthocyanin’s in your plants. The ones I use are swings in the RH (like you) and the temperature. Lights on 55% RH and 76F at lights off I drop it to 45% RH and 68F... another good trick is to keep the root zone cool, I usually keep the water in my buckets at 66-68F. Looks like you’ve done an excellent job bringing out colors I just wanted to throw those extras out there because they really do work. I have a purple kush right now that is mostly purple with some hot pink in it... looks beautiful. I used the techniques above to achieve that, granted the color of your buds mostly has to do with their genetics but their are ways for us growers to unlock their full genetic possibilities.

 

[Steelbuds89]

That is definitely a lot of good information, I appreciate you taking the time to explain all that. As far as curing goes oh, the very last Harvest that I did I harvested it by branches an hung them separately, I had an oscillating fan about six or seven feet away from the closet where they were located. The fan wasn't pointed directly on them but it was oscillating. What happened with this Harvest was that it seemed to have come out very dry and it was only hung up for 4 days, doing this I think it definitely affected the end result the bud was very dry if it wasn't trapped in a jar with humidipaks. So this Harvest I was thinking about doing this completely different. I was going to just go straight to the stock and with the plant upside down inside the tent and it's a dry just how it is without trimming any excess leaves off. I don't think it would be a good idea to have a fan inside the tent when drying but then again I don't know , so if you have any suggestions I would appreciate it, thanks again

 

[Backlipslide]

Like bubblin said, a week to ten days

 

[Rosti]

That is definitely a lot of good information, I appreciate you taking the time to explain all that. As far as curing goes oh, the very last Harvest that I did I harvested it by branches an hung them separately, I had an oscillating fan about six or seven feet away from the closet where they were located. The fan wasn't pointed directly on them but it was oscillating. What happened with this Harvest was that it seemed to have come out very dry and it was only hung up for 4 days, doing this I think it definitely affected the end result the bud was very dry if it wasn't trapped in a jar with humidipaks. So this Harvest I was thinking about doing this completely different. I was going to just go straight to the stock and with the plant upside down inside the tent and it's a dry just how it is without trimming any excess leaves off. I don't think it would be a good idea to have a fan inside the tent when drying but then again I don't know , so if you have any suggestions I would appreciate it, thanks again

Don’t mention it my man! If I can help someone out I will, feels good to give back the knowledge I’ve gained. So when it came to your last harvest it was probably much too dry in that closet. Everyone has their own methods of drying their buds... where they do it, how they hang it, what equipment they use and how they use it... there’s no wrong way as long as you achieve the desired results. Since there’s so many ways I’m just going to describe the way I dry my buds because it’s really the only way I’ve ever done it and it works great... so I start by cutting clusters of branches off my plant and trim off all the large fan leaves and then hang those branches from clothes hangers in my tent. I keep the clusters of branches spread out so there’s room to breathe in between them. I put a little 6 inch oscillating fan in the tent and have it blowing down below the buds oscillating, I never blow the fan on the buds and it’s always at the low setting. Then I toss in a dehumidifier and hygrometer so I can monitor and adjust the RH as needed. The first day I set RH to 70 then I slowly drop it down day by day... (never let the RH drop below 60) usually takes about 7-10 days to be ready for jarring. Good indications that it’s ready for jars is the stem snap test. Grab a spot on the stem of the branch and try to snap it like a twig... a good dry will have a crunch to it but it won’t completely snap off ...also the buds should be dry almost crisp to the touch. Then they should be ready for jars and curing.