Optimal time to harvest?

[donkeyjunk]

G’day all my fellow gardeners,
I was hoping one of you fine fellows or frauleins could drop their knowledge on me for the best time to harvest?
So I have a digital x1000 microscope with high pixelated screen so I can watch my trichomes turn from clear to opaque or cloudy and then finally to amber.
now I’ve been lead to believe that when roughly half of your trichomes have turned amber its time to euthanise your beautiful girls!
so if this is the case, my question is WHAT PART ?? of the plant do you stick under the microscope to count out those 50% amber trichomes.
My problem being that at the end of this cycle the colas got to a decent size but havent as yet filled in to a satisfactory solidity , but they are still shooting out lots of fresh white pistils at a fairly fast rate in their attempt to reach appropriate density, BUT all of the colas ( roughly x40 per plant with hefty SCROG) are stretching out with some serious foxtailing, whereby starting to fluff out without totally filling out to a proper ”chunkyness”!
AND all of the tops of the colas , the foxtailing part are over 50% amber, but all of the semi-solid main part of the cola’s ( the calyxes , pistils and stigmas) are less than 10% amber!!!
DO I ,
A / harvest them now so they don’t fluff out and foxtail anymore
B / let them go in the hope that the foxtailing stops and they reach maximum density
C / cut off all the foxtails Off the tops of the colas and hope for (B/)
D / something else that you guys can school me to?!!?

any and all ideas / thoughts / opinions would be greatly appreciated

cheers guys
donkeyjunk

 

[bluter]

most harvest at about 10% amber. on the bud, not the sugar leaf.

it's a personal preference. some pull them when they are more milky than amber, some pull them past the 10% amber mark.

 

[donkeyjunk]

Cheers mate. Thanks for the input

 

[The Celt]

keep in mind as well, some strains will not likely ever show much amber when grown under artificial light. I have had strains, Blue Dream being one, that rarely shows amber indoors and of the 5+ lbs of it I harvested from my outdoor grow this year shows very little amber but the bud was definitely ripe.

As @bluter said, it’s a preference thing as well. Amber indicates the THC is degrading into CBN which will affect the effects, more amber, leans more towards couch-lock. Maximum THC levels occur when the heads are mostly milky white, with few clear and amber.

 

[bluter]

keep in mind as well, some strains will not likely ever show much amber when grown under artificial light. I have had strains, Blue Dream being one, that rarely shows amber indoors and of the 5+ lbs of it I harvested from my outdoor grow this year shows very little amber but the bud was definitely ripe.

As @bluter said, it’s a preference thing as well. Amber indicates the THC is degrading into CBN which will affect the effects, more amber, leans more towards couch-lock. Maximum THC levels occur when the heads are mostly milky white, with few clear and amber.

i gave up waiting on a tangie. the clone pretty much went with the team next run though.

 

[donkeyjunk]

keep in mind as well, some strains will not likely ever show much amber when grown under artificial light. I have had strains, Blue Dream being one, that rarely shows amber indoors and of the 5+ lbs of it I harvested from my outdoor grow this year shows very little amber but the bud was definitely ripe.

As @bluter said, it’s a preference thing as well. Amber indicates the THC is degrading into CBN which will affect the effects, more amber, leans more towards couch-lock. Maximum THC levels occur when the heads are mostly milky white, with few clear and amber.

Bonza mate much appreciated. Couch glue is what I’m aiming for.
I haven’t heard of Blue Dream before, at 5+ lbs I’m guessing it’s mainly sativa dominant.
would you mind if I picked your brain about it and your adventures under the sun??
cheers
donkey

 

[The Celt]

Ask away mate, it’s a strain I have been growing for the past 3 years...great for my chronic pain

 

[Pepperhead]

Blue dream for me gives an energizing buzz with significant arthritic pain decrease and after 1.5 hours turns into a relaxing indica buzz
I like it but can only use daytime when I am not working

 

[donkeyjunk]

Ask away mate, it’s a strain I have been growing for the past 3 years...great for my chronic pain

I was wondering how long from seed to harvest (what medium) and what part of the world you are in to get a 5+ lbs plant??

 

[The Celt]

Evening mate, first off, it wasn’t 5 lbs for a single plant, sorry if you misunderstood that came off of 8 plants, 3 small plants in 5 gallon buckets and 5 large plants, 2 of which were over the 1lb mark.

I grow at the 45th parallel, in NS, Canada. 4 of the large plants were grown in LOS, the other 4 (3 in 5gal pails and one in a 14gal tote) were grown hempy using Mega Crop. Those 8 plants yielded the 5+lbs of trimmed bud and about 3.5lbs of untrimmed bud and trim for making hash.

Time to grow for the 4 LOS girls - they went in the ground the first week of June as 3-4 week old seed plants and harvested early October. They were given nothing but 10gallons of water every 2nd week with the last watering having 1tbsp molasses/gal. Weights from 337g to 536g.

The container girls, being feed Mega Crop, went in their pots July 4/5th as 5 week old seed plants still in solo cups, 4-6” tall. These were harvested the last week of September and early/mid October.
The 5 gallon girls averaged about 6oz each and the one in the 14gal pot weighed in at 473g or a little over 16.6 oz.