Trichome help - Late harvest - Need experienced grower to help pls

[denverbroncos]

First time grower here, been getting tons of advice from this site (shout out to Rickybobby!)

I am in day #60 of harvest but am a bit rushed due to visitors next weekend, does this look like i can harvest yet.. i am unable to decipher if they're clear or cloudy?

Can you please let me know how far along i am , hoping i can chop down by this week's end (Saturday-ish?)

Thanks again and cheers

 

[fanleaf]

Heres what a $13 pocket scope looks like I get on eBay...

One of those may help in the future. I cannot tell with the one you have

 

[Faic]

IF it's not a focus issue, you've got cloudy trichs in there, what ratio is impossible to tell. Depending on the strain, harvesting now at 60 days should be ok. I sampled a plant the other day, 60/40ish cloudy and it rocked. I saw a cloudy trich on her today, so that coala is coming off first light tomorrow (I don't want couchlock). You could always sample a low bud (which is lower quality than the toppers) and make the call that way if you don't have a 60x or better loupe. When you quick dry, taste/smoothness can be nasty so don't even consider it, but the high itself is going to be the same. For my test,200f for 30min in a toaster oven was too long, and I didn't check every 10 minutes. Mine didn't taste bad, but I blew half a lung it was so harsh on the finish. Great high, perfect body melt and energy, and no couch lock, 2-3 hour duration. Early harvesting isn't bad.

But you really need to get a loupe or scope, 60x or better. For now, I'd pull a low bud and test it.

 

[JimmyV]

Denverbroncos,

I actually don't see any cloudy or amber trichs. I see totally cloudy trichs in the pictures that fanleaf posted though. I'm not doubting or disputing what Faic said! If he said he can see them, then I'm sure he can. I just don't see a single cloudy one at all. Do you think you have about a 50/50 ratio of turned hairs? If you think you have a 50/50 ratio then you could go ahead and harvest them, just like Faic said.

Or better yet you could try to relocate them to a different part of your place or where ever they are located. The big thing is, you normally want to see amber colored trichs. And theres a new study out right now that puts the brakes on having to rush to harvest when you do see the amber trichs. Currently still used, was that once you saw the amber colored ones you had a very small window to get the plants harvested. According to the new study thats not the case anymore. The study makes perfect sense to me and here's why. The reason they say you have to harvest fast is because the THC starts going down. With me just hearing that statement Ive got to admit I have to call a little bs on that! I never did agree with that finding about the THC levels going down so fast. But when thats the only information you have to go on, well, thats what you rely on to be true and factual. Now however they have come out with THC wont degrade for weeks once they go amber! Now that makes a whole more sense! I guess to each his own, but I'm leaning towards the findings of the new study. So with that, I'd have to make for sure the trichs are at least cloudy and with a great amount of coverage.

If you want to harvest next week before company comes, have you already started flushing the plant and getting it ready to harvest? I couldn't tell from your pics if you were using soil or water. With hydro you don't have to worry with flushing. Soil of course you do. Also, have you stopped all nutrients now? If not, do you have enough time to let them stay on water only for around 2 weeks? Trust me, a I totally get it that you don't want the plants discovered, makes real good sense to me! But if you could think of another place to put them and just close,off that area and make up an excuse as to why its all closed and no one can go in, id probably be inclined to go that route. A really good cover story for having to leave a room/closed is to say you just discovered a mold issue in your walls.

Just tell your guest for their health as well as yours that the room has to stay closed until mold has been destroyed! Since mold is airborne in nature, the story totally sounds legit. Just place a locking handle on the door before they get there and keep it locked up tight! Later on once they leave and enough time goes by, all you have to do is say it wasn't an actual mold outbreak after all. I know its all a lie but sometimes we have to do certain things in life to spare others the heartaches that we tend to cause them. Just some things to consider with all of this. And Faic is probably right saying you could harvest the plants. But, if they still need a few more weeks you would sure hate to have 25% or more of a loss in yield due to early harvesting. I will say though at day 60 you'd think they would be really close to harvest time as well. I wish I had more to offer you but I've done my best! Good luck with all of this and keep us up dated, take care!

 

[Faic]

Jimmy, I hedged my bet with a capalized IF heh! I have problems trying to get great accurate pictures of my girls and I know a little out of focus will look cloudy and also looking down a stalk can do that too. But at 60days into flower, it's fairly safe they're good to harvest if you need to without verifying anything else.

I absolutely agree with you on watching the hype. It's easy to get trapped by pseudo science and wind up quoting it as real science. And logical deduction is as good as one's logic.

But there I feel I have to challenge what you've said, I can't resist intelligent discourse. You said "you normally want to see amber trichs". Can you elaborate and explain why? And I will take a big toke, smile, and point out that when you say "Now however they have come out with THC wont degrade for weeks once they go amber! you are contributing to the maelstrom.

THC degrading to CBN is what is happening in a amber trichome. I believe that science. And I will say that I see the statement that 'THC will take weeks to fully degrade into CBN in a amber trich" as accurate. But your statement is logically impossible, since the amber trich is indicative of the presence of CBN, which is the product of degraded THC. Yes I'm splitting hairs. And I'm not trying to be cheeky, I think it's important now to discuss cannabis (oh can you tell when I want to sound scholarly I call weed cannabis!) responsibly.

Amber in trichs is indicative of a effect I don't want for daytime meds. If one doesn't want couch lock, then one doesn't want amber. Simple logic. But is it too simple? So I'm wondering why you say one 'should have amber'.

And for Denver, I won't pry into why he's pressed for time beyond his providing he's getting company. I just am passing along my personal experience from my own tests, that early harvests aren't as bad as they may sound in discussions. And my test for my strain with my nutes indicates one does not need to flush a plant before harvest to avoid chemical taste. On the issue of flushing, I think much of that is the same hype surrounding 'organic' this and that. I'm not trashing the whole organic movement, but it is out of hand.

The question was about ok to harvest. From the time in flower and pics, he's ok to harvest if he needs. I'm guessing he's already run through his options and this is the best course of action.

I'm waiting for his next post to see if he tested a bud, if so how was it, and has he cut today to get it jarred before his inlaws arrive! (inlaws are the only company I can see that you'd risk a harvest over)

 

[rillos]

Jimmy, I hedged my bet with a capalized IF heh! I have problems trying to get great accurate pictures of my girls and I know a little out of focus will look cloudy and also looking down a stalk can do that too. But at 60days into flower, it's fairly safe they're good to harvest if you need to without verifying anything else.

I absolutely agree with you on watching the hype. It's easy to get trapped by pseudo science and wind up quoting it as real science. And logical deduction is as good as one's logic.
But there I feel I have to challenge what you've said, I can't resist intelligent discourse. You said "you normally want to see amber trichs". Can you elaborate and explain why? And I will take a big toke, smile, and point out that when you say "Now however they have come out with THC wont degrade for weeks once they go amber! you are contributing to the maelstrom.

THC degrading to CBN is what is happening in a amber trichome. I believe that science. And I will say that I see the statement that 'THC will take weeks to fully degrade into CBN in a amber trich" as accurate. But your statement is logically impossible, since the amber trich is indicative of the presence of CBN, which is the product of degraded THC. Yes I'm splitting hairs. And I'm not trying to be cheeky, I think it's important now to discuss cannabis (oh can you tell when I want to sound scholarly I call weed cannabis!) responsibly.

Amber in trichs is indicative of a effect I don't want for daytime meds. If one doesn't want couch lock, then one doesn't want amber. Simple logic. But is it too simple? So I'm wondering why you say one 'should have amber'.

And for Denver, I won't pry into why he's pressed for time beyond his providing he's getting company. I just am passing along my personal experience from my own tests, that early harvests aren't as bad as they may sound in discussions. And my test for my strain with my nutes indicates one does not need to flush a plant before harvest to avoid chemical taste. On the issue of flushing, I think much of that is the same hype surrounding 'organic' this and that. I'm not trashing the whole organic movement, but it is out of hand.

The question was about ok to harvest. From the time in flower and pics, he's ok to harvest if he needs. I'm guessing he's already run through his options and this is the best course of action.

I'm waiting for his next post to see if he tested a bud, if so how was it, and has he cut today to get it jarred before his inlaws arrive! (inlaws are the only company I can see that you'd risk a harvest over)

Well said, but flushing in a soil grow is ideal.

 

[Faic]

Well said, but flushing in a soil grow is ideal.

I agree, since I flushed out some salts buildup just last night.

 

[JimmyV]

Faic,

I agree we can split hairs on these kinds of topics all day long, haha. The part where I mentioned about the new study that has come out was for general informational purposes only. As I stated, I believe fully what the article stated as well as their findings. The study appeared to be legit as did their findings. So a i don't think I'm contributing to any confusion on the topic of the different stages of trichome development. If I was dishing out a bunch of bs where their was no controlled study then I could see that being an issue. But, as I read the study I found it interesting. I also found that it makes perfect sense in what their final findings were. The reason for saying one should have amber trichomes is a simple logical statement as well. One it's based on hardcore growing techniques that by having this transition to amber it indicates an approaching end of a harvest. And number two for what the findings in the study discussed and concluded with.

And you're totally correct theirs nothing wrong with a early harvest especially if its for a reason such as you said about in-laws coming for a visit. I also don't think theres a problem taking a sample at certain times of your grow either to see where a person is on their grow. However, talking about opening up a huge can of worms by saying that though. Ive read so many threads on this site alone where someone will ask about doing that. It seems to be a delicate topic for some reason, as for why a I don't have a clue. Also after going back and re reading my post, I didn't mean to say 50/50 hairs I meant to say 50/50 on the trichomes changing colors. I don't think you mentioned that in your comment about something I said that didn't gel with you. But like a I say when I re read that I did catch where I said that wrong.

Anyhow, I take zero offense to your comments whatsoever. I do think with the way cannabis has evolved into such a huge industry of making even larger profits for all these companies that are involved with this sector of commerce crazy! All the new products that keep coming out every day where they claim this product is the best or this nutrient is the best has gone overboard. Sure theres a certain amount of science involved with anything like this, there has to be. Keep us updated on whats going on denverbroncos, take care.

 

[ladylily]

Have been growing for about 5 years and think more luck than judgement - lol. Always good results and found your comment -Do you think you have about a 50/50 ratio of turned hairs? If you think you have a 50/50 ratio then you could go ahead and harvest them,. Is just how I have been doing it. You made it easier to understand than the clear and cloudy issue that has taken me all this time to read about.

Next is question about how long you rinse for?

 

[ladylily]

Just re read and I have been looking for 50% amber hairs - oops!

 

[Rifleman]

I pushed my bubble kush almost to the point of decline waiting for them to turn amber. Then I read that some strains just don't turn. Shrug, a usb microscope is my next tool to be added to the growing plethora.

 

[Major PITA]

I don't go by trichome color. I've had some that do not turn amber. Others are partly amber well before they are ready.
If you get to know your plant, you'll be able to tell when new growth stops, pistils recede, and buds have swelled.