Trichs never turned amber

[Lusi]

Hey guys... THis is my first grow/ harvest. They've been outside since May!!

I've read everything I could find on when to harvest. My buds look huge, but seem a bit airy from the heat. I think I fried the pistils about 6 weeks ago, so few healthy ones were left to turn a lovely orange color. You'll notice the brown shriveled dead pistils in the ph0to of the bud with the most orange pistils I could find. The trichs remain cloudy and clear, but I now see a few are breaking off?!

Is there another way to tell if there are ready? Someone said to harvest over a month ago, but the trichs were clear then. Now i I'm wondering if I missed the best harvest. This is Shiva Shanti II. My plants in no way look like photos of this strain I look at! :-(

 

[Ugodmade]

I think its mostly preference all plants seem to be different I hope you get some help with this as i am wondering when to harvest mine as well . Looks like some sticky I bet it will be some awesome tasting smoke whenever you decide to harvest

 

[Lusi]

Do you have an outdoor grow too?

Wish I could smoke and experience all of those flavors! The vaporizer flavors are much milder, if at all. :-(

I've wondering it matters how I dry or cure if this is only for vaping and budder?? The drying is easy enough, but the canning jars with sealer or bag sealing machines are quite expensive. I have a food dryer with low temp, about 100, but my book says this makes a terrible smoke and isn't as strong. I have seeds to store a year also. It seems I can put the buds to cure in rubber maid, but them still needs stored in a vacuumed bag.

Is there another way to go about this?

 

[Ugodmade]

I just put mine in paper bags and put in a dark cool place to cure . you dont want it air tight or it will mold .the longer you let it cure the better. Wait until it is dry then put it in a air tight container . When you harvest has to do with the effect of the high being a head high ,energetic high or a couch lock high . I have a indoor grow right now using cfl on just one plant you can click the link at the end to check it out .

 

[Lusi]

How can you tell what kind of high you'll get from harvest? I always thought that was the strain?! An energetic high would be nice for day use. Sleep needed at night, pain relief #1 goal!!

Do all trichs turn amber?

 

[Ugodmade]

you are right it does depend alot on the strain .color and condition of the resin glands, which should be swollen and unbroken while remaining transparent and slightly amber, if at all, at the peak of ripeness. Some prefer harvesting earlier, as THC degrades to more sedative cannabinoids as the glands ripen.Harvest timing is a matter of personal preference. When the glandular trichomes are clear with very little, if any coloration, THC levels are at their peak with CBD and CBN both at levels that will not overly influence the THC with their sedative effects. Some prefer more overwhelming narcotic type effects, allowing the resin glands to cloud and begin to amber or darken to increase overall cannabinoid content. The resin glands appear and therefore will mature at different times. A compromise is made when determining the desired overall maturity level to harvest. It depends on the growers preference in effect and palate.

 

[Ugodmade]

There are various methods by which even the most amateur grower can tell when buds are truly ripe for the picking. The simplest and quickest way to know is by examining the pistils, or long hairs, that cover the plant’s buds. At the onset of flowering, these pistils are white and stringy. But as the flowering period comes to an end, they begin to turn color, first from white to orange and then again to a dark red or brown. These color changes signify the maturation of the buds; however, the color and time frame may vary significantly across different varieties of cannabis.

 

[Ugodmade]

a better, yet slightly more complicated, method for determining ripeness is through trichome examination. Trichomes are the actual resin glands that contain THC and other psychoactive cannabinoids, and they are very delicate and easily ruptured. These trichomes are visible on the outside of buds and small leaves and look like little white sugar crystals to the naked eye. However, with the power of a magnifying glass or simple microscope, you can see that trichomes are comprised of a stalk and resin head and are clear or white in color.
As with pistils, trichomes also begin to change color as the buds mature. But in this scenario, a grower wants to harvest buds before they get too dark in color. Even a subtle amber hue in these glands could mean that cannabinoids have begun breaking down and decomposing, which means less potent pot. Using a magnifier between 50x-100x, advanced growers look for a creamy or milky white color in trichomes that tells them it’s time to harvest.

 

[Ugodmade]

I dont have a jeweler’s loupe, or magnifying lens strong enough to see the trichome heads so I guess i will go 9 weeks from flowering and that will be next Friday for me so i will be pulling my yellowing feeder leaves today

 

[Ugodmade]

As cannabis matures the chemistry of the plant changes, as does the type of effects. While these differences in chemical nature still require a lot of research to fully understand, you can utilize them to produce different types of highs for different needs.

By harvesting earlier in the window your buds tend to produce more of a cerebral head high, an effect much more pronounced in Sativas than Indicas. A head high is more psychedelic in nature, providing you with a pleasant mental “up” state, often ideally suited for social situations when you still need to have your wits and plenty of energy.

If you choose to harvest later in the window, your buds produce more of a body high, which is conversely more pronounced in Indicas than in Sativas. A body high is similar to a narcotic “down” effect, usually associated with being “stoned”. A down type of high is often desired in the late evening to calm nerves and drift into sleep. A late-harvest yield is often sought by medicinal cannabis users to ease pain and increase appetite. If you choose to harvest somewhere in the middle of the peak window of maturity, you don’t necessarily get the best of both worlds, but more of a happy medium. If you aren’t sure what type of high you like or want, aim for the middle and you likely won’t be disappointed.

 

[Lusi]

Hi UGM.

TY for all of this information. Since I am looking for pain relief and buds to reduce or replace my narcotics, it seems later is better?! I haven't kept track of when these plants first started to bloom. I'd say mid to late September... so 6 weeks or so?

There are a few problems keeping me from knowing if they are ready to harvest... besides not keeping track of when they started flowering One is, my magnifier is only 30x, but I still see no amber color. I have ordered one that goes to 100. I hope it comes soon!!

The #1 issue is that I killed off the white pistils on these plants around 3-4 weeks after they started to flower. (I'm using dates on photos to backtrack here) I never learned if it was bug spray (Azomax) or nutes that did this. They leaf tips all died at the same time. I few new healthy pistils grow back in later, but not much. It seems the lack of pistils to turn colors really made this a mess!! They all went from shriveled white pistils to dark brown dried up dead ones. :-(

It seems deciding to harvest or not would be a hell of a lot easier without the dead pistils and with a larger scope!! I only have a few other ideas to tell. maybe you can tell me if any of these might help.

Fan leaves... 2 of the 4 plants have yellow fan leaves. One is all green. The last is mostly green but it the on;y plant i did not did up and soak in soapy water. Her buds have dead spots of completely dried up dark brown pieces in a normal bud. Do the yellowish fan leaves on the others mean to harvest? Even the leaves on the buds are getting a bit yellow.

Last... I'm not seeing more changes in the trichs. Most are long and curved, but perhaps a little cloudy. No sign of amber!!?? I'm sure many trichs were damaged when after 20 minutes in soapy water, I hosed off the plants. It was bugs and early harvest, or a desperate idea. There plants are now 100%b bug free!! The unsoaked plant with the dead spots is the only one with a few mites and a few huge looper caterpillars eating away. I found them when I harvested half of her buds. :-(

Does any of this help you to help me? :-D

Here's one of the few that had healthy pistils grow back in. They are at least orange and not dead brown! Was this too early to harvest?

I harvested this bud after the photo. This is my best plant and the one that had the most direct sun. Her buds were starting to get dead spots. :-( Half of them, the huge ones, I harvested 3 days ago. They are not drying very well!? Is it best to zap these in the food dehydrator for 12 hours?

I'll add some photos in another post tomorrow. (well, later today) I took in the larger buds. Better early than robbed while I took a short holiday. All is well know that I'm back. I'll take updated pics after I recover from 7n hours in the car. Hemp fest was not worth an hour drive let alone 7. :-(

TY for the advice!!

 

[Lusi]

Here's the thread about my dead pistils, with better photos:
Flowering, pistils all dying or dead: Help!

Wish I knew what happened!!

 

[Lusi]

Followup... I finally got my 60x-100x scope in the mail. What a $17 piece of junk!!! I can get it to work well enough to see all the remaining plant buds are now pearl color with a few amber tips on 2 of the plants. Te fried pistils don't seem to have effected the trichs, thank heavens!

I chose to harvest half of the plants last week before I went on vacation... just in case someone climbed the fence to help themselves. I didn't have the new scope yet, only the 30x... useless.

It's getting into the high 30's at night and 50s-60s day. No frost, the plants still look healthy. The rain has started and it will be nasty for the next 4 days. I was able to cover one plant and bring the rest under the overhang. They will still get hammered.

Is it worth letting them stay out there until more amber appears? Will they keep maturing in these low temps? The stuff I harvested early smells like oregano and isn't strong, but does kill pain in high amounts. I desperately need to have some buds to make me sleep... thus why the rest are still outside... I don't know what to do about this. I just clipped another bowl full of the most mature buds.

I've bought a new pile of books to read. There's not much in these that cover this situation. LOL Guess I'll go bury my nose in the books a bit more. It seems all amber is too late, but all cloudy is early?! I just need some pain free sleep. Very little medical info in these books :-( If anyone has suggestions, let me have 'em!

 

[rnwy29erclr]

Followup... I finally got my 60x-100x scope in the mail. What a $17 piece of junk!!! I can get it to work well enough to see all the remaining plant buds are now pearl color with a few amber tips on 2 of the plants. Te fried pistils don't seem to have effected the trichs, thank heavens!

I chose to harvest half of the plants last week before I went on vacation... just in case someone climbed the fence to help themselves. I didn't have the new scope yet, only the 30x... useless.

It's getting into the high 30's at night and 50s-60s day. No frost, the plants still look healthy. The rain has started and it will be nasty for the next 4 days. I was able to cover one plant and bring the rest under the overhang. They will still get hammered.

Is it worth letting them stay out there until more amber appears? Will they keep maturing in these low temps? The stuff I harvested early smells like oregano and isn't strong, but does kill pain in high amounts. I desperately need to have some buds to make me sleep... thus why the rest are still outside... I don't know what to do about this. I just clipped another bowl full of the most mature buds.

I've bought a new pile of books to read. There's not much in these that cover this situation. LOL Guess I'll go bury my nose in the books a bit more. It seems all amber is too late, but all cloudy is early?! I just need some pain free sleep. Very little medical info in these books :-( If anyone has suggestions, let me have 'em!

hello lusi, depending on where you live if you live in the u.s i would pull them now, rain at this point is not good your just asking for trouble by the way when did you plant? most people have harvested by now, and b-4 you go out and spend any more money just look up the info that your looking for on this fourm, like the scope you bought, radio shack has-um for 10 bucks, this site has all the info you will ever need and if it don't just ask and your question will be answered i guarantee it,

 

[Lusi]

I don't get it, I wrote a reply to this thread and a few others, but none showed up!!? I can't even use a computer let alone set up a good growing area!!! It will be a while for me to find all of those links and do it again. I have narcolepsy and often dose off while typing, then wake and continue a few hours later without realizing I was asleep. Someone took a photo of me fast asleep with a glass of juice in one hand and a book in the other. They were unable to wake me and I slept through the night like this. :-( I've been writing these 4 replies for over 12 hours now. All are gone, including the links and things I didn't save separately. All of that work... I wish I knew what happened.

TY for your reply! My searches are not getting much. I know O have to be really doing something wrong there. I look up everything before buying. I need to buy that 600W HPS today if possible. The plants are dug up and sitting in my family room. It's 31 out there. My lousy scope shows me they are not done.

I'll keep at it until I fall asleep again....

 

[Lusi]

I still have no advice on my harvest?? Is it too late, too early? The missing pistils and trichs of every color are messing me up. No one's photos or descriptions are helping me and I'm out of ideas. Please check my harvest link. TY!

1st grow, ready to harvest yet?

 

[Closet Farmer]

To me it looks like you are way too early. I would guess 3 to 4 weeks. If you wait the trichs will turn amber.

 

[19camaro78]

Luis,
is this the Microscope you got?
If so, this is how you use it.
Cut one of the little leafs off that is growing out of the bud.
Cut as close as you can to the bud. It does not have to be
very big. 1/2 inch at most.

Take it and put it on a surface that has a white background.
Take the scope and set it right over it.
focus and adjust and you will see exactly where your
tric growth is at.

 

[Lusi]

A few weeks?! Oh dear... guess I'd better find a good hiding place for them. Maybe they are so behind because it was getting into the 30s when I brought them in. TY!

There are some trichs that just look like amber hairs and some with just amber heads. I'm afraid if I let everything get amber, these ones already with amber heads will break apart. That info I can't find in my books either! :-( I was under the impression that my entire bud would eventually look almost golden. The photo example for that looked like a bud photo under an HPS light would appear golden yellow.

Camero,
\Yes, that's the scope I have. I know how to use it when, it is working. The light only come once in a while I'm returning it to BGH. I'm looking for one with a larger looking glass that I can holder closer or further away to focus. On this one, it's almost impossible to focus to a clear image. The knob just doesn't go far enough.

So, I can see all of my trichs just fine, but the mix of colors are throwing my off guessing. I'm afraid I might wait too long and the heads will fall off! . This is frustrating!

I'm working on hiding away stuff today. Not sure where to put these gals in 5 and 10 gallon pots, but don't want to chop them now if they still need a few weeks! TY for the info in time!

 

[19camaro78]

Ok well I am able to use the scope at 60x and am able to see where I am at. I like my trichs cloudy around 20 to 30 percent amber. The more amber the trichs get, the more a couchlock high.