week 8 trichomes

[Giggle Bush]

Hey guys, These trichs look cloudy to you? If so, how close do you think she is?

Btw, this is day 53 since preflowers, showed up Aug. 7

 

[Antics]

What strain is this?

Do you have access to a 30x-60 magnifier or scope?

 

[Giggle Bush]

Hey, it is unknown. Seed came from some mids that I think may be indica dominant but I don't know for sure. I think it is more indica because of the wide fan leaves and it doesn't have a strong smell. I just ordered a 40x jeweler's loupe off the internet, hope its here by he end of the week. Light = 7 26w cfls and a 48" t5 fixture, total of about 18-20 thousand lumens. She is roughly 30" or so tall and close to 30" wide as well.First pistils came on August 7th, thanks for replying

 

[Antics]

If you have binoculars, you can use those in a pinch from what I've seen suggested by other growers (haven't tried it myself).
Just make sure you check the trichomes on the buds, and not just on the sugar leaves. Some strains will have the trichomes mature much faster on the leaves, which can lead to too early of a harvest since most of what we smoke are the buds.

You're really close to harvest if you first saw pistils @ August 7th. Why not try a little smoke test to make sure they don't mature into too much couchlock? (Unless of course that's the effect you're looking for) It'll also give you a small taste of your hard work, but keep in mind you'll be quick drying this bud, the properly dried and cured buds should be much much smoother, and more enjoyable.

 

[Giggle Bush]

Binoculars work ok, I have a pair of Bushnell that i've used but they aren't the greatest, kind of hard to see color. At least for me anyway.
Thanks for the advice on not just checking the leaves, I didn't know that.

I figured I had to be getting close, it's been awhile now, Thx for your replies =)

eta: Btw I snipped a lil off and dried by wrapping in paper towel and drying in the sun, the buzz is very trippy lol, so I'm assuming its mostly cloudy/clear. Plus I haven't seen any amber trichomes yet, but I'm staying on that cuz I've heard how fast they can change to amber.

 

[Antics]

I didn't know about the leaves until a few weeks ago myself, and on my last grow I checked the trichomes on the buds AND the leaves...

Leaves were 50% amber 50% cloudy
Buds were just mostly cloudy, a few clears, and no ambers. I waited until I saw the trichomes were just starting to turn color, and then harvested.

I haven't used the binocular trick myself, I'm only going by what others have done. I bought a cheap 60x-100x microscope online for like $6 USD, and it works pretty well, but the viewing area is small. A nice 30x-40x loupe would be adequate.

Your plant looks close, but without knowing the strain, we don't know the flowering time. Strains are sold with a flower time, and they'll say something like Strain X Flower time 8-9 weeks, or 56-63 days. When we have that information, it's easier to make a guess harvest. But unfortunately, that isn't the case here. The best way to harvest would be to get a better magnifier if the binoculars aren't working out.

And here's a trichome closeup for color comparison:

Was the buzz more energetic? Or was it more couchlock? How did you feel exactly?

 

[Giggle Bush]

Yes, definitely more energetic than couchlock. Just this morning I took the binoculars and checked out one of the two colas, the bigger one, and it appears to be getting a few amber heads here and there. Just at the very top though, haven't seen any on the other buds. The high was pretty strong off only a few tokes, hard to put my finger on it but it seems to have a good body high to go along with the somewhat trippy, head rush. I don't know my gut is saying it's damn close, the hairs are starting to become mostly brown. I'd say 70/30 in favor of amber. Looks like I may have a staggered harvest, as the branches on the bottom half look like they are 10 days or more behind the top.

Oh yeah, should be getting a jeweler's loupe in the mail any day now. Hopefully it's by tomorrow, cuz it's looking like at least some of her main buds are ripe.

 

[Antics]

Pistils don't have a direct relation to when the correct harvest time is, only the trichomes will tell you that.

Make sure you check the buds at the bottom, middle and top of each, I always check several buds on the plant in multiple places. The closer I get to harvest, the more thorough I am in checking trichomes.

 

[Giggle Bush]

Hmmm, well so far I only see some amber trichomes on the largest(and tallest) of the two colas. None anywhere else, hopefully I get that jeweler's loupe either today or tomorrow to get a better look at them.

Thanks for all the advice =)

eta: Btw, the top two pics are the cola I'm talking about. Although you can't see the amber Trichs in those pictures as they JUST showed up yesterday or the night before. The other buds are looking nice and cloudy can't wait, gonna be a fun holiday season She was in Veg almost 3 months which is how she got so big, whatever the strain is...she definitely comes from a good genetic stock.

 

[Antics]

If you only see one or two ambers that's no big deal. Sometimes a trichome just matures really fast and poof, theres an amber. What you want to look out for is where you see more and more appear. And if you have good lighting, you'll actually be able to see when the cloudy trichomes JUST START to turn amber, and will have a very light yellowish tint.

How did the effects feel when you smoked it? Was it more energetic, and you were really talkative, happy, excited, OR was it more of a couchlock. Where you were just totally roasted, didn't care to move, and just total shut down relaxation?

Or was there a combination of effects?

The Indica dominant strain I have now has a mild couchlock, but still has a nice energetic head high to it.