When has flowering gone too long?

[kline]

I am almost at week 11 in the flowering cycle. To date there are plenty of glandular trichomes but none has turned amber. They are barely even cloudy.

https://www.420magazine.com/gallery/data/500/mar15-1.jpg

Growing hydroponic NFT system with 2-400 watt HID lights. Flowering with one MH and one HPS bulb.

Strains: 4-way, TBS, Deep Chunk
Temp: 68d air, 64d reservoir

Had a problem with nutrient solution once switched to 12 hours. The NTS Greenleaves solution, which I have used many times before, apparently was deficient in magnesium and had some yellowing of the leaves. Once I figured the problem out switched to GH nutrients.

The flowering cycle went okay, if not as productive as best harvests in the past. I needed my medicine so harvested half the crop at 6 weeks or so which has been the pattern in the past. Decided to let the balance go until half the trichomes had turned amber. There are virtually no amber trichomes even at 10.5 weeks.

I am wondering if it is worth waiting anymore. Many of the leaves are yellow as the plants had no opportunity to recover from the magnesium problem.

https://www.420magazine.com/gallery/data/500/yellow10.jpg

Could the lack of ripening be a result of the magnesium and the yellow leaves? Is it too cold in grow area?

I don't consider myself a novice but I am flummoxed. This is the first time I have bothered to wait long enough to have the trichomes turn amber and it appears to be a bust.

 

[BWC BayArea]

I'd say let em go. You've come this far, what's another week or 2. U got some landrace sativa bloom time over there. I think hazes take while as well. Keep monitoring thichs as u would any other cycle. My 2 cents.

 

[kline]

Thanks for the reply BWC. I am still hanging on but can't take it much longer.

I am wondering why if all the strain guides say 8 to 10 weeks I am on week 11 with still no indications of amber trichomes to speak of. Searching for posts on reasonable flower times I only came across one that said something to the effect, "It looks like the seed companies are not accurate in their claimed flower times".

* In my original post I identified NSR Greenleaves as NTS Greenleaves, a mistake. NSR=Natural Science Research, located in Cali they have no web presence.

 

[Lucky man]

could it be the lower air and water temps?

 

[willoby]

Thanks for the reply BWC. I am still hanging on but can't take it much longer.

I am wondering why if all the strain guides say 8 to 10 weeks I am on week 11 with still no indications of amber trichomes to speak of. Searching for posts on reasonable flower times I only came across one that said something to the effect, "It looks like the seed companies are not accurate in their claimed flower times".

* In my original post I identified NSR Greenleaves as NTS Greenleaves, a mistake. NSR=Natural Science Research, located in Cali they have no web presence.

I sort of have the same issue...I have some AK47xLowryder#2 autos that said they were 8 weeks from germination to harvest....Well well well, I'm not on day 86 and still no amber trichs too.Also, I think they can fill out a bit more too..It really sucks to have to wait but I'm sure I will like the end result..Almost everyone I have talked to and everywhere I have read it says not to go by the seed company's estimated times, but rather go by what you see and when you think it is time. I thought I would be saving a ton of time going with auto-flowers but now realize that it really wouldn't have made a huge difference. I think I will get 2 oz's if I'm lucky. I will be happy with it for sure but I think I will go with a regular strain next..I will say though that the buds are looking awesome and I really think it is going to be killer smoke...Good luck to you on your plant and I hope to see a great outcome for the both of us!!!

 

[Hash Hound]

Patience, patience, patience

kline

Wait it out depending on the high you want.
It took me 18wks of flowering on my last grow of Northern Lights. Northern Light Finally Picked 18th Week I am assuming it was a sativa phenotype that caused the long flowering time. There were no large leaves for the last 8 or 10 weeks if i remember. And we did not do much fertilizing because we just kept thinking one more week and she will be done.... wrong. It still wasn't as amber as we would have liked her to be, but we wanted to get the next grow started. The smoke turned out great anyway. Everyone who smokes it loves it.

 

[kline]

Waited 12 weeks and chopped. The leaves were turning too yellow for my comfort. There were very few amber trichomes.

Once the product had cured I was pleasantly surprised. My medicine always had an undesirable side effect of some anxiety. The 12 week flowering seems to have been worth the wait as anxiety quotient seems to be way down.

This finding is preliminary and I will do more sampling before a final determination.

 

[Franknstrain]

Patients is a virtue...but for me I had to learn that skill.

 

[GreenDollars]

im having the same ongoing problem right this very moment. Its been a long time in flower and the trich are still not redish and the hairs are still growing...which I find weird. Some are red and some seem like there still growing new hairs.


im lost as hell.

 

[Franknstrain]

im having the same ongoing problem right this very moment. Its been a long time in flower and the trich are still not redish and the hairs are still growing...which I find weird. Some are red and some seem like there still growing new hairs. im lost as hell.

Go by the trichs..patients.. Dont worry about what the hairs are doing.. are your trichs even milky yet? And are you wanting all the trichs ambered? Or are you just waiting for some ambering up?

 

[GreenDollars]

Go by the trichs..patients.. Dont worry about what the hairs are doing.. are your trichs even milky yet? And are you wanting all the trichs ambered? Or are you just waiting for some ambering up?

Im trying to be patient man. Trying hard ahah. They seem to be clear and maybe some milky but none that look redish, maybe some on some edges of the leaves but not anything to wow about. Ive tried it and its good. pretty smooth and get my Hiiiiigh. lol Still confused though none the less.

SO can i harvest when the hairs are not red. I feel like i wont be getting the most of the grow if I do that...

 

[Franknstrain]

O.K. for this next statement.. this is how I decide when its time.. Now I know you will get different responses on this one.. but for me personally.. I want to see most all tricombs to be milky... with very few amber tricombs.. I want 50%-75% of the tricombs to be bending over {like they are top heavy}. Once I see those things happening.. I take down.

 

[Franknstrain]

Sorry.. to answer your last question.. It is all depending on the high you want to get. Are you wanting to get high or to medicate or to get couch lock? Wanting to get high?.. take down when tricombs are milking up and very few tricombs are bent over or ambered. Want couch lock? take down when most tricombs are all ambered and most all tricombs are bent. Want to medicate? My previous post applies.

 

[GreenDollars]

thanks for this. sorry to crash the thread. All a learning experience to me

 

[kline]

I started this thread back some time now for a friend that provides MM to help me as I am sickly. It is time to follow up with some of his results. Last grow he let half the girls grow as long as thirteen weeks. They did not develop much in the way of amber trichomes or even cloudy trichmoes for that matter.

Here are some pics from his latest MM grow:

This is 4-way at 54 days, notice most trichomes have gone to amber. This was a first for reasons unknown. Possibly the flower was very close to the light source and its heat.

Here is TBS at 54 days. Most of the trichomes are cloudy. He says this is the first time he has seen so much cloudy so early and does not know why.

Another 4-way at 54 days. The trichomes are mostly clear which has been the pattern in the past.

The pics were taken with a low power binocular scope by holding a digital camera lens up to the eye piece. The scope does not have a deep field of focus thus the blurring.

 

[kline]

The third pic which didn't post for some reason:

 

[kline]

 

[kline]

Wait, I just talked to my buddy. He says the last grow finished up with one HPS bulb and one off the shelf metal halide bulb.

This round he is using a Digilux metal halide bulb that is near the end of its useful life and a new ceramic metal halide bulb. Could the CMH bulb make that much difference?

 

[mises890]

I'd agree that you have to take into consideration the high that you want and the other side effects. Then, you can make a decision about how long to leave them. Of course, it may vary by strain. However, what I have heard is that it is important to watch the coloring of the trichs until they are at your preferred ratio; leaf color may also be part, but it does not seem to be the most used/practical of reasons to harvest at a particular time.