headsrnice

..a sativa with mostly cloudy trichomes, some clear and very few amber trichomes, all orange, very few if any white pistils left? The only thing is the buds are very thin (expected), but very airy and fluffy. Only a couple weeks at best outdoors for it to go.. I know that sativas can have mulitiple "peak harvest" times, which leads me to ask, is there any hope of the buds getting more dense or more potent over the last couple weeks, or should it be?

mariematt

There is more to harvesting cannabis plants than just cutting them down. Before harvesting, the plants should be fed plain water only with no fertilizer (nutrients). This is to remove any fertilizer that has built up in the plants themselves, and the hydroponic media or soil they were grown in. After the plants are harvested, they have to be manicured and dried.
Even with a small indoor or outdoor garden (less than 20 plants) it can take a few hours to harvest, manicure, and hang the buds for drying. A large garden (more than 50 plants) may take a full days work, or longer. The plants must be manicured and hung to dry right after they are cut down, and this can be time consuming.
Make sure you leave yourself a steady 6 hours of time to work, the first time you harvest a small garden. Make sure you leave yourself a full day to work, the first time you harvest a large garden. You can base the time it will take to harvest future crops based on the amount of time it takes to harvest your first crop.
If you have grown a particular cannabis strain before, you will have a good idea when it will be ready to harvest. If you are a first time grower or if haven’t grown a particular strain before, try to get your seeds from someone who can tell you not only what strain it is, but also the expected harvest time.
The reason why it is so important to know when the plants will be ready to harvest is because prior to harvest, you will need to remove the fertilizer contained in the plants. The plants themselves and the hydroponic media or soil the plants were grown in will store some of the nutrients that have been fed to them.
cannabis plants need fertilizer so they can grow, mature, and produce THC. In order to remove fertilizer from plants, you feed them water with no nutrients for one or more feedings just before they are harvested. Tap water will have some chemicals present, it is best to used distilled water or water treated with reverse osmosis for this purpose.
When you know the approximate time the plants will be ready to harvest, you will be able to wait right before you are going to harvest and give them water with no nutrients. In this way they are allowed to grow for the maximum amount of time (large harvest) before being flushed.
The plants will use up the fertilizer they have stored in them and growth will not slow down, if done properly. If nutrients are not flushed from the cannabis plants, the resulting cannabis will taste bad and may also be hard to ignite.
If you are growing hydroponic cannabis, start clearing about 7 days before harvest. This can be done by changing the solution and using only distilled water or water treated with reverse osmosis (no nutrients). Some growers will change the water two or more times before harvest because the media may still hold nutrients after the first flush.
With soil you need to change to distilled water or water treated with reverse osmosis about 14 days before harvest. Avoid slow release fertilizers because they are hard to remove. Soil growers that have to use slow release fertilizer should employ regular nutrients for the last month.
With hydroponics, if you know that the cannabis strain will be ready to harvest 10 weeks after flowering is started, switch to water only feeding about 9 weeks after flowering. With soil, if you know that the cannabis strain will be ready to harvest in the middle of september, switch to water only feeding at about the beginning of september.
When growing in soil, you can stop watering the plants 2 days prior to harvest. This is not essential but it will speed the drying process. Do not stop the flow of water to hydroponic plants. If you do, they will wilt and begin to die within a few minutes to a few hours.

farmergiles

Sounds ready for harvest, you could wait a bit longer if you want a more narcotic body stone...
As you see the trichs turn cloudy, then amber, this indicates THC is being converted to CBD which makes the effect less "high" and more stoned.
So they won't become more potent exactly, but the effects will change.

I doubt they will get much more dense (though IDK what strain you're running), sativa buds tend to be airy.
A good trick with sats to get the buds more dense in the future is to switch to a feed with no nitrogen (only P & K) sometime during flowering.
For some reason the N makes the buds more fluffy- also it can delay maturation if fed too late in flower.

__________________
Cultivate a stoic calmness

stoneric

Damn, one plant takes me 3-4 hours.

farmergiles

Lol I kinda pick strains for ease of harvest now...

I still rock the LAcons which are a nightmare to manicure TBH.

__________________
Cultivate a stoic calmness

headsrnice

"There is more to harvesting cannabis plants than just cutting them down. Before harvesting, the plants should be fed plain water only with no fertilizer (nutrients). This is to remove any fertilizer that has built up in the plants themselves, and the hydroponic media or soil they were grown in. After the plants are harvested, they have to be manicured and dried."

- I have the flushing, drying, and curing down alright. Usually flush 1-2 weeks, depending on how heavily they've been fed. Slow, hang dry for 1-2 weeks, and a good long cure in mason jars. Delicious Finding the right time or "peak" harvest, especially with sativas since I don't have much experience has been my main concern. Never tried hydo either.. love au natural organic soil.

"I doubt they will get much more dense (though IDK what strain you're running), sativa buds tend to be airy.
A good trick with sats to get the buds more dense in the future is to switch to a feed with no nitrogen (only P & K) sometime during flowering.
For some reason the N makes the buds more fluffy- also it can delay maturation if fed too late in flower. "

- That has to be part of the problem. I was using bone meal at 6-9-7 but also added some soil fixing bacteria to help nutrient uptake, but this also had N in it as well. I'll have to try to find something completely free of N.

"Damn, one plant takes me 3-4 hours."

- I am constantly stopping to smell and gaze at the buds haha

Dylanceck

I'm new to this whole harvesting. I need a summary of how to get started and when the best time to grow outside is. Just one to two plants are fine with me because I'll baby those things, haha. If anyone can explain a simple summarized start off point for me, I'd greatly appreciate it while I further research.

slunt

For better, more thorough advice, please fill in a few blanks for us.
Which part of the world are you in? What type of baby,clone or seed? Indoor or outdoor? Stealth or No worries?
The basics-Plants generally need 8-10 weeks to mature "after" light duration is reduced to approx12 hours a day.
They can grow in almost any type of soil with average household garden fertilizers doing an o.k. job.
The fan leaves are the energy Batteries for the plant. Leave as many on as possible during growth. They carry very little useable thc and are generally discarded during harvest trim down. The flowers, or buds are trimmed smooth and dried to a point where you can snap the inner stems.
Use straight water near the end of flowering as the fewer chemicals and nutrients left in the final bud, the better for taste and burning.

More specific questions will bring much better info your way.

__________________
i have heard there are troubles of more than one kind.
Some come from the front, some come from behind. Bur I've bought a Big Bat. I'm all ready you see.
Now my troubles are going to have troubles with me!(Seuss)

Dylanceck

I left allot of questions out. It's stealth, outdoors, not sure of the seed strain, but I got it out of "White Widow/(plain)Widow?" an it's a seed. I'm located east coast of U.S. near Canada.

slunt

Simply put, mother natures outdoor grow season is from the end of the last frost (late April) til mid August. At that time the sun is reduced to 12-14 hours a day and the plant triggers into flower for the next 6-10 weeks depending on weather conditions. If the weather is still good in early october let it keep maturing til halloween. If the weather turns cold or crappy cut em doen after 6 weeks or more and take what you can get. Moist wet weather can wipe out your plants with mold in 3 days flat so keep an eye open in the fall.
By cutting off the top middle branch you can get the plant to grow two replacement branches. This creates a bush affect after a while and lowers the height and profile. Most people prefer a 4 foot high plant which is 4 feet wide over a six foot tall plant 2-3 feet wide.

__________________
i have heard there are troubles of more than one kind.
Some come from the front, some come from behind. Bur I've bought a Big Bat. I'm all ready you see.
Now my troubles are going to have troubles with me!(Seuss)

profit

check out the first 4 pics here:

Harvest Time: A Tutorial

if you dont have a microscope or jewelers loop then these^ pics should give you a good visual idea of what to look for. seems like the bottom 2 pics radiate a hue of brown and cloudy trics. mmm.

__________________

headsrnice

I have a couple questions about trichome maturation and light. I'm not sure if anyone has noticed whether the color change between clear to cloudy or cloudy to amber happens more rapidly during the light hours or night hours? I was wondering how the trichome maturation in autoflowering varieties that can finish under a 24 hour light schedule are affected by keeping the lights at 24/0 and if that would be affected at all? Wouldn't auto varieties generally have trichomes that mature quicker than with reg. strains?


I've never really paid much attention to how fast it generally occurs in either? Can't remember if I've read anywhere how long it takes on average under pretty good conditions.

Curious if anyone has observed the change with auto's at all as?

farmergiles

IDK exactly.

Ruderalis (autos) will almost certainly mature quicker if allowed a dark period every 24 hrs. The yield may well be lower though.

I always thought the flowers did mature during the lights out period.
I've heard people say to harvest in the morning.

Maturation is governed by hormonal changes in the plant brought on by environmental factors (day length etc) and the plant's internal clock.
This response if different in different types of plant- ruderalis, indica or sativa.

__________________
Cultivate a stoic calmness