Question Stunning Trichomes Harvest Time?

Stomper1963

Member
May 19, 2021
35
43
Wishing everyone a happy harvest and hope you all reap the rewards of your hard work. I have 3 ladies that have been flowering for about 30 days. One of them is way ahead of the other 2 with huge buds almost 50% bigger. I am wondering if anyone can share their thoughts from these pics of beautiful trichomes. I have researched and found that time to harvest is when the Trichomes are about 50% amber and the rest cloudy or mixed or when 60 to 70% of the pistils are brown. I have also read that the sugar leaves trichomes would show more amber ones before the actual buds. I can't really see buds except mostly pistils. I started flushing last Wednesday so I am hoping there is maybe 2 more weeks left before harvest. The last picture is of a very large bud like nodule that is sticking out from the pistils. Hope you like these pictures. By the way these are Indica dominant hybrid 60/40. Thank you in advance for any words of advice. Greatly appreciated. Cheers
Updated added 2 pics of the crown bud
 

Attachments

  • IMG_2402.JPG
    IMG_2402.JPG
    142 KB · Views: 82
  • IMG_2401.JPG
    IMG_2401.JPG
    140.6 KB · Views: 78
  • IMG_2400.JPG
    IMG_2400.JPG
    159.1 KB · Views: 85
  • IMG_2395.JPG
    IMG_2395.JPG
    140.6 KB · Views: 75
  • IMG_2399.JPG
    IMG_2399.JPG
    112.7 KB · Views: 79
  • IMG_2384.JPG
    IMG_2384.JPG
    112.9 KB · Views: 122
  • IMG_2434.JPG
    IMG_2434.JPG
    1.8 MB · Views: 71
  • IMG_2436.JPG
    IMG_2436.JPG
    1.9 MB · Views: 76
Last edited:

Jason

Well-Known Member
Mar 16, 2019
567
1,442
Nice job @Stomper1963. I like to wait until the majority of the plant looks like the last picture. Also, my understanding is pistols are not a good way to judge maturity since they can grow inconstant during several stages of bud development and differ between strains. Trichomes are the best way to indicate ripeness and the last pic IMO, would be about perfect for highest THC level. You can harvest larger more mature buds first and let the others grow for a while to catch up too.(probably already knew that.) You sound pretty right on with everything except one thing is, (and this is just me, everyone is different), personally I try not to let the trichomes go to 50% amber as they are higher in CBN at that point than THC and can cause serious couch lock. That may even be the goal for some. As the trichomes turn amber the THC is degrading and turning into CBN. I'd love to hear other's opinions on this and what the "normal average", point of harvest is for other growers and why. I tend to shoot for maybe 10% amber overall and not exceed 30% on the more mature colas. Making sure they are mostly all cloudy and swollen with big heads is the most important to me. I just recently spotted some cool looking purple trichomes for my first time but now can't locate the picture I took of them ATM.
 

RajaMo

Member
May 16, 2021
35
62
My first grow I let about 10-20% go amber, the flower did the trick and I wasn’t couch locked after. Both were an autoflower that I grew indoors northern lights and gelato
 

PirateJoe

Well-Known Member
Dec 10, 2020
135
285
Nice job @Stomper1963. I like to wait until the majority of the plant looks like the last picture. Also, my understanding is pistols are not a good way to judge maturity since they can grow inconstant during several stages of bud development and differ between strains. Trichomes are the best way to indicate ripeness and the last pic IMO, would be about perfect for highest THC level. You can harvest larger more mature buds first and let the others grow for a while to catch up too.(probably already knew that.) You sound pretty right on with everything except one thing is, (and this is just me, everyone is different), personally I try not to let the trichomes go to 50% amber as they are higher in CBN at that point than THC and can cause serious couch lock. That may even be the goal for some. As the trichomes turn amber the THC is degrading and turning into CBN. I'd love to hear other's opinions on this and what the "normal average", point of harvest is for other growers and why. I tend to shoot for maybe 10% amber overall and not exceed 30% on the more mature colas. Making sure they are mostly all cloudy and swollen with big heads is the most important to me. I just recently spotted some cool looking purple trichomes for my first time but now can't locate the picture I took of them ATM.
I agree with Jason on this issue. I would be harvesting that plant in the last picture. I start seeing signs of brown trichomes and I’m harvesting. I grow in soil all organic so I don’t need a chemical flush. I also try not to water so as to have less moisture in the hang process. I like to harvest before sunlight.
 

Stomper1963

Member
May 19, 2021
35
43
Wishing everyone a happy harvest and hope you all reap the rewards of your hard work. I have 3 ladies that have been flowering for about 30 days. One of them is way ahead of the other 2 with huge buds almost 50% bigger. I am wondering if anyone can share their thoughts from these pics of beautiful trichomes. I have researched and found that time to harvest is when the Trichomes are about 50% amber and the rest cloudy or mixed or when 60 to 70% of the pistils are brown. I have also read that the sugar leaves trichomes would show more amber ones before the actual buds. I can't really see buds except mostly pistils. I started flushing last Wednesday so I am hoping there is maybe 2 more weeks left before harvest. The last picture is of a very large bud like nodule that is sticking out from the pistils. Hope you like these pictures. By the way these are Indica dominant hybrid 60/40. Thank you in advance for any words of advice. Greatly appreciated. Cheers
These pictures are all from the same plant.
 

Stomper1963

Member
May 19, 2021
35
43
I found the purple trichome pic I mentioned. It's not that rare but it's a first for me.

View attachment 17607
Wow very nice. They don't look ready for harvest at the time of this pick. There are no amber. I'm guessing about 2 weeks after the pic was taken. It's a personal preference some like to harvest when cloudy, some amber, mostly amber. When did you end up harvesting this one and how was it, assuming you tried some. Cheers
 

Jason

Well-Known Member
Mar 16, 2019
567
1,442
Wow very nice. They don't look ready for harvest at the time of this pick. There are no amber. I'm guessing about 2 weeks after the pic was taken. It's a personal preference some like to harvest when cloudy, some amber, mostly amber. When did you end up harvesting this one and how was it, assuming you tried some. Cheers
To be honest, I forgot which plant this shot came from. I think it is the green crack. I've ended up with some amazing colors from those genetics. I try to take harvest into consideration when I start to see the amber accumulating. Some time more amber than others, it depends. It's my indicator to start the harvest monitoring process although I'm more interested in the overall cloudy swollen trichomes over the majority of the plant. I try to take in the big picture of the whole plants maturity level and shoot for best overall average of trichome development. There are a lot of variables to consider. As for how was it, it's all good and getting better every day.
 


Back
Top