Help! Ready to harvest?

[namaste]

Hey folks,

 

I ask your help and thoughts on whether my first successful grow is ready to harvest or not.

 

I'm growing two feminised Blueberry plants from seed in organic mixture (Nik's Mix) indoors under 600w HPS with organic Canna grow and flowering nutes.

 

Seeds germinated on April 5th, on 18/6 cycle until May 24th (7 weeks). They've been on 12/12 cycle now for 11 weeks. Lots of trichomes but most are opaque, some clear - no amber ones. Seed bank info suggests a flowering stage of up to 70 days (10 weeks) - so I'm a week beyond that. Also, the leaves are mostly yellowing now.

 

Should I wait for trichomes to darken or is there a risk I'm losing potency and so should harvest sooner rather than later?

 

Finally, one plant's buds are looking a little different to the other - is it a hermi?

 

 

Appreciate any opinions or guidance.

 

Peace.

Namaste.

[Skyfury]

yeah man id say they are ready to be ripped out the ground and hung by the roots, im no expert tho so maby get another oppinion, and either your plant is very dehydrated or your white balance on ur cam is fuked, hope u enjoy ur smoke mate

[Reverend]

Have a look in Here

[merl1n]

Hi there namaste,

You say that you have some white and some clear trichs, you could wait for them to start to amber up, then pull, but it is a fine line between them being at their peak and losing potentcy. If the majority are white rather than clear and you're worried, then flush really well and pull. You must flush, I flush for a week changing the fluid daily, the resulting smoke from well flushed plant is well worth it.

 

I have found that the browning of the hairs and the crystals or trichs repeats itself. I try for 3 brownings before harvesting. I know of others who say pull at 8wks and I've found the 3 brownings can take up to 12 weeks, but the more mature flavour is exqusite. Others say it depends on the type of stone you want ie a head stone, or body stone.

 

In short, If you are at all worried, flush really well and pull. Enjoy what you have, holding out may cost you the lot, especially if that is a hermi and polinates the lot. I ain't no pro when it comes to hermis, i use clones, but somebody here will have a better idea.

 

Just some Advise

Merl1n

[Elmer Bud]

Give it a taste test , flash dry a couple buds you should get an impression of whats goin on more mature = stonier eff . Also recommend looking at em with magnification 10 x or more then you get a fuller app of whats goin down @ trich central.

Happy harvey

Elmer

[namaste]

Thanks Reverend, Merl1n, Elmer Bud. All good advice. I think I'll have an each-way bet and pull one and monitor the other for any changes. Given that I'd prefer a more cerebral than body high this may work out well. Will be interesting to compare the two plants buds when all's done & dusted - or dried & cured as the case may be.

 

All part of the learning journey and fun that comes with being a newbie primary producer. Couldn't have come this far without all the friendly and generous support of the kind folks on this forum. I'll be sending grateful vibes to you all when I have my first sesh with my very own home-grown :-)

 

Peace.

 

Namaste.

[namaste]

hope u enjoy ur smoke mate

Hey, thanks Skyfury. Sorry I missed you on my last post.

Peace.

[merl1n]

No worries, thats wot we're here for. The advise was given to me freely when I started and man was it needed. I was the classic plant killer but over time I've learnt both from advise and experience. Now I can pass this knowledge on and I get a real kick out of that. Hopefully, in the future you can do the same. Just learn from what you do

 

Merl1n

[puredan]

Traditionally marijuana has been harvested when the pistils die and the calyx starts to swell into a false seed pod. These days the best growers are getting much more detailed in their harvesting criteria. They take a close look at the trichomes themselves to judge peak harvest. Evidence that this is the only real way to tell peak maturity is in Sagarmatha's strain Matanuska Tundra, which ripens resin glands while most pistils are still alive and white. This seems an odd twist of evolution but proves that the pistil color and ripe glands do not necessarily have any correlation.

 

A small 25x or more pocket microscope, which can be picked up inexpensively at any electronic store, works well for taking a closer look at trichome development. What we are examining are the capitate stalked glandular trichomes, which will be a round gland head supported on a stalk. The coloration of these gland heads can vary between strains and maturity. Most strains start with clear or slightly amber heads which gradually become opaque when THC levels have peaked and are beginning to degrade. Regardless of the initial colour of the resin head, with careful observation you should be able to see a change in coloration as maturity levels off.

 

hope this helps

[namaste]

Thanks puredan. I've got a handheld magnifier with built-in LED light and so I have no problem inspecting the trichomes. At the moment the ratio of opaque to clear trichomes is 90/10. I'm now 20 days past the suggested end of flowering stage for this strain according to the seed bank I sourced it from.

 

Last night I started the drying on one of my two Blueberrys and have left the other for now. Two weeks ago I remove a smaller branch of buds off the same plant and hung it to dry. I sampled this in my water bong last night and I'm pretty happy with the potency. Probably more of a body stone than I was expecting given the lack of signs of trichomes maturity. Still, it was a nice high and the aroma of the just dried bud is magnificent - quite fruity with overtones of eucalyptus.

 

 

So, my first successful grow is almost there and it feels great, partly because I know I'll have a stash that will last me and some select friends for months, but mostly it's the sense of achievement and the knowledge that it's been grown with quality in mind and not profit. Here's to never having to buy bud again.

 

Peace,

Namaste.