Flowering, How Long

[masgwapo]

Hi.

My plants started flowering around 3 weeks ago and the flowering was really rapid at 1st.

The buds have become fairly thick, but still a bit sparse at the bottom of the stem. It seems they are growing slower now also

the buds are around 1 inch in diameter at the moment.

Some of them are starting to become a little smelly, and a little sticky, but the others still smell young and arent really sticky yet

Im wondering how long does flowering go for and how will i know when they are ready for harvest.

Also, Will they get much fatter in diameter , or will they just get sticky from this point ?

Approximately how much longer do i have before they are ready, considering the above description

 

Thanks Jason

[Luke Skywalker]

Well, if you've got a strain which is a fairly mixed hybrid, (indica/sativa) it should be between 8 and 12 weeks from start to finish of flowering. That said, some strains, particularly those with majority sativa genes, can flower for a lot longer, 16 weeks plus, and never really appear to mature properly. Others with a heavy indica tend to take a little less time, sometimes as little as 6 weeks.

 

Maturity is decided by a few factors, with the most accurate method being direct observation of the trichomes. Check out the Grow Faq and the harvesting and curing forums, you should find some information on trichomes and how to identify maturity. Another method is to go by the amount of stigma's, (the white hairs which turn red later in flowering) which have turned red. Provided the plant isn't pollinated, the hairs will sucessively turn red after a few weeks. The tips are first to turn brown, which then moves down the hair, until it's totally red/brown. The calyx, the green fold which holds the stigmas, will then start to swell slightly and begin producing capitate stalked trichomes, the ones you want for getting toasted, and these are what gives weed it's glistening/crystalline appearance.

 

When the hairs on the plant are at about 70-80% red, this can be taken as a rough indicator of maturity. Some may in reality be ready a little later or earlier than that, and the only way to tell is with some magnification of sorts to see the colour of the trichomes, but as a general rule they should be about ready then.

 

Buds will put on a substantial proportion of their weight and thickness in the last couple of weeks before harvest. This is when the flowers begin to swell up as they aren't pollinated, and produce the flower clusters we love so much.

 

So don't worry too much if they don't look to thick at the moment, they'll put on a lot later. The structure of the buds is built first, in the stretch after the plants are put into flower, and then the buds are filled in by the plants.

 

Hope that helps mate, and yeah, as I said before, check out the growing faq, the harvesting and curing forums and the search function, and you should be able to find plenty of other information on harvesting and how to pick it.