first grow> winter indoor garage grow

The 70's hippies were using the pistols method. Not the most accurate , not the most efficient BUT the better way to harvest with NO magnifier. You harvest when most of your pistols are brown and if you plant is also yellowing at the same time then you have the perfect combi because the late flowering yellowing ( if the plant is correctly feed ) is called senescence and it is a natural way to show you that it is the end of the road for the plant. So brown pistols + yellowing = ready to chop.

Hi mate, nice looking buds💪 A simple think you can do if you dont have microscope, is to look at the pistils, when is 70%-80% orange-red its time to harvest. This articles will help you more. https://www.royalqueenseeds.com/blog-the-importance-of-pistils-to-cannabis-growers-n999 https://www.advancednutrients.com/articles/harvest-time-guide/

Budrick pretty well covered it but just want to throw a couple things with it. If u have a smart phone with a good camera you can take pics from as close as the camera with focus and then zoom in. It's not ideal magnification but u can see enough. The trick I discovered to that is u get better pics with the flash but the light reflects off the clear trichomes and they appear sparkling white, the milky ones looks kind of goopy and sticky and dingy colored. U cant go entirely off pistols but I'd wait til some began darkening and curling in. I've only grown 6 strains so I'm no expert but all mine so far have had around 50% darken and begin curling . Invest in some higher power magnification when u can but if now isn't gonna work u can try the phone method. I can post a pic and show u what I mean if youd like. I understand what you're going through, I'm just getting a good feel for it approaching my 6th harvest. Best of luck!