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How much until harvest?

rrolly
rrollystarted grow question 3 years ago
How much time left in your opinion? Tried to make some usable pictures: On some bud leaf the resin is like 40% amber but on other parts it’s like 0%. Shall I wait a week more or two?
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Organoman
Organomananswered grow question 3 years ago
I would be harvesting asap, before even more THC breaks down into CBD and CBN, 2 non-psychoactive substances. Harvesting at around 90-95% brown pistils will give you flowers with peak THC and peak terpenes, producing a mind bending head high. Waiting until all the pistils are brown will give you a heavier and sleepier body stone effect, due to a lot of the THC having broken down into CBD and CBN. So, let your desired effect guide your harvest timing, although you already seem to be well past the 95% brown and for me personally, this is also past my own preferred level of maturity. Judging harvest readiness on trichome colour alone has some problems in my experience. Some strains will never have amber trichomes, which is controlled by genetics, and some strains will have 75% amber after only 4 weeks of flowering. Waiting for a strain that does not have the genetics for amber trichomes can lead to people harvesting near dead plants at the last minute, after waiting for the often quoted magical figure of "30% amber". On the other hand, harvesting at 4 weeks would be foolish and in both circumstances, the flowers will be disappointing. I have in my time growing (35+ years, and I only say this to give some context to my answer), tried harvesting plants at all stages of maturity to find out what actually happens, as opposed to what is urban myth or written somewhere, and have come to the conclusion that basing harvest timing according to pistil condition to be the most consistent way of determining when to harvest. After all, pistil colour will indicate flower health and it is flower health that determines trichome composition, whereas trichome colour does not determine trichome composition. I am sure there are many other growers who have left flowers mature until the plant is nearly dead, hoping to get killer flowers with THC levels off the chart and some sort of super buds, but in reality have harvested horse manure that doesn't get you high. At least we have experimented and found out for ourselves - and who hasn't harvested too early due to impatience and got buds that just don't do much of anything at all? So, harvest timing is a fine line between not long enough and too long, with around 90-95% brown pistils seemingly providing buds with the biggest kick to the head and buds with 99-100% brown pistils providing the most relaxing and soothing buds in my experiments, but do not leave it too long after 99-100% brown pistils, as the trichomes lose quality rapidly once the pistils get to that advanced state of maturity. This is because the plant is nearing death, as indicated by the 100% brown pistils, and being so close to death means the plants' metabolism has all but stopped and this almost stopped metabolism can no longer support healthy trichomes, or prevent the cannabinoids in the trichomes, from breaking down into useless compounds that just don't get you high. Wow, such a long answer to such a short question, I really should self limit myself! Hope this helps in some way and you can find an answer amongst all the waffle, .............. Organoman.
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Hashy
Hashyanswered grow question 3 years ago
If you have over 80% brown pistils then I would start a 2 week flush.
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