When to harvest

Although Organoman is generally right here, there are MANY strains that will not fully turn amber and they'll retain white pistils until the trichomes are long withered and shrunk. I HIGHLY recommend that you get a cheap microscope or jewellers loupe and look at your trichomes. Don't put in weeks of effort with your grow only too harvest too early or too late. Same goes with drying and curing - don't rush these critical steps! As a basic guide, you want 10-30% amber trichomes and the rest milky, as Organoman says. Amber = stoner/couch lock. Milky = high/buzz. Clear trichomes are not ready. Good luck!

When 95-99% of the pistils (bud hairs) have turned brown. This will put you in the "10-30% amber trichome zone" without even having to look at the trichomes too closely and is very easy for newbies to understand. 95% brown pistils for a more THC influenced head high, 99% brown pistils for a more CBD influenced body stone. Forget about ice water and extended darkness before harvest, it is pure ghetto science.

Some easy to spot things are pistilis (those little white hairs) turning orange. But for you to have better knowledge on what you're doing, I recommend that you use a lens and try to inspect the trichomes (those mushroom shaped, droplet looking things on buds and sugar leaves) Trichomes turn from opaque to cloudy to amber. I suggest that at least 20% of them are amber. The more of these trichomes that turn amber the more of a couch potato affect your buds will have (which isn't necessarily a good thing because that means most of your THC has turned into CBN) Some tips before harvesting, since this is an indoor grow, 1. Remember to stop any artificial nutrients at least 10 days beforehand (10 to 14 days to be exact). 2. Turn off the lights during the last 36 to 48 hours so the buds plump up further 3. A tip I haven't yet used but only heard of recently is watering with ice cold water in the final week. It causes some healthy stress to the plant which gives it that final boosts. Happy Growing

The best thing to do is buy a cheap jeweler's loupe to inspect the trichomes since those are typically how a plant's ripeness is deduced. It's a small magnifying glass with a light that you can use to closely inspect the trichomes. The general rules are that if the trichomes are mostly clear, it is too early for harvest. Harvesting this soon produces more of a short-lived head-high, so you can still do it if that's what you're after but typically it's not ideal. When most of the trichomes are milky, with some beginning to turn amber, that's the perfect time to harvest. It can depend on preferences too though. Amber trichomes are a sign of thc degrading into cbd, so if you want more cbd in your plant to produce more of a couch-lock high, you may want to let a higher percentage get to amber before harvest. You can also use electronic microscopes that plug into phones/laptops if you prefer a way to be able to take images!