Harvest time?

[cbg]

This is my first time growing. I'm getting close to the end and I can't tell when to harvest. I'm growing Doobiebird daydream, and the package said that it can be harvest in 8 weeks. I started flushing at 6 weeks, but I am thinking I started that too early. The past week I started adding nutes again, and thought I'd flush for just a day or two. I don't know if I should continue feeding or should I flush and harvest in a few days? I'm posting pictures. Since I have never done this and have no comparison, it looks to me like the trichomes are cloudy. My plant looks so different than all the pictures I see, so I can't compare how it should look. Thanks

[garybob69]

I'd be chopping that. I see plenty of amber trics in one of your pictures. At least for me. Quit adding nutes. Flush for a few days to a week, whatever floats your boat.

[cbg]

Some of the buds are not as amber. I'm giving it a few more days. Thanks for your help

[crucialbunny]

It's a beautiful plant. It could be harvested at any time but if it were mine I would give it a boost of potassium and see if those calyxes don't fatten a little more over a week. If it was a photo I'd shorten it's light hours. Excellent job.

[crucialbunny]

Yes you can use coffee grounds but it does contain a lot of nitrogen. Be careful to use coffee sparingly. I once used too much and killed a plant over night when I confused my pure emulsion with my diluted feed.

[crucialbunny]

Yes on the peel. You are in the harvest window now but you might want to try the banana and more darkness for a week. When I do this, often times my calyxes will swell to the point that those sugar leaves will be almost enveloped and dense.

[cbg]

Ok, it’s been a week, I fed the plant with the banana tea and turned the light off for 15 hours/days as suggested. I thought I would be ready to harvest in the next few days but the white hair on the top of the plant look straight still. Do I start feeding it again? I keep stopping and starting. The trichomes look amberish, and the literature I’ve read says 8 weeks to harvest. I don’t want to harvest to early, but I want the energetic effect. It’s been 9 weeks In flower phase now.

[AccidentalGardener]

I thought I saw amber! Yay! What a beautiful plant!

[cbg]

Thanks, I'm so proud. Hopefully I won't mess up the curing phase. All new territory for me. If you look at one of the photos it has some whitish pistols on top of the plant. And from pictures posted, they all have so much more resin. I guess that's because I used t5's.

[AccidentalGardener]

Just don't rush the dry! The cure, haha, you'll be sampling it every day. But man, oh man, do not skimp on the time and conditions necessary to create the perfect smoke and you will be rewarded handsomely.

[cbg]

Don't you have to dry it before you can sample it? Also, if it's too soon I read it can cause anxiety and paranoia.

[AccidentalGardener]

You can rest assured that your plants in person are never going to look like my photos or anyone else's pictures.
Try turning off the grow-lights and using the flash, and your pictures will look like a lot of others you see - nice and frosty - the glitter of the plant world

For a while I had plant-envy, but realized they are all a little less-impressive in person, without a flash. At least mine are.
I'm not impressed and they are my plants, lol.
That binding makes me think you were a sailor either in this or a past life, because that is a hell of a rigging job!

[cbg]

You're right, looks better without lights.. There was a lot more binding, it was getting hard to water and prune. I've removed almost 1/2 of the ties so far, the plant is not rising up, it is staying pretty uniform. I was using the leaves to hold it down as it grew but the leaves are dying now. All is good, until the next phase. Man, there are so many steps. I'm sure it will be easier next time since I know what to expect. Thanks for your help.

[AccidentalGardener]

Lol @ "I'm sure it'll be easier next time..." bwahahahaha

[SoOrbudgal]

I have 3 in the tent now little gals like yours my buds are not as big yet they are in day 37 of flower but for some reason are ripening very quickly. I took them as clones from a early flowering Mom. So who knows but they are healthy that's all i care about. Your looks great and i have stopped feeding too early before and then reintroduced bloom and unsulfurated molasses to help plump the buds. Don't be afraid of taking a bud off to test it as long as it's all milky trichs. I only felt anixious or had racy thoughts when i smoked clear trichs the pistols were not even curly in or brown you don't want to do that.

[AccidentalGardener]

The anxiety/paranoia thing has to do with the trichomes at harvest (clear - cloudy - amber), not so much the cure...but....
You can smoke your weed whenever you want. Even pull a bud right off the plant and light it up. It's not going burn for crap or taste very good, but it will taste better than the tippy-toppest-shelf bud you have ever smoked - because you grew it!
Dry it too fast, or at too high of heat and you end up with a pile of something that smells like hay and smokes like Prince Albert in a can, lol. Just awful.

Great place to start while your plant is still on the hoof: https://www.growweedeasy.com/drying-curing
You have some choices to make - wet or dry trim - depending on your climate. Where I am, I have to do a wet trim because we have webbed toes in the PNW - nothing dries out without help, lol. But someone in a dry climate would want to do a dry trim if slowing down the dry necessary. So many decisions, so little weed, LOL.

I found the wait till it was cured properly to be the one thing I had trouble with the first grow. I was just far too excited and curious about the process - it was more of a scientific exploration than a crop at that point, lol. So much trouble waiting for a proper cure I have no idea what my weed does when it's cured right because we smoked all of it,..except the trim. That cured just fine, LOL. The 2nd run of the same strains is about to come off and I find I'm not as eager to try it until it's really ready. But I recommend trying it throughout the cure your first time (or any time ) because the only way to learn why is to walk through the process.

My 2 cents usually turns into 73 cents. I apologize, lol.

[cbg]

Ok, it’s been a week, I fed the plant with the banana tea and turned the light off for 15 hours/days as suggested. I thought I would be ready to harvest in the next few days but the white hair on the top of the plant look straight still. Do I start feeding it again? I keep stopping and starting. The trichomes look amberish, and the literature I’ve read says 8 weeks to harvest. I don’t want to harvest to early, but I want the energetic effect. It’s been 9 weeks In flower phase now.

[AccidentalGardener]

Sometimes a plant will just keep sending pistils and you have to decide for it, lol. You can also harvest individual branches.