The Trichomes are Whispering, But What Are They Saying?

[grouchyoldman]

White Widow Goin Dark

Well, this experiment is all over except the smokin!

The day before yesterday I noticed that at least half of the trichomes on most of the branches had turned yellow/brown virtually overnight. That was my signal to turn off the lights and prepare for harvest. I did end up considering the more holistic approach suggested above and all the signs were right; the buds were tight and plump, the leaves had pretty much given all they had to give, there was hardly a white pistil to be found and, well, she was just plain ready. So I harvested this morning, week 11, day 6 of flowering.

The humidity here is really low right now, 36% RH, so I'm doing what I can to slow down the drying process. That includes hanging the entire plant to dry rather than separating the branches. I don't have a humidifier, so I improvised with a wet towel hung over the floor fan. That seems to be working slowly, we're up to 45% RH this afternoon. I did snip the fan leaves so they don't make the trim any harder than needs be.

This is the longest I've ever waited so it's a genuine Late Harvest with plenty of amber. In a few weeks, after drying & a bit of cure, we'll see if it was worth it.

Merry Christmasssss, and thanks to everyone who contributed.

-Grouchy

[bboyfromwayback]

My plant had a big change overnight as well. Like you, this is the longest I’ve ever let one go. Hopefully we’ll have some good smoke to reward our patience 😉

[grouchyoldman]

Hey there bboyfromwayback, turns out we both managed to hold out for a late harvest. Dunno bout you but I had a hard time with that! Staring at beautiful ripening buds day after interminable day! Looking at that B/W pic I took of the Widow in the dark reminds me that those buds were literally dripping with frosting.

Perhaps, in the end, "oozing with bud juice," is the ultimate Harvest Signal?

Let's wrap up this thread with a "Taste Test" in late Jan to report the subjective results of our experiment? My little Late Harvest Widow is drying slowly in the grow room right now. I intend to do a proper cure after that before adding the jars to my library. After that maybe put a taste test on on the schedule. I bet we can get JohnEmad to participate as well.

-Grouchy
PS, an Estimable & Magnanimous Friend just gifted me a Magical Butter machine for Christmas, so some Late Harvest Widow bud will go into edibles & Tincture!

[bboyfromwayback]

I’m excited for the smoke test, that’s for sure 👍🏻 I just put the first Purple Haze in jars last night and the second one is about to get trimmed then harvested.

You’ll love that Magical Butter Machine. My wife gave me one last weekend as a early Christmas present and I made some tincture. That’s the first time I’ve ever made anything and it was super simple. You just put everything in it, close the lid and hit a button.

[SoOrbudgal]

Why yes could use a Ph balance in the bowels LOL damn it OK now i get what your saying

[grouchyoldman]

Care to share your favorite pH bowel balancer SoOrbudgal? ;->

-Grouchy

[Mlevy420]

Great pics from everyone. Helps me to visually see compared to my gig. Im think more time 1-2 weeks. Ugg this waiting shit is for the buds, not birds!!!

[Ace1973]

So I discussed this once with a friend, he said it changes the high and causes a cbd effect. I still say it is oxidation of the trichomes, in other words, the trichomes are degrading. I still get an argument over this, just my two cents on the subject, as I always harvest by the pistils and trichs, red pistils, white not clear, trichs, anyways, I think it is relevant to the high you get from it.

[9fingerleafs]

Its definitely oxidation, we say thc degrades into CBN changing The effect but neither The bud nor the trichomes are actually degrading

[grouchyoldman]

@9Fingerleafs: Oxidation, meaning O2 bonding of some sort, Degradation, meaning compositional distancing from the predecessor compound or molecule. So, probably both of those. Right?

I'm interested in the color of the trichomes as our only visible or at least quantifiable indication of peak THC production. Does Peak THC lay amongst the Snowy White mushrooms or Amber Waves of grain? Or is it the day those Trichs all turn Snow-Piss Yellow?

Let's disconnect "Harvest Day", which is really a personal preference,unlike THC peak production which is a Biochemical data point. The question seems to boil down to, when does my plant hit peak THC. Beyond that as a grower we can decide whether we desire an early harvest buzz or a late harvest snooze.

Isn't it a bit odd that this most basic parameter is still controversial? Even the commercial growers seem to be arguing about this.

Whatever, pardon the rant, I sometimes wax rhapsodic.

Saludos y Pesetas, y tiempo para gustarlos!

-Grouchy

[9fingerleafs]

Well. Molecules inside the trichomes are not breaking apart, only the outer layer letting oxygen in. I think the biggest mistake in all of this is treating thousands of subspecies as one single plant. As you can see two strains can grow very different trichomes. I guess you’d need to do some experimenting to know each Individual plant highest thc point. Take a bunch of clones and harvest with one day apart and then send to a lab to test thc. But would only work for that one strain. A lot of practice is needed to know each strain and the best time to harvest. Then cross analyze with trichomes and come to some conclusions about that one strain.

Commercial growers have other things to consider more critical to their bottom line. Logistics rule commercial operations

[grouchyoldman]

So I discussed this once with a friend, he said it changes the high and causes a cbd effect. I still say it is oxidation of the trichomes, in other words, the trichomes are degrading. I still get an argument over this, just my two cents on the subject, as I always harvest by the pistils and trichs, red pistils, white not clear, trichs, anyways, I think it is relevant to the high you get from it.

I tend to agree Ace1973 , my plant was clearly just DONE, and it did look, to me anyways, that pretty much every trich went yellow-ish all at once; the ones that were pure white looked like pissed-on snow, those already yellow went bourbon brown, the ones that were already brown went dark amber. Whether that was oxidation, degradation or whatever, it was quick and recognizable (at least with a 10x or higher loupe).

Going all the way back to the Frenchie Cannoli article, what bboyfromwayback and I saw sounded a lot like what he described as the peak THC production, BEFORE it started degrading. If that is true, BBBoy and I are gonna have some *interesting* smoke if it's properly dried and cured.

I could use some advice on slowing down a dry in very low humidity. Anybody use Tubs for a slow dry? I should prolly just cave and buy a humidifier...

[bboyfromwayback]

I only remove the big fan leaves when it’s dry like this. My basement is currently under 40% rh. Once the sugar leaves are good and crispy, hopefully 4-5 days, I’ll finish trimming. It’s more difficult but slows the process down a bit. I also use a CannaBrush, it helps a lot

[Ace1973]

You might try watering before harvest, that would put more water into your plant and slow down the drying.

[YYCannabis]

One of my local hydro stores does free testing...well, free other than you have to give them 2 grams to test. I’m pretty sure .5 gram gets tested in the machine, the other 1.5 gets tested by the dude operating the machine 😂😂😂

[bboyfromwayback]

Are they hiring testers? That would be a evening gig I could handle

[YYCannabis]

I had looked into buying a fairly decent testing device and offering on-site testing services for $10/test. Then I realized that not many home growers would want a stranger coming to their grow op. If they ever got robbed, I’d be one of the first people they accuse of doing it, or being an accomplice to it, and I don’t need that headache affecting my professional life.

[grouchyoldman]

YYCannabis, do us a solid and ask them what technique they use for their testing? Thin Film Liquid Chromatography seems to be the gold standard.

[YYCannabis]

grouchyoldman here’s the pic of the actual vs potential THC/THCa numbers for a Jack Herrer from them. You will notice the “Potential” includes the “Actual”.

[bboyfromwayback]

This one has been in a jar 10days, decided to try her out. Measuring 18% THC per HighGrade. I’ll do a side by side grading followed by a wake and bake smoke test on consecutive days in a few weeks. Want to see what the fuss is about though, I’ve jammed Hendrix too many times to not try his favorite strain

[bboyfromwayback]

Purple Haze #1 was harvested December the 15th, #2 on the 22nd. I’ll test them again in a few more weeks with the app but the fun testing will begin around 7ish tomorrow morning with #1 followed with sample 2 on Sunday. Plus it’s playoff games all weekend. I’ll have a few others to test it out with and see what they think. Nobody knows I grow weed so it’s fun to see how they like it.

Whenever I use this app, I always do the test 3 times and all 3 test with both plants were 17% every time tonight. On the 28th I tested #1 at 19%, 17% then 18% so I kept the one in the middle.

[YYCannabis]

What app is that? How does an app read your THC content?

[bboyfromwayback]

It’s called High Grade. There’s a description on the algorithms they use to determine thc. Not sure how accurate it is but it’s the cheap method to testing your stuff besides the good ol smoke test which I’m about to jump on 😁

[SoOrbudgal]

If i smoke 2 doobies at 18% i'll get 32% in me double that an i'm good I think that app is pretty cool. Gooooo Seahawks

[bboyfromwayback]

The first smoke test results are in. Purple Haze #1 was harvested when the trichomes were 10-20% amber and has a heady Sativa high. Purple Haze #2 was harvested when the trichomes were +50% amber and has a complete full body high. The buds tested from both plants came in at 17% THC and on the stoned meter I’d say they’re about the same. I definitely enjoyed the way I felt after smoking the second plant more than the first one so this may come down to personal preference.

I’m interested to see others results. I put 2 Bubba Kush and 2 Hindu Kush into flower yesterday so I’ll be running this test again. Now I’m wondering if once you get into that harvest window (that’s said to be roughly 2wks long) is the THC percentage already set? From there is it not going to improve, only mature until it starts converting to CBD? That would make it a decision on the type of high you’re seeking because it’s not going to be any more or less potent? 🤔

To get a more accurate sample on this theory I’m going to harvest these next four plants in stages so I can compare THC percentages and smoke test from the same plant. Each plant has 10 main colas so I’m going to take 3 colas from each around 20% amber, 3 colas from each at 50% then I’ll put the plant in the dark 2 days to get the next 4 over 50% and see if the dark period noticeably seems to matter.

[JohnEmad]

great testing bboy. I think that's how I will test my current grow as well. A staged harvest from the same plants.

[bboyfromwayback]

Credit that idea to the smoke lol as I was puffing away this morning it dawned on me that although this test is accurate, it’s from two different plants. Society can believe what they want, I come up with some of my best ideas while smoking and never wrote one research paper completely sober.

[JohnEmad]

Here are a few pics of trichomes from a Wedding Cake clone at 9 weeks into flower. It appears to be close to 15% amber but as per usual my picture taking does not show it clearly.
I have harvested a few nice buds from the top yesterday and will wait for the closer to 50% amber before finishing the harvest.
Going to test them both for THC and will post the results.

[bboyfromwayback]

Man that sucks! I just had a 64oz jar off Chocolope go bad. I pulled a bud out at 2wks to sample, smoked one joint that tasted like a tootsie roll and around wk 3 I started to notice mold. I know how you feel bro.

[YYCannabis]

That’s crappy news, John. How much did you lose?

[JohnEmad]

YYCannabis, Only lost maybe 6-7 grams as it was harvested early to test against the more mature flowers. So lost half of the test and some nice bud. No problem as I am always growing another plant.