Am I interpreting trichomes correctly?

[PaulNewtoGrowing]

Hi I’m trying to learn how to judge trichomes for flower maturity. This is s pic from a low lying flower. I know it’s not ready yet since it’s advertised as a 70+ day flower time and it’s only going 7 weeks since I flipped the light but to me they look mostly cloudy and obviously no amber. so I looked at a upper sugar leaf that was frosted over to see what that looked like (second photo) Here I see cloudy amber and clear. My question is basically on the first photo - just looking at the flower you can tell it’s not ready but has mostly cloudy trichomes - will the trichomes actually stay in this clear/cloudy state with none turning amber until the flower is actually matured. I guess I was expecting, with no real reason, them to be all clear still with 3+ weeks left. So am I reading these trichomes correctly ?

[SoOrbudgal]

Hello and your asking great questions. By what I go by are all cloudy like milk highest THC and as you allow the plant to get older ( I don't give anymore bloom nutes ) grow past the stated flower times given by the strain. It will be either weeks or days for these trichchomes to turn more amber, but you loose the THC if that's what you want and tends to change into less stimulating to more sedating. I figure 15% on each cola branch look at each one. I take what is ripe and leave the rest to get more cloudy less " glassy" you don't have to harvest the whole plant at once. Yes the whole plant will eventurally quit and it will dry up from top down in my experience. You are correct to only look at bud, sure i go look at leaf also but it's the bud that matters.

[TOKABIGONE]

Hi PaulNewtoGrowing , you're on the right track but don't base your thinking on leaf trichomes. It's the bud trichomes that are important. Clear to cloudy is early with a more racy head high but most look for approx 20% amber on the buds for a more relaxed medical effect. This is where you keep a very close eye on them and decide what you want. I'm new here too so I am saying this based on what I read from fellow growers as mine have another 4 to 5 weeks before I will see any amber so good luck for a great harvest. BTW, your pics are very clear so that should help you to observe them.

[bboyfromwayback]

The tris on the sugar leaves will turn amber a couple weeks before the ones on the bud. I do the same as Budgal, once the buds are all cloudy or white I stop giving nutes. It’ll be another couple weeks after that before you’ll be at 20% or so. It’s a slow maturation until you get above 30% then the changes can be drastic overnight.

[grouchyoldman]

Solid advice offered to you above, and here's is a practical suggestion for your trichome viewing pleasure:

To identify the change from "Clear" to "Cloudy" look for the small "dots" in the individual trichome heads. The dots can be white or dark colored depending on the background behind the individual trichome. That is because you are looking through a "clear" trichome head and seeing a tiny image of what is behind it. The more mature "Cloudy" trichomes don't have a dot because the light is reflected rather than refracted. In your first pic the trichomes are almost all Clear and you can see the white dots, especially in the lower right.

My picture below isn't very good but if you look carefully you can see both Clear and Cloudy trichomes in close proximity.

By the time the trichs are mostly cloudy you'll likely see amber appearing on the lower leaves. My process for determining the percentage of Amber is pretty nerdy. First blow up an image so you can focus on a small section of a calyx. Shoot for an image that only has 50 or so trichomes showing and then do a tally: Number of clear & white vs. Amber. I count a trichome with any yellowish tint as amber because it will BE amber very soon.

The percentage Amber calc is "Total trichs in your sample image (eg. 50) divided by the number of Amber trichs (say 15). So 15 / 50 = 0.30 which means 30% amber in your sample. Do that for a few sample areas and you'll know where you stand and have data to compare later.

This may all be kinda obvious but I haven't seen it elsewhere and I hope it is helpful.

Cheers,

-Grouchy
PS, if you want a magical mystery trip through the trichome forest check this link. JoeCrowe is a microphotography wizard!

https://overgrow.com/t/cannabis-microscopy/34906/248

[TOKABIGONE]

Crazy cool "Trip" through the forest! It's ALIVE!! Crowe is a genius, there is some serious science here. We are only scratching the surface of the possibilities of this
medicine.

[BigOlBug]

Thanks grouchyoldman for an excellent explanation. This really helps me!!

[PaulNewtoGrowing]

No kidding - that makes it pretty simple then - I’ve nevervv be read that anywhere but it makes sense from an optics perspective - analogous to a magnifying lens Thank you - I will be looking for the change in a few weeks.

[PaulNewtoGrowing]

So I looked a different plant and I guess this one has the dark spots in centers vs the white ones on the other plant .