Interesting Question on Trichomes...

[NuggetMan]

The main ingredient for cannabis to work it's magic. What do you do when you are inspecting your trichomes and you happen to notice they don't change from milky white to amber?

Of course there are other factors to consider BUT what if this happens? When would you know to chop the plant down? You are also getting towards the end of flower cycle?

Before I would normally go by how many weeks the "flower to harvest" windows of Indica and Sativa was, general look of the buds, percentage of the hairs curled in, then went to trichomes inspecting and between the time to harvest and the color of the trichomes sometimes it just seemed like it didn't match up, what I call "the what if zone".

Of course I don't want to be early but I also don't want to be late either I usually harvest when I have maximum milky white (of course not 100%) and less 5%of "tea colored" trichomes BUT I have had it where it never changed to that point in development so it was hard to guess when to chop.

Basically guessing at this point and looking at time in flower is when I cut them down and so far have been lucky with good results.

Has anybody experienced this and what did you do to alleviate your issue?

I thought this was an interesting question...

[Going2fast]

Autos are notorious for not changing to amber until very late. I do the same as you then go by what the plant tells me with some exception. I recently had a lovely blue dreamatic that took 90 days and I still think it needed another week. Had mostly milky with minimal amber when I chopped her. Plant itself was super healthy and looked like it could go another month. On the opposite side all of my outdoor plants tend to amber up early but I suspect wind/ rain damage as a contributor. On those I go by time flowering.

[SoOrbudgal]

I have guessed at many a cola because of conflicting trichs. Yes i go by how she looks an realitve age call it a guess more more my vision using scopes is blurring so it's age of plant an experience knowing the finish. I know i let them go longer just cause i can't see trichs on those autos as well as photos sometimes. I'm not disappointed with results of my " guess " LOL

[NuggetMan]

The reason I asked this is because right now my recent grow set 2 is today at 8 weeks of flower but no where near ready to be harvested. I still have a lot of white hairs with new growth continuing to grow and maybe less 10% for the hairs are just now starting to change color.

How do you know if you have a hybrid plant? Is there a way to tell??? Leaves are not a good indicator of this because it's either one or the other and I have not seen a mix of leaves.

Most of what I have researched for flowering ranges are from 60 - 75 days??? Indica is represented by harvesting at 8 weeks BUT Sativa does take longer (I have harvested Sativa at 8 weeks and it turned out very good, how can this be when it's "prime" is 10 - 12 weeks?)

Apparently Indica ranges from 8 weeks to 10 weeks to be in "prime" condition to harvest indoor grow plants and Sativa is supposed to be between 10 - 12 weeks (maybe as late as a full 16 weeks for true land race Sativa), but apparently trichomes changes all of this so in the end are you "guessing" when to harvest???

Well, I'll let these girls go another week and see what they show me until then it's "wait and see"...

[OldManGrower]

Ah! experience, trial and error and dumb luck! That's the secret sauce.

[SoOrbudgal]

Sometimes that's the case OldManGrower I've got hybreds indicas but GG#4 is more sativaish taking longer to flower and i need a ladder to check her trichs. I'm doing outdoor still just starting partial harvest on 2 plants top colas and some side ones, leaving the rest to mature. Sometimes i just need to call it i'm over 85days in flower with my smaller indica hybreds.

[NuggetMan]

Wee there they are and I am hoping these turn out good!

[NuggetMan]

If you wish to see what I have, see my post: Going at it again.