Please stop flowering

[90Gizmo]

Week 12 of 10. Older pistils are turning color and curling but new calyx and white pistils keep forming. I don't really see a lot of amber which is a specific goal I have for this grow since friends told me I chopped the first grow too soon. I'm still giving bloom nutes and Cal/Mag. Humidity is low so I'm not (perhaps naively) worried about bud rot.

[Blowdout2269]

You'll generally still have a few white pistols at harvest. Though the second picture looks like they are being caused by foxtailing. Also, make sure that you are checking deep in the bud themselves when examining trichomes. How low is your humidity? I've read that lowering the humidity in late flower can also be beneficial to increase resin gland production.

[90Gizmo]

I do think I'm starting to see foxtailing. (I had to do a lot of googling to see what foxtailing really was.) I'm struggling to keep the RH up to between 40 and 45 percent which seems to be the minimum vapor pressure thing for flowering in the low 70 degrees. I've taken your advice and have some photos from inside the buds posted later but... OMG my fingers were so coated and smelly and wet with resin that I just didn't want to stop opening up the buds and taking pictures and getting more sticky goo on my finger tips. I might have an addictive personality. I licked my fingers and my tounge is tingling a little bit. Tastes a little like retsina (pine tar) to me. Thank you for the suggestion.

[ZigZag]

Yeah I’d agree, you have some fox tailing which is also contributing to new pistols. Some of that might be genetic, but you could try reducing the heat or light intensity a bit and see if that helps.

[OldManGrower]

Nice looking grow. Harvest it when you like. Some plants require a lot of time to turn amber and some never really do. I have one of those going right now. Should be showing amber but it ain't.

[Blowdout2269]

Same here. Kinda perplexed actually. Usually I have alot more amber on these Big Bud plants at week nine.

[ChubbNugg]

Sometimes the amber you are looking for is more of a blonde color which you cant really see unless you have a scope.

[ZigZag]

A scope is a must for checking color on trichomes. Also the light temp should be 5000-6000k (basic full noon daylight).
Otherwise clear or opaque trichomes can appear more amber than they really are. If your lights are full white spectrum your in the ballpark.

[alltatup]

Most plants I've grown keep throwing out new stigmas in an effort to get pollinated. I keep my eyes on the trichomes.

[Mr.furley]

Bud rot comes from different problems.

1) high GROW room humidity
2) boring bugs/worms
3) dead matter.

I would advise keeping a good eye on them buds because from my point of view you have dead matter that protrudes inwards of them fat buds were it is 1)dark 2) moist 3) stagnant which is ideal conditions for rot to start. Most mold/rot comes within the last few weeks of a grow ending months of work.

Words of caution.

[90Gizmo]

Thank you very much. I knew the dead leaves were bad but I didn't understand why.

[ChubbNugg]

Wow. Kick ash comment Mr.furley. When you are thinking forwards, about the past, that's when you know you're in the Zone !!!

[ZigZag]

Bud rot sucks. Even if they are looking fine at harvest they can still get some rot while drying. When I have colas with buds more than 3” across I dry them for a few days and then clip off every other bract to open them up so they dry all the way in. I just hang the clipped bracts- really thumb sized buds from the rack with spring clips to finish drying them. I learned the hard way when I cured some Big Bud buds after drying and put each huge bud into a large mouthed jar by itself. Even at 60% humidity the inside of each was crap. Thankfully all the smaller buds were fine.

[90Gizmo]

Thank you everyone. I've peeled back some buds to open them up and taken pictures. I don't see red that well so it's hard for me to tell amber from really-cloudy. If someone can advise me please then I can make future calls based on these.

[ZigZag]

From what I can see it looks like you’re getting pretty close. Cant really make a decent judgement because the photos aren’t close enough. Need to get a good magnifying glass or a powerful lupe. I use a macro lens on a high res camera and its great. Once you get something that will give you a closer view it’s easy to see the amber trichs, they stand out and are obvious. I like to have about 20% amber. You may also notice
That there will likely be a higher percentage of amber near the top 1/3 of the plant. If there’s a big difference I have harvested the top 1/3 first and then about a week later the bottom. Works very well. Cut the top right before you’d water and the plant won’t lose so much. Tape the cut stems, then water really well and lower your lights a bit.
I’ve also noticed that some plants just keep making new white pistils even when there’s 20-30% amber. Don’t let that concern you. The goal of a female is to reproduce so if they haven’t got to do their thing they will keep trying as long as they can. Why you keep seeing new white pistils. But it’s also a good time to really start looking for any signs of male flowers or “ nanna’s”starting to form- their getting frustrated and are perfectly capable of generating male flowers if stressed, or if they feel that’s necessary to develop seed. But even if you find a few indications of male flowers or “ nannas” you’re so close to harvest there won’t be much time for seeds to develop. You could also trim the dead leaves to open her up a bit. Happy harvesting- won’t be long!

[SoOrbudgal]

Did you harvest this 90Gizmo?

[Blowdout2269]

90Gizmo - Glad I'm not the only one struggling to keep the RH up, lol.
And ZigZag has a good point. Maybe harvest the tops and level out to canopy for light penetration. Adjust the lights, then harvest the rest or more in another week. That's what I'm currently doing. I'm also running some different drying/curing experiments with these conditions.

[90Gizmo]

My prior grow dried way too fast. It overlapped this one but now there's nothing else growing... so now I can slow the exhaust fan way down and keep the humidity up at 50-52%. I pulled a budlette off and dried in my vape pen purely for research purposes. Absolutely this will be my best grow yet. It can't be said enough how great you all are for helping folks out.

[ZigZag]

Keep the humidity at 50-60%, hang them so there is good air circulation all around and temp about 60-70. Don’t use the fan, it will dry them too fast, and your nugs won’t be as firm. If you need to use the fan then bounce it off an opposite wall so it’s not blowing at your rack. I’ve had to use a humidifier before to get the humidity in the right range. Check out the tutorials on curing too.

[3Berries]

I've got an auto just about done but I'm amazed that it is being able to transpire enough water to maintain the VPD at near ideal conditions with just the AC Infinity fan on auto and running either 1 or 2 speed for humidity control. Granted it's a small tent, 30x30x60" and the lighting is around 200w. Being colder has really helped as the temps range from 60f to 75f. Lights off I limit the RH at 75%. This will run the fan at around 2 and cool the tent to 60f.

Bucket heaters are doing a stellar job of maintaining 72f soil temp 24/7.

It's going though about 1/2 gallon a day but starting to see some amber and the smell is less. I'm watching for it to start using less water as a sign it's done. Might just chop off the top too as the lower buds are still quite immature.

I'm using a 50 w led to add heat when needed when the lights are on. Not sure how much it runs.

[90Gizmo]

This is my first winter growing so I'm learning a whole new set of problems I didn't know about in the summer. I've read of your bucket heaters and I'm sold on the idea. I'm going to do one more grow this winter so I'll try that out. Incremental harvest makes sense to me. My (limited) experience is that the lower stuff thickens up nicely even if it doesn't make new colas. Is it worth it? I'm not in a race to get the next grow in and I think it helps to make a gradual transition (psychologically) from care mode to drying mode.

[3Berries]

On my last two photos I did that, cut off the top main colas and went another 10 days or so. One started to hermi so I cut it all then. I think it's worth the effort if you have the time. You defiantly ripen up the smaller lower buds. Which I would save anyway if picked early. So I'm getting better buds there.

[3Berries]

Today is the end at 14 weeks they say but it's still going strong so it's still the waiting game. Got a new light and it was a bit too much so I cut out a bank of reds, no dimmer yet. Bubba Kush auto from ILGM. Growing in FF Ocean Forest.

[golfnrl]

Blowdout2269 I pulled this out of your comment. “Also, make sure that you are checking deep in the bud themselves when examining trichomes.”

Can you expound on this a bit?

I may need to make adjustments . I’ve convinced myself that manipulating the buds somehow is not good for resin production. After reading through this thread me thinks I can improve my methods. I’ve used it seems like every kind of magnifying device but have settled on the loop. Thx for the help.

[Blowdout2269]

Just try to examine the calyxs(spellcheck?) Not the sugar leaf part of the flower.