First gro. Is this normal? Please help

[edit1001]

A little background before my question.
I'm a fist time grower and didn't know anything about weed before I started this.
My mom is sick and uses weed for pain and I decided to try growing it for her.
Since I never smoked or had any contact with it I'm just going with the flow.
Although I've been buying for my mom for the past year, I never bothered to look in the bag, so I really have no idea what the buds supposed to look like.

With this first grow, everything that could went wrong, but I think I my girls will give me a decent yield on the end because they like me
Against all advice I defoliated and of course took too much off around week 3 of flower. At week 5 I had to leave on a business trip and my mom was in a really bad state and couldn't tend to them so by the time I came home they were bone dry, just barely living. I was able to save them but they were growing very slow.
These girls should be ready to harvest at week 8 of flower, but when I'm looking at the trichomes they are just starting to get cloudy (I'm at week 9 tomorrow) so I just started flushing.
Is it normal that since they got dry and slowed down, would took an extra couple of weeks to finish?

Also, I took some pictures of my buds to please someone tell me that this is ok.
Until a week ago they had a nice even shape and this past week they started to grow new little buds with white hairs on the top of the buds.
Is this what they supposed to look like?

[rockman]

Hello and welcome to the forum! You'll be getting some good "expert" advice soon. I also think you've done incredibly well for someone so new to this! Yes your plants do indeed love you! There's lots to learn, but it looks like you're on your way to being able to provide for your mother! Good luck !🌻

[edit1001]

Thank you!!

[Grower-Aaron]

What lighting are you using/how close are the lights? How do you know they are ready after 8 weeks? Some websites shorten the flowering time a little bit to get more sales

[Karlee]

Hello Edit

I hate to be the one to tell you .......It looks like you have THC all over those plants. One option is send it to me I'll have it tested for you

They look great and I hope it helps your Mom no one should live with pain.

Time, you have factors to count heat, cold, shock who knows if it's a haze strain they do go longer.

Good job!

Sorry I forgot to say that pup is adorable.

[Tika]

LOL I just spit my tea...Karlee very nice support for edit1001. I couldn't agree more. Those plants appear to have hung in in there for you edit.
lotsa great people in this forum, lotsa good info on GWE site, and always time
y info oin the newsletter.
ps. I took care of my mother 24/7 in her last 6 weeks...she had no cannabis.
hang in there!

[Sheesh]

Consider four factors for harvest. Seed vendors flower time, at least 80% pistils brown and shriveled in to bud, trichomes color and finally the effect you want (GWE has a tutorial on different effects of clear, cloudy or amber trichomes). Also count flower weeks from when flowers appear, not when flipping to 12/12. Great looking buds!

[Royal Nugs]

Stress can prolong your flowering time.

That looks like a foxtail on the crown. Some strains do that. The trichomes look cloudy to me. They have that plastic look. The pistils on top are still white but they will do that under strong light despite the fact that they're ripe. I think at you're at the front end of your harvest window.

When in doubt, wait a day.

[Grower-Aaron]

I was looking at the foxtail. That's y I asked about light. Is foxtailing more of a sativa trait or does it just happen sometimes no matter what?

[NebulaHaze]

Your buds look amazing! Great work! I think your mom is going to be very pleased with the results

The little extra growths are called "fox tails" and when they grow unevenly like that it can be a sign of heat or light stress. Are they happening most on the parts of the buds closest to the light? It's funny I actually wrote an article last week about what to do if your plant keeps growing pistils if you want to check it out

[NebulaHaze]

Some plants grow foxtails because of strain, without any stress, but when that's the case it usually happens evenly all over the plant like this:

[edit1001]

Great picture! Yes, it is happening on all the plants and all over, even on the lowest buds

[NebulaHaze]

That's great!

[edit1001]

Thank so much for everyone!

I'm relieved that it's normal.
I didn't start from seed, I got clones from a friend as a gift to try to grow and this is what they ending up...
He said he flowers them for 8 weeks
Yes, it must be because of stress.
I had spider mites that I successfully got rid of in over a couple of weeks just before flower, but I ended up burning the plants a little.
I use 5w bulb LED's and had it a bit too close to begin with.
I over did the defoliation so it took a bit for them to recover and then I had them seriously dried and also was battling with heat issues until a week ago when I finally figured out how to take the temperature down.
All and all I think they are turning out great, and I will flush for another week and take them down.
Just started with my baby clones, hopefully I'll do better the second time around.

Thanks again for the comments and I'll read the article.

[Royal Nugs]

What did you use to kill your mites? They're gone completely? What were your application rates/methods?

[edit1001]

I have a grow store near me and they have an unbranded tiny (very expensive) brown glass bottle called 'Mite killer' I think they make it in-house.
I spared only once because I noticed them just as I flipped to 12/12 and this stuff takes 8 weeks to clear off so I didn't wanted to spay again in the second week.
I drenched them and the entire area, the mites were almost gone 6 days later, but checked the leaves under microscope and I still saw a couple moving.
Since I didn't wanted to spray the same stuff again, I decided to try SM-90 and drenched everything with it the next day.
My plants burned a little, kinda looking like nutrient burn (not sure if because of it though) but all the mites are gone and had no bug problems since. That was 8 weeks ago.

[Royal Nugs]

You are braver than I.

I have to know what's in the pesticide I use. There's some really scary shit out there (like eagle 20) people are using. I dont like buying from dispensaries since I can't be sure what their meds were treated with. Thankfully there's some that lab test all of their stuff and I stick to the ones that provide test results including contaminants.

At any rate, good looking buds! Well done!