Mysterious Buds -- Harvest-Ready or Not?

[600m]

[I'm going to try to get some good pictures with photomicroscopy tonight and will upload them to this thread, but I thought I'd post the explanation sooner to see if anyone readily recognizes this symptom just from the description.]

I was inspecting my plant today and thought that in a couple of weeks, it might be ready to harvest, though it still looked pretty green. I went and got my little 60X magnifier and took a look at the trichomes, about half of which on the main cola were amber! The buds look to me like they're still growing and otherwise don't resemble the more dried-up pictures I see in the site examples.

Does this sound familiar? Aurora Indica plant.

 

[JohnC]

Trichomes on the upper, main cola will mature first before the buds on secondary branches and those that are lower down on the plant.

How old is the plant?

 

[600m]

Trichomes on the upper, main cola will mature first before the buds on secondary branches and those that are lower down on the plant.

Ah! That's exactly what it looked like was going on to me!

So, what do I do? Shear off the main cola and let the rest roll on, or what? Let the upper leaves on the main cola develop more CBD and let the whole plant develop a week or two (or more) longer?

How old is the plant?

From seedling, about seven months, at least. Blazing summer heat seemed to retard its development. I'm very surprised this one survived and prospered well.

I need some good photos of this to analyze it more closely. Trichome development seems at a pretty awkward age at the moment.

I haven't used this USB electronic microscope before, but if I can get it sorted out, I'll post some shots later tonight.

 

[Beach_Town_Brit]

As long as you've got a fair number of plants, I'd harvest them in stages. I only harvest two plants at a time so it's a bore to have half a jar that came down one date, half a jar another date but with more plants you should be good.

 

[600m]

This, of course, is my last, sole-surviving plant after losing three of four to the horribly hot summer, so there's no other plant to experiment with.

On the bright side, this is the biggest and most florid Aurora Indica I've ever seen, so much so that I couldn't get it through the interior doors in the house last night to photograph it without risking knocking off the edge growth.

I tried for about two frustrating hours without success to get a picture of the trichomes under discussion. I'm not sure it's possible, but I'll keep trying. I believe some people here have done it with the same microscopy device. I think the difficulty is in the lighting and focus (well, it is a photograph, right?) , which are exceedingly difficult to properly achieve with this thing.

In any case, I think the first response is probably the correct one -- this plant is just showing the very earliest signs of being harvest-ready. It'll probably be at least a couple of more weeks. The buds are still GROWING.

I'll keep trying on the photomicroscopy [sigh!].

 

[JohnC]

How do the trichomes look on the lower buds? If the main apical bud is over 50% amber, I would think that those lower buds most-likely have quite a bit of amber as well. If that is the case, then I would suggest you think about harvesting that baby!

Amber trichomes are typically an indication that THC is breaking down into CBN. If you wait too long and harvest when the THC in a majority of the trichomes has degraded into CBN, the THC content and potency of the marijuana will suffer. The high, as well as some of the medical properties, will be diminished.

And to answer your previous question, it is not uncommon to harvest your plant in stages. You can take down the main apical bud while the rest of the plant's buds continue to mature.

 

[600m]

Unfortunately, my reply got eaten, so I'll start over.

At the top of the apical and most exposed buds, the pistils are turning brown.

Down the same buds, the pistils are still white and apparently growing.

The few very top leaves at the very top of the plant's bud have about half amber trichomes.

The leaves lower on the apical bud have much fewer amber trichomes.

The leaves at the bottom of the plant that get some sun exposure have only about a third amber trichomes.

The bud leaves at the bottom that do not get direct sunlight seem to have few, if any amber trichomes. I am not even 100% sure about their cloudy development or not. It's very hard to clearly see them with the tools and lighting available up underneath the leaves.

This strain, Aurora Indica, supposedly has about even THC/CBD production. I'm looking for the most analgesic and sedative effects and the very least possible psychoactive effects.

From what I've read elsewhere on the site, the plant sounds like it's not quite there yet, but getting very close!

Does this sound about right?

 

[JohnC]

If you're only looking for the analgesic / sedative effects of your plant, then it sounds to me that you are very close.

Also, when looking at your trichomes, try concentrating on those that are on the buds rather than those that are on the leaves.

 

[600m]

Also, when looking at your trichomes, try concentrating on those that are on the buds rather than those that are on the leaves.

OK, I'll keep that in mind. I didn't know that (and a great many things!). I was looking at the leaves IN the buds.

I looked at it closely in better light this morning and the description ^ above is still accurate.

I'm also starting to see a more pronounced yellowing and impending die-off of more of the old leaves. Buds are EVERYWHERE on the plant.

If these yellowed leaves aren't serving any function, should I pull them off to get more sun on the inner buds?

 

[D.A.A.S.69]

You wouldn't be hurting a thing taking those yellow leaves off. Sure would love to see some pictures.

 

[600m]

Sure would love to see some pictures.

I posted some of the plant a few days ago, but getting the photomicroscopy down on the trichomes is probably beyond me. The right conditions are impossible to achieve: Perfect focus, perfect lighting and perfect immobility. So far, I'm 0 for 3 on that.

I have to say that in general, getting any really representative photos of these plants is surprisingly difficult.

OK, here are two of the whole plant I just went out and took. They don't really give the impression of either sheer size nor that the whole plant is virtually a solid bud. This is a giant for an Aurora Indica, I think.

 

[600m]

Wow. I just brought this thing in the house for the night (it's getting cold) and took another look at the buds.

The highest and most outside are definitely ready for harvest, maybe a few days past it. A bunch more look just ready and some aren't quite there, I think.

I was just about to start cutting when I took another look with my two-bit illuminated 60X magnifier and had to give up, because direct lighting makes it impossible to tell between clear/cloudy trichomes The bright reflection off the trichomes totally confuses this.

I'm going to give it a look in the morning when there's plenty of soft, indirect light.

If these jokers are all at least fully past the THC stage, I think I'm going to start harvesting tomorrow, at least partially. May leave the lower/inner buds on for a while to see what happens.

I vacuumed out the garage and got all the cobwebs and rafter dust out, and found some good, strong Dacron twine.

[SIGH!] I think I'm about ready!

Thoughts? Speak now, or forever hold your peace!

 

[D.A.A.S.69]

Only you know how you want them , besides we can't see trichs . Good Luck with em

 

[600m]

Only you know how you want them , besides we can't see trichs . Good Luck with em

Checked them out in good light this morning.

No question, ready to cut. Did, and hung them up the the dark garage to dry.

I was startled at how much there was to hang up in pieces. It was too big to hang up intact.

We'll see how this goes. Drying should be fine.

 

[Mr.furley]

Congratulations Harvester

 

[600m]

Congratulations Harvester

Thanks!

It took almost seven months to get there and I didn't think I was ever going to make it, but I did.

I learned A LOT, including some tricks that will make growing outdoors a lot easier with just a slightly less infernal summer.

 

[JohnC]

Congrats, 600m . Looking forward to seeing some pics of the final harvest.