(pics) is this plant ready to harvest

doggyd

Active Member
Well I have been reading a lot of forums and many people are saying wait for the hairs to turn brown or Use a 30x scope for trichomes and wait until orange+milky! You can't see the color in the trichome with a 30x scope. No way in hell is that possible. So whatever, I went out and got me 60x-100x scope with light, and its still very difficult to use correctly. I was wondering which is the the best way to check to see if your bud is ready, can I visually check,NO?
I am growing an AUTOFLOWER and its DAY 71 from seed, I just can't tell yet. This is my first grow so just a little confused.
++REP

Example:

D70.1.JPGD70.2.JPGD70.5.JPGD70.7.JPGD70.JPGD70.4.JPGD70.8.JPGD70.6.JPGDSC02218.JPGDSC02221.JPGDSC02222.JPG
 

cannabisguru

Well-Known Member
alright, your in luck my friend. I'm in a fair mood today because its a holiday.. so, consider yourself lucky that I'm going to be nice enough to share my knowledge with you my friend.

Read this article.. you'll find it very useful:

ARTICLE: Is it ready yet?: This is by no means meant to be the definitive guide to knowing when to chop your plant, only my views on the subject.

Its my personal opinoin that 90% of the noobie growers on this site (And probably in general) harvest too early. By letting the plants go a little longer you're ensuring that the've plumped as much as they're going to.

Despite popular opinion to the contrary(and don't fool yourself, the jury is still out on this one) Recent studies have shown ;contrary to what was previously believed, that THC itself (And its predecessor THC-A) are quite guilty of causing the confusion and drowsiness associated with burnout and other cannabinoids (our friend CBN, and a handful of others) to be the catalyst (along with THC) to being 'high' rather than 'baked'

Regardless, whether or not theres any substance to the aforementioned study, its easy to get the high you want.

If you want a soaring 'cerebral' high: Get yourself a tropical sativa that contains a high level of THC-V and grow it until it is ripe.

If you want the narcotic couchlock stone, grow a rugged indica until its ripe.
Notice a pattern of growing it until its ripe? Its a really good rule to live by.

OF course we have to remember that there is more to a good high than just THC. At last count there are at least 66 cannabinoids, and we don't know what most of them do.


Now alot of people will tell you that you should harvest based on the colour of your trichomes. But (again, in my opinion) that is far too simplistic and there are too many variables to make that an effective strategy. I've made that point a million times before and i'm not going to re-hash it here,(maybe just a bit) but rest assured there is more to the picture than just trich colour.


A ripe marijuana plant will be filled in, will have an amber tinge to the buds. The pistils should have browned (or orange-d) off and receded into the buds. The seed bracts should be swollen and the trichomes should be sticking straight out with bulbous ends. Also, because you're coming close to the end of plant's life cycle, the leaves should have yellowed off and started to die.



Another very important (imho) reason to let your plants mature is Terpenoid production. Terpenes are responsible for alot of the complex (And enjoyable) flavours that cannabis produces. Some of the most intense flavours are produced on the "downslope" of cannabis's life cycle. My personal experience with this first came when i was growing GH cheese. One of the plants i harvested at 8 weeks and it tasted pretty nice and had pretty dense buds. The other i grew until about 9 1/2 weeks and it had most amazing, sour, skunky, delicious taste with rock hard buds.


If I could offer one piece of advice on picking the right time to harvest, it's all about watching the pistils. Not so much the colour, but the movement. They should have receded into the bud and the seed bracts should be swollen.


Follow this information correctly.. and you won't be disappointed. I know there are alot of incorrect articles going around. Hell, IMO, there is WAY TOO MUCH incorrect information floating around out there on the interweb.. and its hard to find correct information. However, this article.. is from my personal experience.. 5 years worth of growing.. and I just shared with the people that read this, how I personally check my plants to see if they are ready for harvesting. Again, keep this article somewhere safe where you can come back for future references. Lastly, once again.. follow this information, and you WILL NOT harvest your plant early.. but you have to MAKE sure you remember these important things in order to have a full ripe harvest.

Thanks for your time and thanks for reading.


Remember the following and you'll do great each and every harvest.. never worrying about an premature harvest again:

Maturation - Eventually the pistils start to turn color from pale white to red or brown At the same time the flowers close up, forming false seed pods. The small glands on the flowers now start to grow. These are called stalked capitate glands and are composed of a tiny stalk supporting a thin clear membrane. As THC is produced near the site, the membrane swells with the potent liquid. The membrane stretches and the gland takes on the appearance of a mushroom. When the glands have swelled and the pistil has receded into the false pod, the bud is ready to pick.

-cannabisguru
 

cannabisguru

Well-Known Member
but again, no.. yours are not ready my friend.

I mean, your getting there... but your still a good 2 to 4 weeks away from being close to harvest time.

good luck.. hope you read and take in what I posted.

peace.
 

kevin murphy

New Member
yea like guru said bout 2 weeks pal..i was messin up the week count lol..looking nice though lad..peace..rep...
 

dannyboy602

Well-Known Member
I was just gonna say ur pistils are just bloomin away there and yeah u gotta ways to go.
CG gave u some valuable info (he must REALLY be in a good mood)
 

napa23

Well-Known Member
2 to 4 weeks ore for the auto flower u not think it ready pal 71 days for a autoflower is quite a while...
The hairs are clearly still long and white. She hasn't even begun to be ready. He hasn't even said what strain it is. It could be a super auto that take 100 days or so. From those pics, it looks like it. You CAN use the microscope to tell, although it kinda sucks using one. Turn off you fan for a sec to check the trichs. I guarantee they're still clear, maybe some cloudy.
 

ylem

Well-Known Member
yess indeed. despite any claims regarding autoflowers, if the plant isn't ready, it isn't ready. cannabisguru pretty much covered all the technicals XD. far to many people get ridiculously excited when their plant shows beautiful ripening buds.
you must wait! if i can tell the story of a guerilla op a few years ago.. i harvested all but one plant i didn't see in the bushes. the smoke was great, but when i was walking through the area a couple weeks later i noticed an almost overpowering aroma of cannabis. i did some rooting around my patch and found the plant to have put on what i could tell to be 20-30 % more resin weight. it was almost drooping and glowed with amber resin.
that was one of my first grows only like 2 years ago but since then, i've learned that it pays off muuch better to harvest a little too late than a little too early.
despite what others say, since then, i will let my cannabinoids degrade into the beautiful sedating chemicals that suite my medical needs perfectly.
anybody else over-ripen their buds :)?

:leaf:
 

doggyd

Active Member
Well Its a Seed I got for free when purchasing from Attitude Seed Bank.
I have been trying to search for some in for on the plant, but it seems not many people have grow this strain. I figure I grow the free Seed before I plant my white Widow. Still learning here! I really can't find a time frame for this plant!


BUDDHA SEEDS DEIMOS AUTOFLOWERING FEMINIZED
Deimos is a hybrid which origins are mostly indica (Northern Lights), a work of selection of 7 generations in order to obtain the features of a Classic in an auto flowering plant.
Deimos is big sized plant, with good growth in width and high. The selection of the more branched specimens has prevailed; long lateral branches which yield buds as big as that of the central branch. This way productivity increases but the plant remains discreet in size, between 70 and 80 cm. Due to its nature Daimos becomes the perfect autoflowering plant for outdoor and Indoor.
The power of Deimos turns more than one pale, it's a devastating plant, its taste is classic sweet and tangy, a perfect plant to relax, introspection, go to the movies, medicinal use, or just to knock down that friend, who's an "expert" on the issue.
 

wangyunan

Active Member
looks damn good for a 1st grow bro!!
and I wanna thank cannabisguru for sharing his great experience, I learnt alot from it man! let me know when ur in good mod next time lol
 
I think cannabis guru said it all lol, sounds like you relly know what your talking about. I wish i could have came upon this thread 4 days ago lol, i was having troubles deciding wether or not to pull mine, but by the sounds of it i did it at the right time. Buds are a little airy but i think its caue i had heat problems half way through...... but dont make the mistake of pulling early, its well worth the wait!!
 

7cotton7

Well-Known Member
do the hairs actually recede or does the bud actually just bulk up around the hair to make it look like it has receded
 

doggyd

Active Member
I think this is very Interesting read!

A common misconception of marijuana cultivation, especially among first-time growers, is that harvest time is like gym class in grade school—it’s still a class you have to go to but it requires less thought and more fun than an actual science class. Unfortunately, underestimating the final phases of a grow operation can be a very costly mistake when it comes down to grading the outcome of your buds.

Fatal errors in areas such as flushing, cutting and curing buds can lead to big disappointment after long months of hard work and care. To be sure this doesn’t happen to you, and to ensure the highest quality of your cannabis—no matter what strain it is—it’s important to take note of a few Key Points of Harvest Time.

Numero Uno
The first, and perhaps most important, aspect of harvesting cannabis is knowing exactly when to start chopping down the ladies. A precision harvest is essential for potent cultivation. Growers must be very careful not to cut down plants that are not yet at the pinnacle of resin production, but they must also be wary of cutting plants too late—at a time when THC production has curtailed and resin glands begin to degrade.

There are various methods by which even the most amateur grower can tell when buds are truly ripe for the picking. The simplest and quickest way to know is by examining the pistils, or long hairs, that cover the plant’s buds. At the onset of flowering, these pistils are white and stringy. But as the flowering period comes to an end, they begin to turn color, first from white to orange and then again to a dark red or brown. These color changes signify the maturation of the buds; however, the color and time frame may vary significantly across different varieties of cannabis.


Therefore, a better, yet slightly more complicated, method for determining ripeness is through trichome examination. Trichomes are the actual resin glands that contain THC and other psychoactive cannabinoids, and they are very delicate and easily ruptured. These trichomes are visible on the outside of buds and small leaves and look like little white sugar crystals to the naked eye. However, with the power of a magnifying glass or simple microscope, you can see that trichomes are comprised of a stalk and resin head and are clear or white in color.


As with pistils, trichomes also begin to change color as the buds mature. But in this scenario, a grower wants to harvest buds before they get too dark in color. Even a subtle amber hue in these glands could mean that cannabinoids have begun breaking down and decomposing, which means less potent pot. Using a magnifier between 50x-100x, advanced growers look for a creamy or milky white color in trichomes that tells them it’s time to harvest.
The Catch
As with most tricks of the trade, there is always a catch. And in this case it can be taken quite literally as well, because when checking your buds for ripeness you’ll want to “catch” any and all clues that can signal maturation—a few weeks before harvest time. Having a “harvest heads-up” can be extremely beneficial for growers, not only to prep equipment and rooms for drying and curing, but also to prep the plants for taste and smooth smoking.



If a grower can consistently examine trichomes and keep accurate time records from the start of the flowering photoperiod (12/12 light cycle), then it should be no problem for the grower to begin flushing out the grow medium in preparation for the harvest.

The Two-Step Flush
The last two weeks of flowering should be spent getting rid of any built-up nutrients in the growing medium, a process called leaching, or flushing. By removing all access to nutrients, the plant begins to consume its stored food reserves. These reserves are nasty compounds that we don't want in our smoke, such as sugars, starches and various other elements. Harvesting plants that still have these undesirable elements present will only result in a harsh smoke and terrible burnability.

Flushing should begin about 14 days before harvest by stopping all nutrients and using only pure water to feed the plants. By providing no nutrients, you force the plant to rely only on what is left in the growing medium to feed on. The actual act of flushing is achieved by over-irrigating the medium until the nutrients inside are dissolved and washed out the bottom of the container. The best way to do this is with a two-step flush technique. (The process is an easy one.)

First, flood the grow medium with a heavy dose of water and wait a few minutes to allow all of the salts (nutrient buildup) to break down. Then add more water to chase out the first dose. By waiting a few minutes after adding the first dose of water, you're allowing enough time for the water to dissolve the salts. As salts decompose, they can be effectively flushed out by the second dose. Traditional leaching usually employs only the first flush of water, which isn’t always adequate for complete dissolution.

A few days after flushing, you should notice signs of nitrogen deficiency. The leaves will go from dark to light green, eventually turning completely yellow. Another sign is a reddening of the leaf stems, starting at the center of the leaf where the blades come together.

Test your flush by snapping off a leaf and tasting the juice that flows from the stem. If the taste is bitter, there's still plenty of food in the plant's system. When the juices are clean and taste like pure water, the plant is clean enough for harvest. The bitterness is from nutrients and other chemicals that you definitely do not want in your smoke.

Dry Air = More Resin
One final flush should occur a day or two before harvesting, with the final 24 hours of the garden’s life being spent in relative dryness. This last deluge should be done with fresh water and can be a single or a two-step flush, depending on how much fertilizer was applied previous to the final two weeks of flowering. This will be the final watering your plants ever get. In doing this, you help ensure that the plants will begin to slowly dehydrate as you approach harvest, which in turn will aid the plants in their final hours of resin production.

Some gardeners even like to allow their medium to go bone-dry before harvesting. The idea is that resin production seems to skyrocket if the medium is allowed to dry before harvesting, but this isn't due to dry medium – it's due to dry air.

When the relative humidity in the garden is low, your resin production will increase. This is a natural response cannabis has to dry air, an attempt to protect itself from hot, dry conditions. Marijuana resin actually has one of the highest UV-resistance ratings in the plant kingdom. The resin reflects light, preventing the buds from getting sunburn. (This is also why it's so easy for helicopters to spot marijuana from the sky; it glows when seen through UV-sensitive equipment.)

Lowering the humidity in the room on that last night before harvest morning will ensure increased resin production, without having to let the medium go bone-dry first. Additionally, some growers like to subject their gardens to prolonged dark periods of up to 24 hours just before cutting, claiming they notice spikes in resin production. This is all right as the low humidity will cut down on light uptake anyway, plus it helps to make sure liquid foods within the plants drain down to the root zone.

Harvest & Manicure
When the big day arrives it is best to start early, before the light period begins in the growroom. If the grow lamps turn on, it’s okay to cut them completely and work by standard room lighting. Begin by cutting the entire plant away from the root ball. If the plants are too large to harvest with one cut at the bottom, start by cutting the larger, heavier branches first. Remember to leave one or two larger stems connected to the branches you are cutting off. These stems will form nice “Vs” on the branches for easy hang drying.

Most indoor growers begin taking off the large fan leaves about a week before actual harvest. This is a good idea, especially once these leaves begin paling from green to yellow in color. Continue your harvest by taking off all leaves not associated with the buds and then move on to trimming off the smaller sugar leaves. Look for leaves with little resin coverage first and then move into the interior of the nuggets. It’s easier to remove leaves within the buds once they have dried out a bit, but that adds extra time and a second round of manicuring. By turning buds over and getting to the underside of smaller sugar leaves, it becomes easier to snip away at the stem and remove the entire leaf. Many growers like to only trim off leaf edges that come out of buds, leaving an aesthetic shape to the bud with the heavily resinated portion of the sugar leaves still intact within the buds.

Once the plants are cut, trimmed and manicured to perfection, it is best to hang branches upside down on strings strung across open spaces to get maximum air flow over your buds. Keeping buds on the branches does slow the drying, as the branches do retain some water however, this is the easiest way to completely surround buds with dry air without using drying chambers or machines.

Drying for Taste and Burnability
Now that you've harvested and are ready to dry and cure, you will want to preserve as much of the vibrant color and taste of your herb as possible. Buds should hang dry for five to seven days at the ideal temperature of about 70ºF with 50 percent humidity. You want to get most of the water out of the buds in those first days and then slow the process down for another week or so during the curing process.

Remember that a plant is not dead upon cutting—it is still very much alive. A plant is effectively dead when the water pressure inside is too low to continue vascular movement. In other words, when the waterworks stop, the plant is dead. The goal here is to dry the plant as evenly as possible and at a nice slow pace. When buds are rapidly dried, the plant tissue can trap in unwanted starches and nitrates which cause buds to burn unevenly and with an awful taste.

At four to five days into the dry, the tips of some buds might be dry enough to pluck off and sample. After the buds have gone through their full cycle of drying, we want to slow the whole thing down and draw the rest of the moisture out very gradually. This is the curing process.

What’s the Cure?
If your herb is harvested correctly, there is very little need for long cures. Long cures are needed to make harsh herb smoke smoother. If you start out with smooth, clean herb, there's less need for long cures. Most buds should be cured and ready to smoke in less than two weeks after the drying period. Expert growers who harvest properly can complete curing in five or six days, but a good average can easily range from 10 to 14 days.

Inexperienced growers often tend to get impatient and only cure for a few days, but this can be a costly mistake when it comes to potency. Allowing the buds to cure evenly, which means drying at a slower rate, removes moisture within the buds so that all the THC can be converted in its psychoactive form.

The curing process evens out the moisture levels in the herb. You want the same amount of moisture in the center of the buds as you do on the outside of the buds until they are almost totally devoid of fluids. Completely drying the herb too fast can trap moisture in the middle and not allow for a proper cure.

For the curing process, you want to put the half-dried buds into air-tight containers. Inside the container, the buds will become evenly moist, inside and out, as they begin to “sweat." You can check to see if your buds are sweating and releasing moisture by gently squeezing them between your fingers to see if they feel damper than they did a few hours before sealing them up. Glass jars with rubber seals and lockdown lids are the best option for curing, but for large amounts of harvested buds, you’ll need something much bigger. Tight-sealing rubber or plastic bins are the best option for large quantities of buds but many growers feel these containers impart a plastic-type taste onto the buds. This can be offset by adding a small slice of lemon or orange peel to the bins toward the end of your cure.

Once the buds are again evenly moist, open the containers to let the moist air exchange with fresh air. Air exchanges are essential to the curing process. Not only do they prevent condensation from forming in your curing bins, but the fresh air is drier than the air you just allowed to escape from the container. The moisture still trapped in the herb will again slowly escape and moisten the new, fresh air. Open the container several times a day to exchange the moistened air with fresh air to slowly draw out the moisture in the buds. Eventually (again, one to two weeks) the moisture level in the herb will be at the right level to stash away and, of course, smoke!

What Time of Day to Harvest?
Timing the harvest is Paramount to the final quality. Harvest your precious buds in the dark, just before the lights normally come on. If possible, do not allow the plants to see direct light as long as their roots are attached. Direct light on a plant will draw up stored starches and sugars from the root system.

During the nighttime hours, our ladies are busy storing food down in their root system that they made during the daylight hours. During “lights out," starches and sugars produced by photosynthesis during the day drain downward to the roots. Knowing this, it is easy to figure out that you want to cut your plants away from the roots before the lights come on, when food moves back upward into the buds.

Outdoor herb is often harvested during the daytime hours and the result is a harsh, difficult burn and an extra long cure. The starches and sugars present in daytime-harvested herb act like fire retardants—not the effect we're looking for. In addition to tasting and burning bad, these fire retardants also change the chemical make up of the smoke you're ingesting. This means that the THC, cannabinol, cannabidoil and other active cannabinoids can't burn at the perfect temperature to get you properly high because they haven't properly converted to their psychoactive forms.

Facts on Drying & Curing
• During the drying of marijuana buds, THC is converted from an acidic, non-psychoactive chemical into a neutrally based, psychoactive form that gets you high. This is why fresh marijuana is generally weaker than properly dried and cured buds.

• Marijuana will lose approximately 75 percent of its weight during drying due to water evaporating from plant matter.

•Buds dried too fast will be frail and may start to crumble. Keep humidity between 45 and 55 percent in your drying room to prevent this and to help keep aroma and flavor locked in.

•Buds are done drying and ready for curing when stems snap when bent rather than just folding over.

•Air exchanges during curing should occur every four or five hours with curing bins left open for 10 minutes at a time.
 

doggyd

Active Member
I tried to use my 100x scope again last night when lights went out but again no success. Now how would I take a sample off my plant? Is there a particular part of the plant I should snip off, so I can place under the scope?
 

mantiszn

Well-Known Member
top buds are usually "riper" than lower developing growth..

have they changed since the last photo's much? cos from the pictures they still needs a couple weeks at least.. probably more..
 
Top