Hi, I see alot of people making statements referring to harvesting by the color of the stigma's. IE, they usually say when the stigma's turn red, you harvest.

In case anyone is "lost" by the word stigma, these are the hairs growing off your bud.

Someone even made this visual aid....


This is so wrong,, and not a good way to determine when to harvest at all.

You need to harvest by the color of the trichomes.

You'll need a 30x glass, loop or microscope. (I bought a 30x uptp100x scope with light at radio shack for only $10.00)

The stigmas, as well as their color, can be seen easily with the naked eye. The trichomes can be seen with the naked eye too, but you can’t see the color change without magnification. The trichomes, with the naked eye, look like crystals of sugar on the bud and surrounding leaves.

You can see in this picture below, that the hairs are about 50% red, but the trichomes appear totally clear. With magnification you can see that many of the trichomes are starting to turn amber on the caps and some have the amber streaking down the stalk. Again, to see the trichome color you need magnification, and can’t be viewed in this picture.



I've been asked repeatedly, is there any way to tell by looking with my eye, and the answer is no.
However, to make thing easier on you, this is what I picked up for only $9.99
Which should fit everyones budget.
RadioShack.com

• Powerful 60-100X magnification
• Compact design provides easy portability
• Easy-to-use controls allow for adjustable focus and zoom
• Built-in light with on/off switch

way helpful even though im far from harvesting i probably will keep this in mind. i did an outdoor grow a few years ago, and i harvested too early. not good. pretty much a waste of a good amount of herb.

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- durban poison x skunk #1 & california orange

Yeah, you need to get a 30x or higher, mine goes upto 100x and its pretty amazing to see.

Excellent thread, VM. This definitely will help at harvest time.

Good start, and whilst you tell people to look at the colour of the trichomes, you don't explain to anyone what the different colours actually mean in real terms.

The 'glandular stalked trichomes' the bract secretions we're mostly interested in because they contain the majority of ∆9 Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) the psychoactive cannabinol that gets us 'high' goes through 4 distinct colour changes in its maturation and degradation -

Clear - the colour new trichomes start out at
Cloudy - the commencement of THC decomposition
Amber - THC starting to break down into CBN
Dark amber - further decomposition and oxidisation of THC into CBN

The clear and cloudy states contain the most THC before it starts decomposing down into CBN and 50/50 clear cloudy is a good mix to shoot for. More info here -

http://www.rollitup.org/59084-post13.html

Good post videoman, I bought a similar magnifying glass today. I don't like it that much. You have to almost touch the plant in order to see anything. Kinda sucks. I might return it.

THanks for the additional info babygro. I have been reading up on when to harvest and what type of stone the different stages will produce. because I am on day 42 of flowering on my NL and I might harvest one of them today!

cool stuff videoman, i gone grab on next time pass by at a radioshack and babygro, great explanation on the "color code" thx you guys

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keep the thumb green and the gun oiled, !

While what babygro said is completely true, my intent was to keep this as simple as possible.
A couple of points to remember, what you are looking for is on the tips on the trichomes, what may appear sort of like a mushroom cap will appear, this is what you are looking at.
You want to judge the color of the tip, and by doing so you can retain some degree of control over what type of high you will get from your harvest.

wow. what an awesome thread! really informative, i'll have to keep this in mind when that magical harvesting time rolls around. lol. and like green_nobody, i'll definitely have to pick up a scope next time i'm near that shack full of radios.

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Videoman, have you experienced the same type of problems with the magnifying glass that I mentioned in my last post? I have had a real hard time getting a good look at the trichomes because you have to touch the device up to the flower in order for it to work. Have you had this problem as well?