marijuana plants usually take between 8 and 12 weeks to finish flowering. Plants will continue living for longer than this but their potency may begin to drop. Getting your marijuana harvest time right will help you produce stronger, tastier buds.
A good sign of ripeness is the colour of the stigmas. These usually white hairs stick out all over the marijuana buds. As each flower ripens the stigmas shrivel and turn brown. When about 75% of the plants stigmas are brown it is about ready to crop.Though from 50% is ok.
Flowering times given by seed companies usually refer to the time taken to flower when grown from seed. Cuttings can take a week or so longer to finish flowering, so can plants that are bent or trained during growth.
Be patient, a lot of marijuana varieties produce the bulk of their buds in their last few weeks of growth. When your buds look done wait another week to be sure you are not missing out on a growth spurt at the end of flowering.
Use a strong magnifier to look at the t.h.c. glands growing on the buds. These crystal clear mushroom like growths turn milky white when at their peak. If they have browned and lost their heads then they are past their best.
The timing of a harvest indoors is not as crucial as the timing of a harvest outdoors. Indoor plants do not have nature attacking them with wind, rain, mist and killer frosts. Harvest or protect outdoor plants if heavy frosts are due.
marijuana is easier to trim when it's freshly cut and its leaves are rigid with water, try not to cut down more than you can trim in a few hours. If you have no choice you can put the plants in vases of water until you are ready for them. Getting your marijuana harvest time right is fairly critical so be patient.

TRICHOME HARVEST CHART




of couse someone that likes to argue, will argue with this post.

YOU CAN GO BY A CALANDER, AND IT WILL BE BETWEEN 8 AND 9 WEEKS FOR MOST INDICA.
You can buy a $13 lighted battery operated 10X microscope at Radio Shack to examine the trichs.
You can wait until all the hairs are reddish or browish or dark beer colored.

again, all the above are rules of thumb and many will argue this, but until you've done a few grows and learn any better, this is good advise.

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May Peace and Joy be your companions.
Roseman's DIY Bubbleponics Tutorial - Marijuana Growing
Pics of OLD Grow on this Page

$13 at Radio Shack


OR get a eye loop they use for looking at 35mm slides


You just snip a piece of bud leaf off the bud and lay it on a white plate and look at it.

__________________

May Peace and Joy be your companions.
Roseman's DIY Bubbleponics Tutorial - Marijuana Growing
Pics of OLD Grow on this Page

I've found that a good high powered set of bifocals from the drug store works well also.
As long as your friends don't see you of course.

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Disclaimer: Believing anything I post in this forum could result in the following side affects; to include but not limited to: dizziness-paranoia-euphoria-comraderie-farming-pruning-harvesting-munchies-and almost immediately...COUCHPOTATOEDNESS

cheers for the info guys