Trichomes and your thoughts - is it legit?

Bignutes

Bignutes

Well-Known Member
I’ve read all sorts of info on get a jewelers loupe and look at your trichomes. I’ve over the years have been looking at them and seeing if it’s legit and so far I’m not impressed.

I’ve been keeping track and for example Cbd shark - trichomes cloudy like opaque plastic very early in flower, no amber, Blueberry had lots of clear for a long time, Cbd Blue Shark had lots of amber early on, Cbd Spliff Berry was a mix of amber and cloudy and waited till amber and the end result was junk as compared to earlier on. The North Thunderfuck is all cloudy early. Dolato a mix of cloudy and amber.

My point is this trichome thing seems to be way overinflated. I think I’m done with it, it’s all over the map. Im going to just add two weeks to the day of flip start the breeders number of weeks and if they sorta check the ripe boxes of majority orange pistils, swollen calyxes it’s chop chop time.

Any thoughts?
 
C

Cynister

Well-Known Member
Trichome color is so overated. 30% of plants other than cannabis have trichomes to protect them from insects and other hazards. Glandular secretions create odors and THC among other things. However the color will widely vary depending on genetics, light, environmental conditions, etc. and the range of color is quite broad. Consider plants such as basil, tomato & lavender. These are only a few that have trichomes and you don't judge whether the plant is ripe on their trichomes either. You judge the ripeness by the fruit or whatever that particular plant produces. Watch your flowers, pay attention and they'll tell you when they are ready. Old-school hashish makers know what I'm talking about. More trichomes are lost by handling, drying, bucking than you can imagine. When a trichome is ripe enough it will just fall off, like fruit on a tree. Try this sometime: when ready to harvest a few plants of the same strain or genetics, harvest as you normally would and leave maybe 1 plant to go longer watching it's progress and don't sweat it. You already have a harvest, so this last plant is experimental. I seriously doubt you'll ruin the plant entirely, but the information or insight you gain first-hand is invaluable and it'll still be decent weed, trust me. It might even be surprising. As always, YMMV.
 
Bignutes

Bignutes

Well-Known Member
Cynister said:
Trichome color is so overated. 30% of plants other than cannabis have trichomes to protect them from insects and other hazards. Glandular secretions create odors and THC among other things. However the color will widely vary depending on genetics, light, environmental conditions, etc. and the range of color is quite broad. Consider plants such as basil, tomato & lavender. These are only a few that have trichomes and you don't judge whether the plant is ripe on their trichomes either. You judge the ripeness by the fruit or whatever that particular plant produces. Watch your flowers, pay attention and they'll tell you when they are ready. Old-school hashish makers know what I'm talking about. More trichomes are lost by handling, drying, bucking than you can imagine. When a trichome is ripe enough it will just fall off, like fruit on a tree. Try this sometime: when ready to harvest a few plants of the same strain or genetics, harvest as you normally would and leave maybe 1 plant to go longer watching it's progress and don't sweat it. You already have a harvest, so this last plant is experimental. I seriously doubt you'll ruin the plant entirely, but the information or insight you gain first-hand is invaluable and it'll still be decent weed, trust me. It might even be surprising. As always, YMMV.
Click to expand...
I will give that a try, this will be the first time I’ll be growing 4 plants of the same strain. Just put them in water today. I tend to agree with you, trichomes can be so fickle, one strain is all cloudy early on while another isn’t
 
L

Little_Hobo

Active Member
Im only on my 3rd and 4th plant but im really enjoying learning all about growing cannabis (and learning about other plants along the way) I tend to just listen to my gut on things but ive read everything i can on the science behind it. There is a lot of bro science with growing weed but i think the core rules do apply. But with nature nothing is ever going to be 100%
 
Bignutes

Bignutes

Well-Known Member
Little_Hobo said:
Im only on my 3rd and 4th plant but im really enjoying learning all about growing cannabis (and learning about other plants along the way) I tend to just listen to my gut on things but ive read everything i can on the science behind it. There is a lot of bro science with growing weed but i think the core rules do apply. But with nature nothing is ever going to be 100%
Click to expand...
Yeah tell me about it, I figured by the New year I’d be harvesting one of my plants but it looks like I’m hunkering down for another 2-3 weeks. For some reason my plants aren’t finishing in 10-12 weeks, more like 13-15 weeks. Sure is nice growing medicine tho
 
L

Little_Hobo

Active Member
In my experience its been the same thing. Definitely taking far longer than what im reading about in suggested times and others grow journals etc.. I dont have perfect conditions but theyre not terrible either.. Especially not these last two grows. I guess you have to have it really dialed in to see the results in those times.... time will tell. Its been a never ending learning curve. I just got myself some worm casings today to try out. I want to go as natural as possible
 
Bignutes

Bignutes

Well-Known Member
Little_Hobo said:
In my experience its been the same thing. Definitely taking far longer than what im reading about in suggested times and others grow journals etc.. I dont have perfect conditions but theyre not terrible either.. Especially not these last two grows. I guess you have to have it really dialed in to see the results in those times.... time will tell. Its been a never ending learning curve. I just got myself some worm casings today to try out. I want to go as natural as possible
Click to expand...
I look over at grow diaries and see my strains and they look unfinished many times, they harvest a lot of white pistol plants. My conditions are pretty good, but I may have lengthened my grow time by initiating flower at 13.5 hours, I put it at 12 hours about 3 weeks back or so and now at 11. Next time it’s 12 right off the hop. There’s a lot of hype regarding chitin and speeding up the grow cycle but I tried it and didn’t see much difference
 
Thundercat

Thundercat

Well-Known Member
The signs of ripeness are pretty standard for cannabis plants.

First a few of the pistils begin turning color and start receding. Your plant is just starting to ripen. Depending on the strain you could still have two months to go. We're just starting this journey.

Two to four weeks later you'll notice that most of the pistils(>80%) have now changed color and curled back into the bud. It's frosty, way bigger than it was a few weeks ago(aren't you glad you waited), and smells dank! It's time, right? Not a chance killer. Patience is a virtue.

Over the next 2-3 weeks it doesn't look much different, maybe a little more swelling in the calyxes, and the rest of the pistils change over, but the stems are starting to bend under the weight of the buds. These ladies are putting on weight internally by adding density and now the buds are doing their final ripening.

Now you begin looking at trichomes, on the calyx, not the leaves, and harvest according to your preference. When looking at trichomes it’s essential to look at them from the side. The bulbous heads can magnify the opaque stalk under it. Looking from the side allows you to more accurately see the condition of the resin in the trichome head.

There is still no rush to harvest, the window just opened, and you have several weeks before you MIGHT start having to think about it possibly beginning to get too ripe. It takes WEEKS for plants to mature not days.

It is very easy to harvest a plant to early. It is very hard to harvest a plant to late. I’ve never seen someone accidentally wait too long.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top