Done flowering??

Guys i need some help, to make a long story short i had some problems at the beginning of my flowering, basically ended up with one of the bad toxic tents from eBay, plants where in their for about 3-4 weeks until i realized it was a toxic tent, so about month later i put them in a non-toxic new tent and they start to pick up again, recovering since leaves where turning all yellow in the bad tent.
so now its been about 8 weeks all together they been in the non-toxic tent and doing good. One plant it looks like a lot hairs are turning amber the rest not as much, but also this 1 plant the bud is tilting over from weight of the bud. My main question i guess is how will i know that there ready to chop down??. I had one those illuminated microscope but its very hard to look at the buds with it, how can i check? do i have cut a piece of bud or something and then use the microscope? or is their another way of checking?

Ps: strain is unknown, this is a bagseed grow.

when the hairs turn red and start to pull back into the bud start flushing..and pick..

Thanks. What do mean pull back? And does anybody know how I can fix the bud that is tilting over? What is the average flowering time for unknown bagseed strain?
Any input will be recognized with +rep.
Thank you

short stubby plant with wide leaves = 8 weeks

tall lanky plant with skinny leaves = 12 weeks

clip one of the small leaves on the buds so you can look at it in the microscope. Thats how I do it anyway. When you have mostly cloudy trichs with a few amber it is ready.

the hairs dont mean anything really, go by trichomes and bud swelling. i'll get you some info(no offense, im just saying this..... but your like the 5th guy in the day to ask this that ive responded too lol.)

its funny, the last thing i had copied is the info i was gonna find you from finding it for the last guy who asked.lol
from fdd's tuutorial-we will start with ripeness. most people say to check your trichromes with 30X magnification. i have other ways. when buds are done they look "done". the appearance of the bud changes. the leaves start to hook upwards and become hard and crispy. the calyxes will swell and the hairs will turn brown. you can see a golden tinge to the bud leaves. this is the amber crystals. they start to turn amber on the leaves first.



not ready..........





ready.......






notice the difference? it's pretty easy to see once it occurs.
from the growfaq-

8-10 weeks is probobly the normal flowering time the white pistils will turn red and reced they will curl up and look like there going back into the bud they wont be straight and pointy and coming stright out from the bud. When they start to go back into the bud flush them for a week or so and chop them ladies down

Excellent post darkdestruction420. Pics are worth 100 words.

Hey dark thanks so much bro!!
Definetly helped a bunch. Now one more
question, how do you guys check with microscope exactly? I have one those 30x microscope with a light but it's hard to actually see anything. Do you use any room light or any sort lighting beside the little light on the microscope? I cut a piece of bud but is hard to see the trichome colors.

^I've found that 100X works alot better.

do you have a microscope w/settings like focus and clarity or something/s like that that might be the problem? a 30x is usually enough to get an idea of how the trichs are. I got so mad at mine and was about to throw it into the wall and then stomp it when i noticed it had a setting that had to be adjusted. sometimes ive got anger issues. lol

I gotta hop in here and say this is where a lot of patience and know how is important. Mr Ganga those pics are great looks like the lighting changed the ripeness colors are so evident. I am new at this and I tray and read those tri's and they are best viewed outside or in a window on a white piece of paper I use a plate. One wheel is the intensity (how close) the other is for focus (your eyes//vision). If you look at the leaf under your scope that close up Mr Ganga used for illistration of the maginified tri's those are numerous and you will see them.
I did read that there is a 7 - 10 day window of oppurtunity to pull flowers for peek usage. However I do not think it is going to matter if you wait a bit long trying to get it right. I am now checking my grow as I go.... The Tri's seem all cloudy now and just a smidge of freckles here and there. Might be dirt on the tri's at that level..... But really I had to mess with my scope for a few times and I also noticed that if you rock it ever so slight while viewing in that full sun window on a white surface that you can actually see them One tall One short all lined up like a Bahamian junk band... What I meant by check as you go---do not be afraid to experiment --thank Franklin for Beer. Look at the Tri's of a bud if you think it is on the cloudy side of done, clip a little nug off--- let it dry and in two days or so you can hit that and see if you are there; with an hour buzz or not. Really good class A is rated at about 90 minutes of pain relief or peak usage. This way you get to try different times to pick the flowers. Who says you gotta pull and hang? Wife's tale. Clip a flower when she is ripe enjoy her and look forward to the next. I am doing soil right now and flowering in 7.1 and now I have a 6.2 and getting ready to a 5.8 this is a potting soil it is all experiments to get the fatest sweetest juiceiest smoothest flower/fruit I can. Just watch for the tri's and whether or not the other Flowers are begininng to receed or plump up as Mr. ganga pics are showing some huge juicy swelling I am talking about. You will also see her get faint in the leaves as the lack of N needed or being used. Keep flushing her when you water----flushing is Ph balanced 3 times the size of container. 1 gal jug =3 gal water.