Harvest help....

Okay I posted this same question this morning in harvest and curing but it's not getting many views.

Hope you all can help,the question is I have a Blue Venom that trichs show time to chop. 70% cloudy and 20% amber. Pistils are all still bright white.
Should I go by the trichs or the hairs on this one.I am checking the bud trichs,not the leaf trichs.

Thanks -SOHIGH-

The trichomes are a good way for people learning to grow to detect ripeness but I haven't look through any of my microscopes for a very long time. If this isn't your first harvest and you're familiar with what a ripe bud actually looks like then I'd suggest going by the overall look of the bud. I look for key signs such as the pistils "folding in" each calyx and the majority of the hairs turning brown. Sometimes if the buds were heat stressed or contaminates such as the oil on your fingers or dust in the room touches the buds it will force the hairs to be brown very early. In these situations you really want to focus on the length of the pistils, the shape of the pistils, the swelling of the calyx, etc. If you've had a harvest or two it will be obvious. Each calyx should really start to look like a flower with multiple petals surrounding each one. This is what gives you the illusion that the pistils are retracting into the bud but in reality it's the bud itself swelling around the pistils making them appear shorter.

The trichomes can fool people because they grow in many different stages. They start out by sitting flat, then they grow their little stem, then they swell on the end into a ball. Sometimes the flat ones turn amber at unpredictable stages and the bulbous ones won't turn amber for a very long time, even after the bud is acceptably within the harvest window. If the bud starts foxtailing this can really start to throw a beginner in a loop because they will be waiting for a very very very long time and incorrectly assume that it's not ripe.

Perfect thank you for the info,these are the bulbous trichs that are amber thats what had me kind of confused. Are there any starins that you know of that the pistils don't brown up?
This is a WW cross, I have,wondering if that could be a reason.

sohighifly said:

Perfect thank you for the info,these are the bulbous trichs that are amber thats what had me kind of confused. Are there any starins that you know of that the pistils don't brown up?
This is a WW cross, I have,wondering if that could be a reason.

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hey brother. Careful w BV. She may have another one of her "explosions" of growth. Then with that will come new trichs. She will do that to u. U could chop now w good results, but if u let her keep goin, she will greatly increase your yield!

They all behave differently, experience will tell you but typically Sativa's may not ripen within a reasonable amount of time so harvesting might make the most sense.

sohighifly said:

Perfect thank you for the info,these are the bulbous trichs that are amber thats what had me kind of confused. Are there any starins that you know of that the pistils don't brown up?
This is a WW cross, I have,wondering if that could be a reason.

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If you're running a perpetual it may not make sense to wait for the second wave of growth normally called "Foxtailing" which is a last ditch effort for the plant to reproduce. This time/space would probably be better used growing new plants but if nothing is waiting to use the flower room then sure. This would also come with a higher risk of hermie since it's genetically programmed to survive/reproduce but stable genetics won't really have this problem.

amgprb said:

hey brother. Careful w BV. She may have another one of her "explosions" of growth. Then with that will come new trichs. She will do that to u. U could chop now w good results, but if u let her keep goin, she will greatly increase your yield!

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Nothing is waiting to be flowered right now. I was reading up on the foxtailing and if genectcs may be an issue later on, I don't think I will wait for that point. They are stable but this same plant also is showing a polyploid,so I won't chance it.
So IYO Rodrigues, I should trust the trichs and ignore the pistils?

I'd make a judgement call between a combination of everything but chances are you'll be happy either way. I've grown two strains with the polyploid where the the tops of the buds were doubled up like a hedgehog and experienced no hermies even after 12 weeks of flowering.

sohighifly said:

Nothing is waiting to be flowered right now. I was reading up on the foxtailing and if genectcs may be an issue later on, I don't think I will wait for that point. They are stable but this same plant also is showing a polyploid,so I won't chance it.
So IYO Rodrigues, I should trust the trichs and ignore the pistils?

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Thanks, I appreciate all of the help.

if you still got white hairs popin out ....ur not done period....

Pictures u need pictures

I might have missed it, but how many days of 12/12 have they had already?

If you're going for maximum potency, go by the trichomes. The cannabinoids are all contained within the trichomes and what the rest of the plant is doing won't affect them. If they are cloudy they are THC, if they are amber they are breaking down into CBN.

If the pistils are still white, she is most likely still producing resin, but as you wait for additional trichomes to form, existing THC will be breaking down into CBN anyway.

I disagree with most of the posts in this thread.

Who cares about pistils, they have nothing to do with the ripeness of your thc. If you want peak harvest go with trichomes.
There is a reason you use a scope and not just look at pistils.

VV Cephei said:

I might have missed it, but how many days of 12/12 have they had already?

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7 1/2 weeks

althor said:

I disagree with most of the posts in this thread.

Who cares about pistils, they have nothing to do with the ripeness of your thc. If you want peak harvest go with trichomes.
There is a reason you use a scope and not just look at pistils.

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Thankyou althor,that is the exact kind of answer I was looking for. I know I didn't post pics,I wasn't asking advice on if my plant is done. Simply my question was if the trichs and pistils aren't telling the same story who is right? Althor thank you sir for understanding what I was asking.