Pistils or trichomes?

I usually check the trichomes after I see most of the pistils turning orange. My golden goat only has about 50% orange hairs, but I decided to look at the trichomes anyways and to my surprise, atleast 25% of the trichomes are amber. My question is do I start flushing and harvest now since I have a lot of amber trichomes or should I let her go another week or two to see if more pistils turn orange?

Giddy up said:

I usually check the trichomes after I see most of the pistils turning orange. My golden goat only has about 50% orange hairs, but I decided to look at the trichomes anyways and to my surprise, atleast 25% of the trichomes are amber. My question is do I start flushing and harvest now since I have a lot of amber trichomes or should I let her go another week or two to see if more pistils turn orange?

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All depends the type of high u want., i will chop chop now

That sounds like a good idea...time to start pouring some nice plain old water through her!

I would follow the trichs, but a few weeks ago, I had a nice white widow that showed 75% clear and 25% amber, it never showed cloudy trichs and only half of the pistils turned amber. Very strange indeed. She is curing at the moment but I will compare her to the others that did not do this.

Dang that sounds crazy. Keep me posted!

Most strains and different phenotypes of MJ mature differently. As well as their chemical make up being different. With flowers I chop them when the stigmas are receded and the calyxes are swollen almost encompassing the stigmas (btw stigmas are the hair you see, the pistil is a calyx and stigma).

Regarding assessing trichome to asses when to chop. The chemical make up being different in each plant means it's very difficult to apply one rule of thumb relating to trichomes. E.G A 12 week Headband strain I grew would hardly ever have amber trichomes, but got chopped when calyxes are swollen and stigma receded....
Amber trichomes can also be there due to external factors like wind (air flow), the flowers being touched among other things.
Personally I find it a bit difficult to understand how anyone can say, the Trichomes are 25% amber....really? You counted all the trichomes on your plant? (that would be impressive). Perhaps you pick one sugar leaf to do this with, that is not always a reflection of the whole plant ime. Not bashing anyone here, just passing on what I have experienced. In short, I would recommend chopping as I have said, when calyxes are swollen and stigma almost gone.
Here's an example of a flower finishing up. Still has a week or so of flushing...
As you can see, the stigmas are almost being swallowed up....

Peace and happy growing.
DST

I wonder sometimes if people don't get fooled into thinking the trichomes are amber by light reflectivity from reddish stigmas.

As far as the 25% or w/e percent, it's just a guestimated average from looking at the average developed buds. Or you could take a bunch of different pics, count the amber present in those pics and make an estimate. I never use it as the sole deciding factor on a harvest. Every plant, every grow is different, even for the most meticulous cultivators there are always gonna be some variances. I am super casual about mine as it is more of a meditative process for me.

If you are starting to get the murderous desire to kill those ladies though, then nothing is gonna stop ya. I would walk away, come back and look at it in some more locations. Probably start it on the water and sacrifice a sample bud. Oh, I found those little silica gel packs like you find in bags of food like cheese and vitamins will rapidly dry a small nug in couple hours.

I came to the 25% estimate just by some eye testing. I guess it could be 20% or 33% or whatever I'm not sure, just saying there were way more Amber trikes than I expected to see with not very many orange stigmas (thank you for the lingo adjustment DST.) And also I looked at the trikes on the buds themselves, I would say the trikes on the sugar leaves have more Amber than the ones on the buds.

And as far as harvest goes, I am thinking about 9 days from now as I started flushing last Friday. Once again DST I think you're spot on, these buds are more developed (I guess that's the word) than other plants I have grown I can see that swelling you're referring to.

haha, the murderous feelings can be hard to stop. A sample bud is always a good idea. But then again it's hard to get an exact feeling from a quick dried flower. Golden Goat sounds like a bit of a sativa leaning hybrid from what I see. Quick driying will always give you an initial high as well which could throw you as to if it is ready or not. Do you have any pics, would be interesting to see it as well. If it's sweling then you are on the road to finishing. Like Ziggo said, Walk away and come back (without clippers in your hand)