Trichome Color is a Waste of Time
- Thread starter Sunbiz1
- Start date
yes it is 
just cause you cant see them
just cause you cant see them
bigbillyrocka
Well-Known Member
then, in your opinion, what is? ive read many books myself and they all say the same thing...
not pickin a fight BTW...
Sunbiz1
Well-Known Member
yes it is
just cause you cant see them
I have a 60X mag microscope here, not all strains change to determine peak harvest.
probo24
Well-Known Member
I can not help but be swayed by such compelling evidence.
Thank You
Sunbiz1
Well-Known Member
then, in your opinion, what is? ive read many books myself and they all say the same thing...
The same as below, red to rust colored pistils receding back, all white pistils no longer producing oils. I cannot go by the old-school amber method...could wait 100 flowering days and not see amber.
panhead
Well-Known Member
I 100% agree that trichome color is meaningless as when to harvest,many strains will never turn amber,some strains will only show an extremely low number of golden color trichs & those have to be searched high n low for.
I have never used trichomes as an indicator to harvest,i look at new pistil & calyx development as well as bud growth,buds will exibit a 2nd growth spurt at the end of their cycle,once i see new calyx & fresh pistils forming on buds that are at the end of their cycle i then inspect the plants.
Using the plants 2nd growth spurt as an indicator i then look at the pistils,once i see approx 70% of the pistils have turned red i check calyxs,i look for tight calyxs on the bud that have lost their ability to recieve pollen,once i see those things i chop.
The only thing i use a microscope for is to check for mold & mildew,i have hand scopes as well as a powered table top microscope that magnifys from 10x to 10,000x & magnification dont matter,trichome color is the worst indicator to harvest that could be used.
High times has published several articles on this subject,the classic strains of indica & sativa have been altered so much over the last 10 years that some strains will never have golden trichomes,its a genetic issue not a skill issue,some strains wont have golden trichs if you wait 300 days.
I have never used trichomes as an indicator to harvest,i look at new pistil & calyx development as well as bud growth,buds will exibit a 2nd growth spurt at the end of their cycle,once i see new calyx & fresh pistils forming on buds that are at the end of their cycle i then inspect the plants.
Using the plants 2nd growth spurt as an indicator i then look at the pistils,once i see approx 70% of the pistils have turned red i check calyxs,i look for tight calyxs on the bud that have lost their ability to recieve pollen,once i see those things i chop.
The only thing i use a microscope for is to check for mold & mildew,i have hand scopes as well as a powered table top microscope that magnifys from 10x to 10,000x & magnification dont matter,trichome color is the worst indicator to harvest that could be used.
High times has published several articles on this subject,the classic strains of indica & sativa have been altered so much over the last 10 years that some strains will never have golden trichomes,its a genetic issue not a skill issue,some strains wont have golden trichs if you wait 300 days.
Sunbiz1
Well-Known Member
Thank you, this is what I should have taken the time to post upon starting this thread.
MJstudent
Well-Known Member
if you use it right you dont go by 10% amber type shit. you figure out what % of what color trics you like, and then next time your growing your strain, to make sure your not harvesting to early you check to see if they are at the samwe stages as they were preivous harvvest. using 10% amber or 15 or whatever is like saying when your hairs change theyre done. its not science its guesstimating.
PIPBoy2000
Active Member
Yellow leaves with the technicolor rainbow tops - that's how I tell.
dirtysnowball
Well-Known Member
I always use the pistol growth as the ripeness indicator. once the pistols are about 85% orange/red i harvest. people tend to pick early far too often
k0ijn
Scientia Cannabis
Which strains are these?
By the way that doesn't really prove anything.
Anyway, you want to look for 100% milky, you shouldn't look for amber (unless you assume you can only see the maturity by if amber trichs are present).
2 other factors that are widely accepted as a viable maturity check methods are:
Receding pistils (not colours of the pistils)
Swollen calyxes
When you put all those three together you can determine maturity of any strain and know when to harvest.
massah
Well-Known Member
TY for passing this information along man...ive been telling people way too much to look for amber trichs...but I usually do tell people all plants/strains/etc are different...just because a plant does it for one person doesn't mean its going to do it for another since of all the variables in genetics and environment, but yet alot of people think that growing marijuana is an exact science(i.e. they always use X amount of water/nutes, they always grow at X speed, are always X size at Y time, etc)...I dunno about you but my tomato plants all look different 
