When should I flush?

I'm doing a dwc grow of Northern Lights and I'm starting to see an increase in orange hairs now and I'm starting to think I need to flush soon. The buds I have pictured are of two different plants, one of which has more orange hairs(you'll be able to tell the difference). They have had a little heat stress from my light lately but I can't raise it any farther and I didn't train them low enough. This is day 53 of 12/12. I plan on flushing with a flushing solution for a week before harvest so any help would be appreciated.

Now. let it go until trichs are the way you like it. Maybe 1-2 weeks?


Looks like you're running the nutes to the max and then some.

They don't look ready.
What kind of effect of the high are you after?
You cannot tell maturity by the pistils (hairs) mate.
I believe NL is a strain which trichs turn amber, therefore I would recommend you check the trichs for maturity.
The overall colour of your buds is a bit light as well, want to look more brown / red / orangy in general appearance.
Also the density of your buds is not that high it seems and the pistils don't look to be receding.

They look like they need 2-3 weeks.

r1tony said:

Now. let it go until trichs are the way you like it. Maybe 1-2 weeks?


Looks like you're running the nutes to the max and then some.

Click to expand...

Ya, I was thinking 1 week for the one with a lot of orange pistols and 2 for the one with more white pistols. As for the nutes I've actually been running at under 2.0 EC but I know why you say that. Its mostly from my light being to close cause the lower leaves of the plant look as healthy as can be. I'm running a 1000 watt air cooled with those crappy inline duct fans and tubing and can't raise the light or lower the plants. If I do the heat test with your hand where the tops are the back of my hand gets hot in 10 seconds. This was my first indoor grow so I didn't train my plants low enough but intend on making improvements that may include a Scrog. Thanks for the help.

k0ijn said:

They don't look ready.
What kind of effect of the high are you after?
You cannot tell maturity by the pistils (hairs) mate.
I believe NL is a strain which trichs turn amber, therefore I would recommend you check the trichs for maturity.
The overall colour of your buds is a bit light as well, want to look more brown / red / orangy in general appearance.
Also the density of your buds is not that high it seems and the pistils don't look to be receding.

They look like they need 2-3 weeks.

Click to expand...

I know all about trichs I just don't have a microscope yet, getting it monday. There are some pretty dense buds but I just took pictures of closest tops. As for the color of the bud, doesn't that indicate when to harvest? I figured that would take another week for the plant with a lot of orange pistols and about two for the one with white ones still. But I am wondering if they need a extra week on top of the 1 and 2 I planned for each. I just don't want to flush too late or too early.

But I disagree with not using pistols to tell maturity. I wouldn't use them to tell when to harvest but I figured they would be fine to tell when to flush. This is a quote from a link on harvesting below:

"A indication of plant maturity is the color of the pistils, the little hairs that grow from inside the calyxes. Their purpose is to collect male pollen to fertilize the ovum inside the calyx, creating a seed. When no male pollen exists calyxes grow dense without any seeds, resulting in sinsemilla cannabis. Near the end of the flowering phase, pistils change color, entering the window of peak maturity. The ratio of white pistils to red pistils determines the type of effects your plants are likely to produce: a high or stone. In the final few weeks of the flowering phase, the pistils change from bright white to a rusty orange or brown, signifying the end of the plant's life cycle."

http://www.cannabisculture.com/v2/articles/4822.html

Alright, update with trich colour percentages when you can

Dense is good, the general colour (of the whole bud including leaves and stem) usually has a much darker 'aura' if you will than on less mature buds.
You will actually see a colour shift from greenish to redish/brownish.

Pistil colours don't really help much in determining maturity, although receding pistils do.
I wouldn't do anything until you get your microscope, determining the trichs will really help you out to find out where your plants are at.

The problem with determining maturity from pistils is that some strains have pistils which don't turn from white while the trichs are amber.
I have seen white pistils on amber trich plants myself and if you go by pistils, this can seriously mess up your grow.

The ratio of white pistils to red pistils determines the type of effects your plants are likely to produce: a high or stone. In the final few weeks of the flowering phase, the pistils change from bright white to a rusty orange or brown, signifying the end of the plant's life cycle.

Click to expand...

That is how I would define trichs.
The trichs determine the effect of the high, not the pistils, I'm sorry but that article is rubbish.
It is correct that pistils change colour but it's unreliable and most strains don't follow this methodology.

k0ijn said:

Alright, update with trich colour percentages when you can
.

Click to expand...

Will do. When the trichs just start turning cloudy from clear, how long would you think it would be till harvest? And what percentage of amber/opaque trichs would you suggest when harvesting? The article actually is pretty good, goes on about the trichs and the chemical changes during harvest, etc. I just think their use of the word "maturity" is more broad than yours.

That depends on a lot of things, I would guess maybe 3 weeks to 6 weeks depending on the strain and all the variables (light, water, nutes, air, co2 etc.).

Depends on your preference mate, I would suggest as I did to another guy earlier that you take some buds at 30% amber, some at 50% and some at 70% to determine your favourite
70% might be more than you can handle but at least you will know for sure ^^

Well I told a buddy to pick me up a 60x-100x microscope if he seen one around today and he got one. I just checked the trichs and they are mostly cloudy with no amber or opaque trichs yet. There are even a few clear trichs. So I'm guessing another 2-3 weeks till harvest and another week or 2 before I flush?

m420p said:

Well I told a buddy to pick me up a 60x-100x microscope if he seen one around today and he got one. I just checked the trichs and they are mostly cloudy with no amber or opaque trichs yet. There are even a few clear trichs. So I'm guessing another 2-3 weeks till harvest and another week or 2 before I flush?

Click to expand...

Still a few clear trichs?
Might be 2-4 weeks then but it depends on a lot of variables so hard to say for certain.
Just keep checking (or get someone else to lol) the trichomes
Aye I would flush a week before harvest, I have to say that I don't flush however, but the common flush is 1 - 2 weeks before harvest.

k0ijn said:

Still a few clear trichs?
Might be 2-4 weeks then but it depends on a lot of variables so hard to say for certain.
Just keep checking (or get someone else to lol) the trichomes
Aye I would flush a week before harvest, I have to say that I don't flush however, but the common flush is 1 - 2 weeks before harvest.

Click to expand...

Well I've been flowering now for 7.5 weeks and I can't imagine them going past 11. But maybe the earlier orange hairs are from heat stress... Idk, To tell you the truth I wouldn't mind them taking another 3-4 weeks, cause they are a good size now and grow at a noticeable rate from week to week. Yes I will keep checking them and I don't need anyone else, I've grown outdoors for years but couldn't check on them all the time so I didn't worry about trichs or flushing. This is my first indoor grow period and I decided to do hydro so of course Its going to take a bit to get my set-up just right but I guarantee you I'm no Idiot.

I think I mistook you for another guy who I was writing too as well who is colour blind ^^ (that was the 'or get someone else to lol' comment)

11 is probably not going to happen no, however I would follow the plants more than anything, if they can go 11, take them there

Just make sure you get them when you want them, it can change rather quickly sometimes imo.

Looks like day 30 of flowering

Do you know the number of days since sex showed? You should count that as the first day of flowering.... That way you have a better idea as to when they are ready

Day 50-65ish is when they are ready. But trichs always are a good indicator

Sice said:

Looks like day 30 of flowering

Do you know the number of days since sex showed? You should count that as the first day of flowering.... That way you have a better idea as to when they are ready

Day 50-65ish is when they are ready. But trichs always are a good indicator

Click to expand...

Thats why I refer to it as day 53 of 12/12. I was using a 18/6 veg light cycle and it took two weeks to show sex(they were clones so I knew they were female) and it took them a bit to start budding. I had a little heat stress earlier on before insulating my grow room and before I moved my veg. room out of my bloom room so that might have something to do with them starting off slow. Right now they are way too close to the light but I pulled them down as much as I could and raised my light. I'll just have to train my plants better next time or possible do a scrog.
Thanks for posting though, cause you say they look around 30 so if I give them another 3-4 weeks like I plan that would be around the 50-65 range so sounds good to me.

Most important thing my man, is to document what you did and how the plant looked i.e. 20% clear 40% amber 40% milky etc.. and document the smoke too.

Over time you can dial in "your" specific desired effect man. Never go by what other people say, you can use them as a guideline but what is really best for you is not for someone else. You will get there my man, just document important things. Its hard to remember few months back what you did at a specific time, but if its down on paper or excel then its easy to dial your smoke in.