I planted a C99 fem in Feb. Buds are about the size of my fist....but all the pistils are refusing to darken and curl up. Between 50% and 75% have darkened and around 25% have curled in. I'm was never in a rush. However, the cold temps will be here in the next month or two so between harvesting, curing, etc.... not much time until the grow room becomes less than hospitable. Just curious, but what's the average grow time (i.e. pistils are all dark and curly) for pot plants? Is 8-9 months from seed to harvest the norm or......? Thanks
I would say 8-9 months is more then the norm. That doesn’t mean anything though since you can veg for as long as you want. I wouldn’t worry too much about the pistils rather the trichomes. I’ve had pistils start browning and curling as soon as week 3 of flower for a 10 week strain. Look at the trichomes. That should be your indicator. How long have you been flowering for?
Flowering since May or June. In other threads I read and started, people seemed insistent on waiting until all pistils were dark and curled in. Was that BS? Thanks
They should be mostly orange. Like at least 90%. Got some pictures? How did you get them to flower in May? Days dont get short enough for flowering until august around here.
The coloring is WAY off in the first one. Plant looks yellow in the pic. As you can see in the second pic it's quite green. So a little background...back in Feb when I had it in a solo cup as a seed and for the first month in our front window, my puppy decided to crawl on top of the couch and ate half of the plant which at that time was 4-5 leaves. I thought it was dead and was going to toss it but members here said to water it and it should pull through and pull through it did!!! Fast forward a few months, it wasn't branching out, just formed a massive/dense central ball....against I thought something was wrong but nope! When I switched her over to 12/12 in late May early June....she sprouted big time! The branches got to be about 3' long and budding up nicely. Fast forward another couple months and the buds were weighing the branches down almost to the floor. I hadn't scrogged this time due to not being confident it was going to pull through, plus there were previously no branches to scrog! So I took 30lb test fishing line and hogtied the branches in on themselves. Not creasing them, just leaning inward. There's easily a pound of flower on the plant and I don't think the pics quite do the quantity or quality justice. Also, this plant was kept at 40% humidity and 75-85F with only Happy Frog and spring water for nutrition. This was an experiment of sorts to see what it would grow like without any other nutrients. But again, we are in week ~16 here and as you can see, the pistils are not uniformly darkened/curled. After everything I've been told/read about absolutely positively not chopping before all are non-white...I'd hate to chop pre-maturely. However, maybe the trauma from being eaten by a dog and tied with fishing line stunted it's maturation. Thoughts?? Thanks
No, I mean pistils (not pistols). I forgot to order a webcam microscope after my regular microscope broke. So I only have a loupe which does let me see the trichomes but not well enough to distinguish clear from creamy from amber.
A pistil is a female cannabis plant sex organ. To the ordinary decent home grower, a pistil is a hair that protrudes from a calyx on a female flower. They are also known as stigmas. When a pistillate hair comes into contact with pollen from a male cannabis plant, it is then pollinated. Cannabis trichomes are the appendages on the surface of cannabis flowers that produce and hold the plant's cannabinoids and terpenes. While trichomes appear across the entire plant, they are primarily produced on the flower, bract, and leaves of the cannabis plant. They have a sugary, crystal-like appearance that will probably look familiar to many cannabis consumers. so are you talking about pistils still? You will be the first person I’ve heard of harvesting based on the plants pistils
An important distinction IMO. Pistils are a part of the female sex organ, trichomes have THC and terpenes. Most people grow for thc production, so harvest when trichomes are ripe. ive never heard or seen anyone harvesting based on pistils, would love some info on it if anyone has any.
Yes, that was the goal, but I didn't have the ability to see into the little trichome...mushroom caps....to assess for clarity. So I'm down to using pistils to determine when I chop, trim, and hang.
If no1 has already suggested it. Amazon has USB microscopes and macro lenses for $15-30, if you don’t want to spend money, your phone camera likely has the potential to get a decent look. Just zoom in all the way and take the clearest picture you can, and zoom in on the picture, you’ll be surprised.
Someone did suggest the USB scope in the other thread but, like I said, I got distracted and forgot to buy one. To be honest, this is more pot that I'm going to have a use for before it goes bad so I might chop where I'm at without going by pistils or trichomes. Again, 16+ weeks in flower and the biggest buds I've grown. I was just curious to know from those that grow, what the average flower time is for pot plants. Thanks
I dont even think about harvesting until 95% of the pistils are orange unless its an oddball foxtail that flowers forever. Then I start looking at trichs. But after a couple harvests, you start to just know when they are ready. And who needs a microscope when we all have cameras like this?
Hard to describe really. Google around about it. Its just a thing some plants do. Once youve grown a bunch of strains, you'll know.
It wasn’t necessarily BS but every plant regardless of strain, batch, etc act differently. Judging off your pics, they look almost ready. There are quite bit of white hairs but the plant will still produce new pistils even as it is near harvest. Looks like you have some foxtailing going on, so new white hairs popping up is normal and waiting for those new ones to darken might not be the best idea. Your plants are looking good so quickly invest in a jewellers loupe and see if they are ready.