I am currently growing 2 california hash plants that are 51 days into flowering (attitude said finish time was 45-50 days). This was my first successful grow where I actually reached flowering (my last grow had powdery mildew thanks to my local dispensary) so I accidentally let them veg for too long, 33 days to be exact. Since my plants grew so large and I'm using only cfl's, the lower buds and leaves have not received ample lighting. A good amount of lower fan leaves on one of my plants are starting brown, curl up and die and the lower buds do not look too well either. The upper buds do not look affected but I am worried that they will soon. At the moment the trichs are about 75% cloudy and 25% clear but no amber. Since the lower parts of the plant are suffering should I chop it early before the top buds become affected? Should I just chop a couple of the top colas to give more light to the bottom ones? I basically just want to know if cutting it early would be worse than letting it continue to live and have lower leaves die off so that I can assure that it is mature enough. Thank you for all your help in advance and I will try to get pics up as soon as my camera is done charging.
Keep doing what your doing. Its pretty late into flowering, so theres not much to do (to the plant as a whole). Maybe get a CFL or two in there to supplement the bottom, so it stops killing itself due to lack to light. I'd do that, and wait until the tops are finished; wait for some amber trichomes. CFL's provide less energy than HID's and may take a bit longer to flower. The tops are much better along than the lower growth; don't chop them early to try and help the lower stuff. If you can bend or train the tops to allow more light to lower growth, without inhibiting light to that top or other tops, do so. I would do a gradual harvest as buds become ready, moving lights to lower buds as you go on. Give the lower buds another week or two and under the sudden increase of light will fatten, harden, and ripen. Just watch trichomes all over for the ratio you want for harvesting. Plants naturally lose leaves through flowering; that lower curling happens as the fruits begin to use nutrients, that the plant deems more important elsewhere, from lower parts of the plant. It will reach the top colas, but it is nothing to worry about; its a deficiency as the plant leeches itself of nutrients to finish flowering, since you likely cut off feeding it. Pictures would be nice