hi all my lady is on day 47 and my leaves are starting to turn limp yellow. the hairs are a nice orange colour. and buds all look good. how much longer should i leave her before i cut her down? any help greatly appreciated cheers all ps i will add pics later today. this one is from day 40.
thanks for the reply. any help on what to look for about 3/4 of the hairs are orange cheers all peace
Well a side shot would help along with a close up of one of your buds. Ok side shot doesn't really matter I just like it, but the close up would be very helpful. Now depending on the strain your growing and how you like high is gona determine when to chop. It looks like a indicia so you aren't going to have a long flowering time. Its also going to be more of a body high to start with so if you want a couch lock high harvest later and if you want a more heady high harvest sooner. (has to do with thc bi-products and so forth) Just from looking at the picture you have up I would say give it another week at least. I am no expert by any means so a second or third opinion would be great. To be sure you really should stop by a radio shack or somthin and pick up a 15$ microscope. By this time you should already have stopped giving nutes and begun flushing. What I also do is the last couple of days right before you chop try to give your baby as little water as possible. Now I know this seems cruel and may be hard to do, but the reason being is that you won't have to dry your buds for as long (I have no patience after waiting 3-4 months what can I say) Also turn the lighting back to 8-10 hours. This will cause your plant to think winter is here and it will secret more thc. Hope this helps.
Oh I almost forgot, if you get a micro scope look at the thc tricomes. If they are clear then you need to wait a while. Cloudy/amberish and you should be good. Check the majority for these traits of course.
I only know the basics of growing... I just wanted to say that is a very pretty lady. ^_^ I wish you the best in your harvest.
Yellowing leaves at the bottom of the plant at the end of flowering is natural and expected, it is from the plant using up its stored nutrients, especially after you have stopping feeding. You want to stop feeding and deep-flush the soil about two weeks before the expected harvest time because you want the plant to use up its stored nutrients since they can taste like crap in the smoke. Yellowing leaves earlier in the flower cycle typically means a nitrogen deficiency and the plant is eating up it's stored N. Since you should have stopped feeding by now all you can do is ride it out, the plant will end up looking pretty ugly by the end with all yellow/brown leaves but the buds for the most part should come out OK. Total flower time can range from about 7 to 12 weeks, with many strains falling into the 8-9 week range (except for some sativa-dominants which can take longer). Looking at the color of the hairs to determine harvest time is a crude method at best. The hairs on some strains turn orange/brown well before harvest, and other strains are ready to harvest while the hairs are still mostly white. To really know when to harvest get a jeweler's loupe or a pocket microscope (I got a scope from Radio Shack for under $10). You want a magnification power in the 25x-60x range. When you look at the trichs the should initially appear clear. They will gradually become cloudy and then turn amber. The optimal window for harvest is somewhere between when the trichs are mostly cloudy to when they are mostly amber. You can control the kind of high you get to some extent by when you harvest. When the trichs are mostly cloudy THC is at its peak, and harvesting then will yield more of a "head" high. When the trichs are mostly amber the plant has synthesized some of the THC into other cannabinoids, and harvsting then will yield more of a couchlock body stone. Harvesting when trichs are a blend of cloudy and amber will yield a blend of the two effects. Agree with Moggy to ramp up the dark in the last couple of days before harvest to fool the plant into thinking the end is near (which it is) so that it will channel all its resources away from survival and into beefing up the buds.
Just because the hairs are turning orange does not mean its ready. The hairs can turn that way by simply not enough water and them drying out quickly, evident by one of your buds on the pic you provided of day 40 Day 47 is kind of early as you rjust finishing week 7, you should wait another 2 weeks but begin checking with microscope next week and water it much much more.