Ok so I am in a bit of a panic with my baby This is my first grow attempt btw. So I have moved my indoor sativa plant into flowering about a month ago. It quickly started developing clusters of the white hairs and is now in full blossom. I do NOT have access to a microscope to look at the trichomes. The white hairs that were the original clusters are now about 50/50 white/orange. They are beautiful. Were are moving into our 5th week of flowering under 150 HPS light in a 2x2 growing space. It smells dank. The buds are swelling. The surrounding leaves are covered in white hairs. I have searched on these forums for posts and I found one thread that said wait 2 weeks after the first hair turns orange (its been a week since the first orange) and I found one that says I'm in a 5-7 day window after they start turning amber. Should I harvest soon? now? a week from now? can you tell with this amount of info? I will post a pic of my main cola tomorrow morning. Shes so beautiful. This is my baby!!!! Thanks guys I <3 you and thanks for the help in advance.
Take your time and don't rush. 5th week of flowering? Too soon. Another 3 weeks, at least. All those hairs will start swelling up.
Your harvest time should be based on the strain your growing and the tric's. I myself would wait till their was about a 80/20 ratio orange/white A good Hydro shop sells the 30x jewelers loupe at a fairly decent price or even try eBay 30X Magnifier Loupe : Urban Sunshine, Organic and Hydroponic Gardening
look at this http://forum.grasscity.com/harvesting-processing-marijuana/424138-simple-harvest-cure-step-step.html and do a google search for "pocket microscope".. you can get one for like 10 bucks and have it in a week or two.. you probably have that or longer before harvest time... good luck.
5th week of flowering is to soon. A good rule of thumb is most MJ plants require 8 weeks of flowering give or take some..usually a little more not less. Harvesting to early will result in lower yield. Buds grow enormously more during the last 2 weeks.