Harvesting too late? Pic inside.

If trich's are transparent, its not ready yet. Is this a sativa?
I see brown as well as red hairs; red is an indicator of ready, brown looks to be dead.
The bud itself looks very frosty, but looks dry. The leaves are also in a sorry state; you should trim those off.
Have you been flushing heavily? If not, you've got a nute or salt burn going on.

Also, is there mold anywhere on the stems? It might just be the way your camera takes a picture, but when I've seen bud like that there was mold on the stem underneath blocking food and water to it.

 

I jus wanted to chime in. My last grow my plants were at their 'peak' as far a the calander was concerned. The trics turned milky- but never amber. In fact I flushed & they never turned, so I fed them- and they still never turned. I was worried that they'd be 'ovr ripe'- so I harvested. OMG- the stuff is SO dank. I didn't tell any heavil experienced co-smokers that it's 'just homegrown' and they all were psyched to be treated to such 'high grade'.

Not sure what the issu w/ your is... but my experience said that things turned out ok. =) I carefully trimmed, dried & cured my plants too.

My violator gets you stoned to the one with 1 hit. Bu wears off after 3 hours(ish) & doesn't give that strung out feeling for the rest of the day. I'm pretty stoed that it's not any stronger than it is.

So, good luck. I've had decent luck watch the calender - as wll as- the trichs.

 

Ok.. if the trichs don't turn amber how would you know when its done?

 

Milky/cloudy is what resin/oil filled trichomes look like; amber just means some trichomes have hit overripe, letting others hit peak THC.
If yours never turn amber, just look for the majority being milky.

 

I'd harvest very soon, shoot for mostly cloudy if you can. Remove those dead leaves, if they get moist they will grow mold. From the looks of it, there are no healthy fanleaves left, next your plant will start consuming bud leaves and then sugar leaves. It's a perfect environment for bud rot, any dead moist material is like a mini-nuke to surrounding budsites. I lost at least an ounce of dry weight to bud rot within the last few weeks (never happened to me before, I had strain-specific problems with this grow)

Good luck dude!!!

 

When your plant looks like this.

http://forum.grasscity.com/harvesting-processing-marijuana/666373-guide-when-harvest.html

 

I defer to the more experienced gardners. However, when I was given my clones I was told that they'd be 'ready' at x # of days. I think I was told 65 for the violator & let them go to 70ish. Very few amber trichs- but they were milky. My current garden isBlueberry & I was told 55 days. Most trichs are milky (at 52 days)- I will start flushing this week & probably let hem go to 60 days. I have sad looking leaves, but the hairs are mostly still looking pretty fresh & the buds are still 'frosting' up. I've been watching for amber- but still not seeing that.

So, I still think it's a combination- not JUST ambe trichs. =)

 

i think i would harvest that looks reADY TO ME

 

Ambers are just indicators of peak THC production; your right on that its a combination. Some plants might not get many ambers because of environmental stress, or genetics. Just like some plants when finished don't have a great ratio of red hairs to white. Its a mixture of everything. You check for looks (trichomes and hairs) as well as bud tightness/firmness (or if it grows lanky, check the size of individual calyxs) as well as smell. The numbers given to you are good indicators of when to start looking at maturity, but they are not exact; your grow will not be identical to the guy who made the strain and he will not grow identical to the guy who gave you the clones.

Trichomes are just the best way to check for maturity because they show stored resins. clear = not enough oils in there to be opaque. Milky = enough oils to make the trichomes translucent. Amber = trichome is starting to die.
No matter what the numbers say, or how ready your plant looks, if you harvest with clear trichomes you'll get a more subdued and shorter head high as compared with cloudy. If you harvest with ambers, then that adds another component to your high; couch lock. Ambers add the body experience (as well as the tired lethargy) in my experience.

IMO, those numbers are more for commercial growers who grow strictly on a calender and need to have a rigid cycle to supply dispensaries; sure, you can harvest when they tell you to, but your bud will be better than theirs if you wait. (and if all other conditions kept equal, ) Their bud might look good, yours will smoke amazing