Hello, I am near the end of my first grow, day 67 of flowering 6 W.W. plants. The buds near the top of the plants seem to be done with about 20% amber heads. But the lower buds are still clear. Can I take off the main top bud, and then lower the light to finish off the lower buds without any bad side effects?
Very nice job on your first grow! You can take the top buds if they are ready. Sure this stresses the rest of the plant, but it will continue to put a big effort into finishing the flowering. Just keep an eye on it -- even those buds with clear trichs probably are plenty potent right now, so let them mature or else go ahead and harvest them if the plant looks like it is suffering too much from the first harvesting. Best of luck and happy times enjoying, quite literally, the fruits of your labor.
Thanks....I have been lurking on this board durring the grow, so alot of the success is due to the good information provided by the community. I have read that I shoud do any harvesting only after the dark period before any light hits the plant. Is that true?
Yes, with no light the sugars and carbohydrates and all of that which the plant needs are moved from plant to roots, so as soon as the lights go on these things start coming back up into the plant. The less of this you have when you harvest, the cleaner and more enjoyable the smoke.
Nice.....Thanks all! Gonna cut off the top bud on each in the AM. Should I give them with anything afterwrds? i.e. water, ferts?
If it's harvest time, it's assumed you flushed the plants 2 weeks ago and stopped watering with ferts. Flushing transitions the plants off the ferts and the buds are supposed to be better tasting and a smoother smoke for finishing up without any ferts. Or, from Grandpa's guide: "10 Days before the estimated time of harvest you give them a flush with pH adjusted water. From that day on, just water only enough not to let them wilt. The less water is in the plant's system when harvesting, the sooner the buds will be dry." Looking good... happy harvest, man!