I started this plant as just a hobby for fun. I must be my 10th attempt and all others died. I planted this one on April first. It took till august 24th till i saw the first hairs. Now when this plant was vegging, it lost a LOT of leaves. I read that as long as the new growth was green, it should be alright, and it was. A new set of leaves would last about 2-3 weeks then crisp from the end and die off. A new set would immediately replace the last, but it never accumulated much growth, it stayed pretty thin throughout the entire vegging, and then lost almost all of the fan leaves about a week into flowering, then of course grew them back, much faster this time. And here we are nine weeks in and the last of the small leaves are shriveling. The buds are pretty thin, but a lot fatter than last week. almost all of the hairs on the top levels are red, but there seems to be new white ones starting at the bottom. I'm not sure if it's time to harvest yet, can any one tell me? Oh, and the plant never really smelled unless I took a cut. Is that normal? I used Miracle grow (I know cheap but whatever) transferred it through 4 different pots from a 3 inch to a 5 gallon bucket. I used a molasses water mix, 1 tablespoon per liter, for the last 3 weeks, and unfertilized water the rest of it's life. It only got about 6-8 hours of direct sunlight a day ( moving it from opposite ends of the house morning and afternoon) i had to work with what i had. I tried using two 4x glasses, and they still look clear. I don't know if it's just 'cause I'm not close enough. I really don't want to harvest too soon. About 9 days ago I took one that looked completely ripe, and I dried it. Just today i smoked it and it tasted a little funny and smelled like a spice or something. I know i recognized the smell, but i could pinpoint it. It didn't really do anything for me though. I'm going to try and add some pics if I can figure out how. Says I'm missing a security token.
The general rule is something like once 90% of the pistils (hairs) have turned red/brown then its pretty much time. There's always going to be new pistils popping out for any new growth tho. You can get more into details with the colors of the trichomes too. When they start to turn cloudy to amber is a good time to cut I think? I'd say you're probably good to cut. Or maybe wait 1 more week just to be sure. Have you done a week of flushing yet? No nutes for a bit before harvest.
Actually, The only real way to determine maturity is by examining the trichomes under a 30x or more loupe or magnifier/microscope. The trichomes will go from clear to milky/cloudy then finally to amber. As the trichomes mature, the type of high you get will change too, as the more cloudy dominant harvest will result in a more 'heady' type of high, whereas the more amber dominant harvests will result in a more 'couchlock' or body high. This of course will vary depending on the individual strain and growing conditions, but to rely on the coloring of the pistils for a sign of maturiity is a hit or miss affair.