My girls are about 5 weeks into flowering and some of the older, more mature buds are beginning to show signs that they are approaching harvest time. However, smaller - younger buds look like they have a ways to go. I read that you can partially harvest a plant to give smaller immature buds more time to mature and grow. However, the articles I read did not provide info on how to harvest the mature buds without having to have them loaded on nutes, chlorophyll and water. I intended on stopping the nutes 2 weeks before harvest time and stopping watering them altogether about a week before to make sure the buds tasted good and didn't retain as much water during harvest, but it seems that if I partially harvest the plants then I wont be able to do this because of risk to the smaller buds and stunted growth. I'm afraid I will have to deal with very hydrated and not so great tasting buds. Does anyone have any tips or know of any resources that addresses this problem?
yeh patience mate. there only 5 weeks into flower so the lower buds will fatten up mate patience is a big part of growing herb mate. can you put any cfls down covering they buds, will help a lot? all the best
Do you have to harvest them now? Why not just wait until the others are mature as well? They can only get bigger right?
No, I'm in no rush at all - I have a large supply of smoke and am only interested in quality - not speed. I just want to be able to harvest while the trichs are partially clear and partially amber - I want to avoid the couch potatoe effect. And I figure that since some of the buds are only about 20% mature while others are about 80% I will end up with some buds with fully amber trichs that have lost potency if I wait for the smaller ones to mature before harvesting. Yes, I have been considering adding some more cfl's to the lower/immature buds but I have very little info about this strain and don't know how much time is left before harvest and whether it will be worth the effort and cost (sockets, bulbs, wiring, ect.) Thanks for the replies and suggestions
trust me its not ready 5 weeks equals 35 days man thats half of a flower period you got 4 more weeks at least just cause theyre starting to get orange hairs on them doesnt mean theyre done and how to you figure the tops are older mor mature,,, how you figure theyre older then the lower buds if its the same plant do what you want but dont regret what you did!!!!! think about that harvest early and regret or wait and be happy in my oppinion ( whcih dont mean shit on this site) i wouldnt do it
Thanks for the advice but, as I had pointed out to you in a different post when you said it was impossible for the plants to be budding so quickly and that I must have been seeing hairs and not buds, this strain is developing very quickly (http://forum.grasscity.com/general-indoor-growing/203520-harvest-not-harvest.html) There are many different resources on the net that point out harvest time is strain dependant and can take anywhere from 5 - 12 weeks (even longer for some strains according to some sources). I don't claim to be an expert but the hairs are just an indicator to me that it's turning the corner (as they are begining to turn amber/brown in color) and that I need to get as much intel as possible before harvesting. I don't expect them to be ready for at least another 2 weeks (which would make it 7 weeks total of flowering), and at the rate the younger, newly developed buds are growing, I'm doubting whether they will reach full maturity once the top, older bud's trichs reach the desired potency and if that happens, I want to know my options. It may also be worth noting where I already posted on this thread: - so, no - as I indicated in this thread, I do not want to regret harvesting to early - which is kind of the purpose of this thread. And in regards to your question: Well, if you look in the same picture (see below) that I used to prove to you in that other post that there were buds on the plants, the top most buds have been growing much longer than the buds on the lower part of the plant - many of those were only a couple of days old when I took that picture.
you should have lsted that plant and kept it as short as possible to use your low amt of light as best as possible, now yo uhave a lanky, and stretched out plant that will yield hardly anything cause it is not able to use the light efficiently.
To your question: when you think you are nearing harvest then flush as you plan and then water only after that. If you have later-developing buds that you want to let go longer then harvest what is ready when it is time, then leave the remaining buds to continue maturing without ferts. Better to let those late flowers go longer without ferts than to have fert in your smoke. Be sure to use magnification (like the $10 pocket microscope from Radio Shack) to check the trichomes to know when to harvest. You can check trichs on buds at different levels of the plant to determine if you should harvest all at once or leave some for more maturing.
I see what you are saying, I didn't know to much about the strain at the time and I did keep the plant pretty small - they are about 3 feet. The intention with this grow was not for quantity - this is actually my first grow and I have used this grow as a test grow to learn to grow and care for the plants and to see if it is worth it to use CFLs. Currently, I've estimated approximately 1 ounce per plant worth of bud and guesstimate about 1 1/2 oz per plant after harvest which will last me over a year since I only smoke about 1 gram every 2 weeks or so. So as you can imagine the harvest will be more than enough for what I need. And considering that over the past week or so they have gotton so covered with trichs that they look as good, if not better than most of the buds in my High Times mag I am getting more than I initially expected, especially with only putting in about $50 in start up costs (most of which I can reuse later) and about $20 for electricity all for what is easily going to be $600 or so worth of bud. Thanks for the tip tho, I definately plan on doing that the next time around.
i am kind of in the same situation, except my plant is about 7ft tall, way out grew my cfl's and is at different stages of flowering for sure. it was my first try at growing so it's a little fuked up but it has little buds all over it. the buds at the top have been ready for about a week now but all the little ones lower on the plant have a little while to go. it has been flowering for 8weeks now. my question is, can i just cut the top portion all the way off at the main stem and harvest those or will that kill the plant? i need to make room for my lights to get closer to the bottom buds.
OldSkool1010 - Yeah, the plant in the picture was definately way too young to harvest - that picture was taken about 2 1/2 weeks prior to posting this thread (I believe I mentioned that when I posted the pic in this thread). Also, Many of the hairs are now turning brown and the trichs are starting to turn amber. I plucked one of the smaller buds last night and dried it and smoked it and the high is by far better than any of the 7 medical quality strains I have in my stash (White Widow, Purple Urkle, Hombolt Purple, Shaman, Blueberry, Orange Crush, Sensei Star) - It is definately ready for harvest now as far as potency goes, but I am going to give it about a week or 2 and see how it goes, I already stopped giving it nutes and plan on flushing the plants today. As of today the plants have been flowering for about 6 weeks. Also, I had taken a measurement last night and they measured about 30 inches (2 1/2 feet) which is pretty shorter than most suspect after looking at that pic.
No problem, I appreciate you taking the time to point that out to me, if I had been trying to harvest them so young, I definately would've regretted it.