just wondering when is the right time to cut down my plants its gonna be so hard seeing as this is my first harvest and all and they look so beautiful in all there glory i was just wanting some different opinions on when is the right time to pull the plug ive herd when the plant is like 75% orange or what ever color it may turn is this true??? how can u tell, i dont have a stechascope, and i really dont wanna just cut off a bud to tell if its ready or not does any one have any pics or links that could help me out on this thanks in advance
it's all up to you really. i'll break it down some once the trichromes on the plant show up, they will be clear little drops almost. from there they turn cloudy and finaly amber - as the budding finishes. you don't want many clear trichs if any when you harvest. but the more amber there are the heavier the stone should be. too much amber and again, you lose some potency by them over maturing. each plant will mature at it's own rate - if you're growing seeds from high-end breeders then you should have a good estimate on when it will be done. if you're growing badseed you really just need to watch the trichs with a handheld microscope or something. what you were talking about with "ive herd when the plant is like 75% orange" i believe they are talking about the hairs on the plant. those are just a rule of thumb, they start turning red as you finish flowering. so that might hold true about cutting when they are mostly orange. trichs are the best way to judge though. you want a majority cloudy/amber and you're set.
And I think there are like three kinds of trichs and it's the one kind that you want to monitor. Looking for aand at them is hard though, most just go by the color of the buds. I guess you develop a sense for it, I'm still working on that. You don't have to hit the right time exactly to have a good yield. And you want to cut out the nutes and use just water about a week before you think you will harvest.