Harvesting an Indica early... thoughts or experiences?

[jsn9333]

I only have experience smoking Sativas, so I grew some Indica this year to try it out. I have two female Afghans that should be ready in a month or so. I'm wondering what your thoughts are on chopping some of the buds when they are totally cloudy (no amber).

I'm thinking of doing this so that I could have some buds that have more of the Sativa "energetic" high I"m used to. Then I could harvest the rest at 50% amber or 80% amber or so (which I'm told will give me the Indica "body" or "tired" or "stoned" type of high).

I have heard, however, that harvesting an Indica at cloudy is counter productive... that in reality I would end up with indica "body high" buds that just aren't very potent at all. I guess the theory is that indica strains have very little of the "engergetic high" drugs in them, so by harvesting at cloudy (when those drugs are at their peak), you aren't getting much of them at all any way.

So the theory is that Indica's should be harvested at *their* peak (mostly amber) and Sativas should be harvest at *their* peak (mostly cloudy) and hybrids should be harvested at 50/50.

Thoughts? Any experiences? This is my first time with a harvest (had all males last year).

[Revanche21]

I like cloudy

[snakeman]

I just harv'ed some afghani's with cloudy trich's, turned out beatiful

[bayareapurps]

DONT CUTE THEM DOWN WHEN THE TRICOMES ARE CLOUDY.... there not done yet... your want your tricomes to turn amber... then your FRUIT is dont.... u dont actually make thc until u cut down the plants and the sugars break down and make delta-9 tric... i cant spell it but thc.....

[stinkyattic]

I take my SourBubble down cloudy these days. It's a great result. I'd just do a test of the strain you are running, clipping low buds as they start to come to different ripenesses, trim and cure them, labelled as (x days x percent cloudy/amber) and when thye are cured, see how you like the smoke.
Your favorite one based on the label will tell you when to harvest in the future.
There's nothing to be lost by experimenting! All depends on your preference and needs ,a dn the strain you are running.

[jsn9333]

Thanks for the advice everyone.

[Opie Yutts]

If I can only have one kind of weed around I go for about 10% amber. Ideally though like to have some that has been harvested at several different stages. I rather enjoy some that is all cloudy, and even some that has a little clear. If nothing else, for a change. Sometimes I feel I kinda get stuck in a rut of a certain kind of weed, and I almost fail to get stoned no matter how much I smoke. Changing it up a bit seems to help a bunch. The more amber it is the more it tends to "stone" me. duh, I know, but a couple hours after smoking some amber AK-47 it's time for me to shut down. I can force myself to keep going but it's hard. For wake and bakes, or just wanting a cleaner, crisper, more alert high, I like to harvest some of my weed before amber trichomes show up.

It may be best though if you don't harvest any one grow in stages, due to the possibility of causing stress to the plant and reducing yields or causing hermaphroditus. This could be very likely in some varieties and not so common in others. Just to be safe it would probably be better if you could do one grow cloudy and another with some amber. And just for fun, why not one mostly clear and one mostly amber. Don't let people tell you that you won't get stoned with cloudy or even clear. There are just different chemicals in the resin and the high is just different. Keep in mind though I'm only talking about what I have experienced, and I've grown mostly indica over the years. Try for yourself and see what you like. You may be interested in this thread: http://boards.cannabis.com/basic-growing/159758-test-different-harvest-times-parts-plant.html