First Outdoor Grow - Harvest Questions

Hi there, first time outdoor grower in Ontario and Iâ??m hoping to get some advice from the seasoned vets. Hereâ??s my situation: Outdoor garden grow, single female plantâ?¦ not sure the strainâ?¦ hopefully the pictures below will help. Planted mid May, she stands about 5â??8â?� as of now (now being Sept 22). Flowering began around August 15th.

Iâ??m trying to find out when itâ??ll be ready to harvest. Right now, it has some nice juicy buds, light green in colour, with just a few crystals apparent on the surrounding leaves. The pistils are short and fat, about one or two centimeters long and about 20% - 35% have begun to turn red. Touching the buds lightly between my fingers makes them sticky and I can detect the scent of the plant from about four feet away.

Iâ??ve noticed a few of the larger, older fan leaves have turned yellow and in a few cases, fallen off. A few of the smaller leaves growing out of the buds are beginning to turn purple.

The nights here are getting as low as 10 degrees Celsius (50 degrees Fahrenheit).

Obviously, Iâ??m not only trying to find the best time to harvest, I also want to make sure itâ??s getting what it needs before hand in order to get the best potency.

Thanks for the advice!!

El_Fantistico :smokin:

I like your plant, el... though I'm not a seasoned vet to answer any of your questions. I'm out in BC and just chopped my baby, same as you, I managed to finish one lady this year. Next year hopefully I'll improve my score. For my harvest time, I had bought seeds so I went by their 'finish by' date and actually cut a week after the last date they listed. I looked at trichomes after I chopped, and didn't actually see any amber ones, but the hairs are probably half brown by now, and we've had one night of frost, so I kind of decided to cut before the plant got frozen. Anyhow, just wanted to say. nice plant.

Well it depends on the effect of the high you're looking 4...u could chop it know the buds are nice and fat...early harvests equal a more heady high...u could let er also go another 2-3wks safely (weather permitting) and have a more couch lock effect and a larger harvest...obviously waiting another 7-10 days will give u something in the middle...great looking plant but the harvest date all depends on what you're looking for in effect...hope it helps and thats a very nice lady

Thanks for the comments!

This morning I was removing a few of the dead leaves and sniped a small bud from a lower tier from the side that gets the most sun. Here's some fresh pics, it'll be interesting to see how much it shrinks from drying and the most important thing... the buzz factor. Stay tuned...

El Fantistico :smokin:

She needs another 2-3 weeks by the looks of it. Very nice looking plant. If you can get a magnifine glass it is the most effective way of determining harvest time. Wait till the trichomes start turning amber...after this point harvest right away for more "up" high and later for a more couchlock/narcotic effect (and higher yield).

Good Luck:thumbsup:

Thanks for the advice, GR!! I'm going to wait the three weeks... it's so easy to become impatient in the final stretch, especially when it starts looking and smelling so good!

In the mean time... my 'tester' should be dry in a day or so. I'll update you all then!!

Oh yeah... I believe the leaves turning yellow is a magnesium deficiency which I'm sorting out... what is the cause of the leaves turning purple? Is it just the strain?

Thanks!!

El Fantistico :smokin:

If u wait till the trichomes turn amber u'll b waiting a long time cause they wont. It's ready to harvest when about 80% of the trichomes turn cloudy instead of clear.

you dont need to worry about the lower fans turning yellow, its ok if the lower ones die off leaving the nutes to the developing colas, the same thing is happening to me at the moment :rastasmoke: . and the purple leaves, not sure i think its certain strains and in other cases, not watering the plant for a period of time.

Happy Harvest

Hi Folks,

Here's an update for you on the test bud cut September 22nd. Dried and smoked... just smoked actually. Although it tasted a little funky due to the lack of proper curing, I got quite a nice buzz. It's heady for sure, but since it was picked almost two weeks ago I'm sure the potency has only, and will continue to increase.

About the bud itself, I've attached a picture to show you how much it shrunk from drying. I removed all the leaves and just smoked the dried flower which amounted to quite the nice fatty about the length and thickness of a colt.

El Fantistico :smokin: